Pope Benedict to meet with contemporary artists in the Sistine Chapel(video on You Tube)

Pope Benedict plans to meet up to 500 artists from around the world in November.

Comments from Micha :

Dear Fr. Silvain Cloutier,

I want to thank you for the kind article and picture of His Holiness Pope Benedictus XVI and Mr. Wadie Abunassar and I am humbly honored that one of my favorite oil printed painting “The Savior” Jesus of Nazareth was presented and gifted to His Holiness and The Holy See Blessed my kind Art Work in Jerusalem on May 12, 2009 where I did not have the chance to humbly see him in person yet… I hope & pray.

In fact, and with my ultimate believes that Our Lord Jesus of Nazareth the Prince of Peace is truly “the Alpha & the Omega”. Through Him, With Him, In Him, the love and compassion to one another can be reached into the Hearts while the absence of Justice is spreading harshly in our Globe.

I am so pleased to hear the Spiritual Art Encouragements of His Holiness meeting 500 Contemporary artists at the Vatican in the Sistine Chapel.
With my best wishes of success to all in their work and activities, and that the Art will keep on chairing our spiritual Catholic Church mission and to continue implementing by vision the True Words of Love and Life of Our Savior Jesus of Nazareth and Our Beloved Mother of God The Virgin Mary to the entire humanity so we can be All as One.

May the Providence accompany us with the blessings of The Holy See and the prayers of every Goodwill person; with our finest utmost sincere regards to all, assuring you that we are, Gratefully yours in Christ,

Artist,
Micha/Micheline Edward Abounassar,
Edward (Father), Aida (Mother), Michael (Brother) Abounassar

http://www.michasgallery.org

michasgallery@yahoo.com
(818) 522-7123 California, U.S.A

- Fact-checking Angels & Demons (Decent Films)
- Religion and Science in Angels & Demons (Decent Films)
- Angels, Demons and Modern Fantasies About Catholicism (Word on Fire)

 As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.   

 And he’s not alone.  Others are feeling this:

Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,” he wrote earlier this year. A pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online. “I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”   

Carr also says that the process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating “like clockwork.” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “like computers.” But the changes, neuroscience tells us, go much deeper than metaphor. Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level. So if your brain can still concentrate at this stage of the summer, click on the link above and read it.  You’ll like it.

First, my artistic critique. As a piece of storytelling I give it a 5/10. While the story does include interesting scenes and fantastic characters (hey, everybody loves a talking polar bear), there is just way too much Deux ex machina going on to give this story much depth. The main character Lyra has a lot of guts, I’ll give her that, but she regularly finds herself in situations where all hope is lost…until somebody suddenly shows up to rescue her. Caught in a net? Oh goody, here come some gypsy-characters to save her. Land in a port city? Why here’s a cowboy (literally) who suddenly shows her the next step to take. About to be struck down by a guy with a sword? Nice to have a warrior polar bear suddenly come out of nowhere (literally) and strike him down instead. Not sure what to do next? Good thing the master of the school gave you a “golden compass” that can give you the answer to any question you can think of. Don’t know how to use it, despite you being the only person who actually can? Easy, there just happens some mangy character on the same ship who can instruct you. And don’t even get me started on the flying witches, who just seem to show up because… well… errr… we need something to keep the story moving.

Now, on to the more controversial topics. While I refuse to get myself worked up into a frenzy about a film that includes talking animals, I did find a few things objectionable:

1. Everybody in this fantasy world has their soul manifest outside of themselves as an animal spirit called a demon. Yes, yes, I know in the book it is called a “daemon”, but in the film it is pronounced DEMON. So loads of kids will see this movie and hear the word “demon” for the first time and associate it with a cute, fuzzy animal friend that talks. The problem here is obvious: as I happen to believe demons actually do exist, but in fact are evil, I personally don’t want kids getting excited about the notion of fraternizing with demons! Only bad things can come from that.
2. The villains in this film belong to an organization called “the Magisterium”. This is, quite simply, a slap in the face to the Catholic Church, which uses the word “magisterium” to refer to its own collective teaching function. No other major group in the world uses this word on any sort of regular basis, so at the very least it was lifted from a Catholic context. The films taints the word with a negative connotation, in a way I consider underhanded and sly. I couldn’t help but think to myself, suppose the villainous organization was called “the Synagoge” instead of “the Magisterium” — would that not have been rightly seen as a crass form of anti-semitism?
3. And speaking of the Jewish people, there is one aspect of the film that also made me cringe almost on their behalf. The key reason the villains are kidnapping children is to subject them to a process called “intercision”, by which they are separated from their demon and become dazed and compliant. I hadn’t clued into the use of the term until one of the characters tried to rationalize this barbarous process as “just a little cut” — and I saw that it was actually a reference to circumcision. Now I’m not Jewish, but if I were I think I’d be pretty uncomfortable about a film that portrays the sign of my covenant with God as a barbaric procedure that separates me from my humanity and condemns me to become a compliant, frightened person. Yep, I think I might even be a little upset.

