Catholic-Themed Play Goes Mainstream in Philadelphia

Just watched this play online that a friend suggested: Heroes of the Fourth Turning.

It's produced by a Philadelphia, PA theater (Wilma Theater).

Synopsis: "Four Catholic conservative friends gather at a late-night backyard party in Wyoming, shortly before the 2017 eclipse. As they wait for the arrival of their mentor and newly appointed college president, secret passions and fears surface, revealing their troubled place in a divided country."

It was interesting. Worth the watch? It's definitely dramatic. Had quite a bit of name dropping and theology/philosophy that was unusual for a play. It worked though.

It did win awards:

"Winner of the 2020 Obie Award for Playwriting!

"Best Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award!

"Outstanding Play, Lucille Lortel Award!

"Finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama!"

I would give it an award for making Conservative Catholics relatable and flawed without making them into devils incarnate.

***Spoiler:***

Well, sort-of devils: I don't know if the possession was necessary. Well, maybe.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part II

It seems that the main point of Star Trek II - other than vengeance - was that, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

It is quite remarkable that this logic was set in direct contrast to Khan's vengeful passion.

In the end, however, both Spock and Khan were dead. How did their companions fare? Spock voluntarily gave his life for his companions lives and Khan took all the lives that were set about reaching Khan's personal goal.

Most people see love as a passion for the other. However, the highest form of love is to do something positive for/to another person for the others sake, not ourselves.

Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13)

Huey Lewis and the News' Bad is Bad Part I

So, this is my favorite Huey Lewis and the News song, Bad Is Bad.


This song foreshadows where Huey Lewis took the band most recently (the video also foreshadows that the original News have moved on from this band). Blues is their new style.

I like all the fancy 7th cords by The News; and in truth, the songs where The News takes a major role are my favorite.

This song really shows what make things bad, and as a contrapositive, what makes a thing good.

The guitar playing was bad because it didn't sound like a guitar, but a chainsaw; the soul stew was bad because it didn't taste like stew; Huey's relationship with Marie wasn't good since she wasn't faithful like he expected her to be (it seemed to be serious since he had the key to her residence).

It turns out, a thing that isn't the way the thing is supposed to be is bad. Likewise, things that are what they are essentially supposed to be are good; the best things are more perfectly what they are to be.

Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me

Yea, I know. The Backstreet Boys? Well, let me explain.

I was walking in the drug store late one night, and from the speakers overhead I heard a terrible fright. Well, that fright was named, "As Long As You Love Me".

I can't explain how much I really hated this song (especially now since Master Bieber just put out a song with the same title which I haven't listened to).

However ...

I got to wondering...

There has to be something redeeming about this song. Let's look at the refrain only (and ignore the rest, shall we? I know, big burden):

I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me

Pathetic, right? Desperate much? Well ...

Then I thought of a Bible verse (I was known as Bible Man in college by some of my friends):

For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5: 6-8

Even though we (the "who/you" of the song) did things that were wrong (being sinners, or ungodly), Jesus (Christ; the "I/me" of the song) laid down his life to save our lives. "God proves his love for us" in this way.

The question is, "How can we love God in return?" for the "As long as you love me" line? This unpopular, old song holds the key:

Tallis - If ye love me

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. John 14: 15-17

So, "As Long As You Love Me" turns out to be not-so-bad if you change it up a bit.

Well, actually, maybe not.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Part I

I thought for a long time that Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Star Trek I) was the second worst Star Trek movie after number five, but the more I think about it, the richness in its symbolism is pushing it higher and higher on my list (at least past number three).

I love Star Trek because of the gadgets, gismos, and science that are incorporated or forced into the show. I'm not as interested in the characters, save for Spock, especially the actors who play them. (This is why Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory TV show logically makes no sense to me in this regard. Why should he be interested in the actors who play the characters since they are just speaking and bringing alive the words that the writers make up? Though I digress.) The Heisenberg compensator (for beaming to work) alone has given me hours of pondering as to how it could work.

I wonder, in their final analysis, whether the writers realized the theological profoundness of their project. This post will mention a single overarching one.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 27 (CCC 27) reveals that, "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself."

V'ger represents man and Decker represents God (Creator). V'ger, although knowing the accidents (or the stuff/workings) of the universe, nevertheless desires with a great passion to know the Creator from within its innermost core, the old stuff of ancient TI calculator circuitry. (Just because the heartfelt longing is old doesn't mean it is not there as from the beginning. / Sidebar: It has been said that all the electronics of the Apollo hardware could now fit in a single TI calculator.)

Although growth in knowledge of the universe seems to be completed at infinity, it is not enough for V'ger. It's programming is not complete. Hence the search climaxes in Star Trek: The Motion Picture with the interaction between Decker and V'ger via the probe (more on this in a later post).