G. K. Chesterton wrote, “Science in the modern world has many uses; its chief use, however, is to provide long words to cover the errors of the rich.” A rich man cannot be a thief. He must be a kleptomaniac. America, the richest society in the history of the world, applies this use of science with diligence.
We apply it most diligently on behalf of our children.
The Task is long and arduous, but God is our helper.
Robert Downey Jr. is back as Tony Stark in Iron Man 3. I found his performance every bit as delightful as previous installments.
Though still witty, Tony Stark has lost some of his brashness in this movie. His encounter with aliens in The Avengers has left him shaken and prone to anxiety. He’s asking himself how he can make sense of life post-Avengers.
Director Shane Black had to wrestle with a similar question. I can only imagine that after seeing The Avengers he asked himself how am I supposed to follow that? In my estimation he managed to answer that question quite well.
This third installment in the Iron Man franchise matures Tony emotionally. In the first movie, Tony is a millionaire playboy, who has a life changing experience. He rises from the dead, so to speak, in order to atone for the past and save lives. In the sequel, we find Tony still wrestling with the same demons that plagued him in the first film. He’s abusing alcohol, and he cannot break free from the party lifestyle. The second movie frustrated me because Tony was stuck in this rut. What happened to the life change?
Summertime in America. It’s a different kind of season. Kids are out of school. Parents are taking vacation days. The weather is warm, the beaches are full, and even the most business-minded among us loosen the collar just a bit.
Summer has a slower pace, and that slower pace makes it the ideal time to catch up on your book reading.
I read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card this weekend. Earlier in the spring, I made my list of must-see summer blockbusters, and I noticed that a movie adaptation of Ender’s Game comes out later this year. I decided that I’d better put the book on my reading list.
Ender’s Game had always been on my when-I-get-around-to-it list. Friends, family, and critics all told me that the book was worth reading. The premise seemed promising, and I enjoy a quick YA read.
I suppose the book was okay, but it really wasn’t that great. It does have a plot twist, but I saw it coming. Perhaps it would have been better if Card had narrated more openly instead of having the big reveal at the end.
This is going to be unpopular, but I didn’t really like Ender Wiggin’s character. The book tells us that Ender is a sweet compassionate kid. It’s his compassion that makes it possible for him to save the world. I don’t find him that likable or sympathetic. If you judge him by his actions rather than what other characters say about him, you’ll find that he’s a rotten little bugger.
Show; don’t tell. That advice is some of the hardest for novelists to follow. Actions flow out of the affections and the disposition of the heart. Characters who act contrary to how the narrator and other characters depict them sound hollow, not complex.
There are some clever bits to Ender’s Game, and it does bring up some interesting questions about childhood, violence, society, and the state. On the whole though, I felt let down because the book’s worldview seemed too simplistic. Perhaps I feel let down because people had hyped it too much. It’s pretty good, but it’s not a modern-day classic.
A few days ago, I was trying to convince the freshmen and sophomores in my Western-Civilization survey to signup for my upper-level class in the fall. The upper-level class will cover the history of Late Antiquity, roughly the years 250 to 750. We’ll talk about the fall of Rome, the rise of the church, and the formation of the medieval kingdoms of Europe. It’s going to be awesome.
In order to pique their interest, I told the class that we would be reading the Táin Bó Cúailnge. The book recounts an epic cattle raid in Ireland. That’s right, a cattle raid. I like to think of the Táin as the Iliad of the north. The queen of Connacht steals the Brown Bull of Cooley (he’s an exceptionally fine bull), and the men of Ulster have to get him back. It’s epic; it’s heroic, it’s awesome.
I was passionately explaining to these freshmen and sophomores that the History of Late Antiquity would probably be the best class of their entire college career because no other class would give them the chance to read about the world’s most famous cattle raid. To my surprise, some of the students in the class did not actually know what a “cattle raid” is. As I was explaining the mechanics of raiding cattle (it’s a pretty simple concept), one girl on the front row leaned over to her friend and in a stage whisper announced, “I’m a math major; what do I need that for?”