Fellow blogger Father Benoit Morrier asked me if I thought this film was going to trick people into abandoning God and/or hating the Catholic Church. Well, I suppose it might, but on the other hand this film has talking bears in it. I mean, freakin’ talking bears! So what can I say? If anybody out there actually does have their religious views radically changed by a film that includes talking bears, well I suspect that says more about that person than about the religious views. So I’m not too worried about the adults…but what, then, of the children? Kids don’t always distinguish reality from fantasy, so they just might have some of their views shaped by this film, coming away thinking that demons are good and the magisterium is bad — perhaps even in the real world. For them, the film could threaten to poison the well of imagination.

In the end, this will be an entirely forgettable film. It will never be a classic like Lord of the Rings or even The Princess Bride. If it has any enduring effect, it will be in the positive drawing together of Catholic and Evangelical Christians. How is this? Well, your average believing Evangelical is going to see a film that promotes “demonology for kids”, and will likely be quite displeased. He will then learn that this film, which approves of demons, also disapproves of this “magisterium”. Learning that this is a direct reference to the Catholic Church, he will then have to ask himself, “can the enemy of my enemy be my friend?” Indeed, I believe that Catholics and Evangelicals can be excellent friends. A film rises up, but a wall of division between believing Christians starts to fall. In the original story, the “Magisterium” is a kind of church that combines elements of both Catholicism and Calvinist Protestantism. Perhaps there is something of a prophecy there after all.

Claim : The 2007 [Christmas-season] film the Golden Compass is based on a series of books with anti-religious themes.
Status : True.

CHECK IT OUT.

The new film’s trailer (found here) shows glimpses of material copied almost directly from Dreamworks’ version, from the burning bush itself to a child’s wonder during the crossing of the sea). Hopefully, this one will stick even closer to the biblical story. We see Moses meeting Ramses with his brother Aaron this time around (see Exodus 5:1) and not with his wife Tziporrah! Also, the story extends beyond the crossing of the sea to the actual reception of the ten commandments.

And the cast? Ben Kingsley as the narrator, Christian Slater as Moses, Alfred Molina as Ramses and Elliott Gould as God.

Here’s a short “making of” clip found on GodTube:

One thing is clear very quickly: Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, the artist known as Plumb, is supremely happy and content in her circumstances. I’m talking happy like a bug in a rug. The mother of two boys, Solomon Fury, almost 2 and a half, and Oliver Canon, 9 months, absolutely revels in the bliss of parenthood and marital happiness. And if that sounds unappealing, don’t worry, it isn’t. What Blink [album title] does is give listeners a window into Plumb’s profound joy and awe of the beauty of family life done well, and it comes across to me as very timely on this immensely personal album.

And here’s another quote, this time taken from JesusfreakHideout ’s review:

For those concerned the album holds no relevance for anyone who is not a parent, have no fear. Themes of unconditional love run amuck. Classic hymn covers like “God Will Take Care Of You” and “Children of the Heavenly Father” bring a deep, blatant spirituality to the album, while most of Plumb’s original offerings address her abundant love as a mother. It’s a bit of a stretch to try to relate the songs to much else besides a parental love, but her perspective can often be taken as from God’s to us as our Heavenly Father.

I thoroughly enjoyed her last CD – Chaotic Resolve (2006). I can’t wait to hear this one (CM Central calls it a “very distinctive lullaby type project”– i.e., more mellow than usual– and from what we can hear on their official website, it sounds interesting). According to the Wikipedia article, Tifanny Arbuckle Lee has written songs for Michelle Branch, Kimberley Locke, and Mandy Moore. Amy Lee of Evanescence mentions Plumb as one of her inspirations.

OFFICIAL PLUMB WEBSITE

UPDATE ! I have the CD and the songs are simply wonderful. A great, faith-inspired, peaceful album. Listen to song excerpts here.

The radio show clearly had to confront a number of serious challenges. First of all, it was filmed before a live audience, and while this clearly helped energize the lead performers (you can hear it in their voices), it does at times mean that the radio listener can feel a bit left out (laughs at things which seem to include a visual component, for example, require a lot of imagination). In essence, the performers have a real rapport with the live audience, but only a derivative rapport with the radio listener — which is normal and can’t be helped — but I will give them credit for one thing: the sound production quality is excellent, and really helps you to forget, as much as possible, that you aren’t really there. Kudos to the team for this one.

As well, I must admit that I was entertained. Yes, I even had a good chuckle now and then! Religion is, of course, something to be taken seriously, but (unfortunately) for many religious believers this seems to mean that the take *themselves* far too seriously. That is never good.

Bill Kassels, in his cover letter to me, explained that he hopes this show will be the first of many for Catholic radio. There is no question that we need more and more of a Catholic presence in mass media, and that (for this to become a reality) it will require a greater and greater quantity of quality content. Congratulations to Bill Kassels and company for doing something about it!

“It’s fun to be Catholic” will be broadcast seven times over five days: Wednesday, August 29, and Friday, August 30, at 7:00 pm; Saturday, September 1 at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm; Sunday, September 2, at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm; and Monday, September 3 (Labour Day), at 2:00 pm. All these broadcasts will take place on Ave Maria Radio.