Ain't No Drama Like Catholic Drama
I was raised Catholic. This by default means I end up explaining Catholicism to a lot of my friends who were raised in other faiths. What's extra fun is that I was raised Catholic and study history, so they aren't just getting "no, I promise, they don't make women cover their hair in church in the US anymore." They're getting anti-popes and the Cadaver Synod. That's fine; they knew what they were signing up…
Remembrance
I don't have any cousins my age. There's a lot of talk about "your cousins are your oldest friends," and that is less true than people realize. My cousins are all either fifteen years or more older than I am or eight or more years younger than I am. My kids have basically one cousin, and while she's six months to the day older than my son, they've also moved and we don't see them very often. (They have…
Exile
I'm always slightly ashamed when movies take place during events I know nothing about. I get the slight dodge here of having it happen before my lifetime, but I'd have to do a fair amount of reading to fully understand the political events that form the background of this film. I know that this is smack in the middle of the Cold War. I know that it's from an era where much of Central and South America was run…
Another Lost Father Figure
Dear Roger,
It's not like you'd be surprised it wasn't nominated. I think we could have shared a grim smile, if you'd still been able to smile. No, of course Steve James wasn't nominated for Best Documentary Feature for this, even though it's better than Finding Vivian Maier. Leaving aside that there seems to always be one mediocre film nominated in the category, every year, we could share a grumble about Hoop Dreams. If you'd still…
