Book Review: "Olivia and the Little Way"

Olivia and the Little Way
by Nancy Carabio Belanger
Illustrated by Sandra Casali LewAllen
Rochester, MI: Harvey House Publishing, 2008


"Olivia and the Little Way" by Nancy Carabio Belanger is a sweet story about a fifth grader who is struggling to follow St. Therese. Her grandmother is the person who first introduces Olivia to the wonderful example of St. Therese. She shares how she asked that saint for help in finding a nice man to marry who believed in God. She prayed a novena (a prayer repeated over the course of nine days)and then waited for a rose (the symbol of St. Therese) as a sign that her prayer had been heard. She waited three long years for that rose, but it finally came the same day she met her future husband.

Olivia admires St. Therese's little way of making small sacrifices and tries to emulate her as best she can. She prays to St. Therese for help in making friends at her new school and for guidance in making good decisions. Olivia is a real girl. She doesn't always do the right thing. She succumbs to peer pressure and gets in trouble with her parents. She keeps trying, however, and St. Therese does help both her and her friends out. Though it takes a while, she finally does get her rose.

This is a lovely story written for tweens, especially tween girls. It helps introduce readers to the Little Way as well as keep them engrossed with the storyline. One truly cares about Olivia and her friends in reading this book.

Reviewed by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
http://spiritualwomanthoughts.blogspot.com

Movie Review: Bringing Up Bobby On DVD 10/5/10

For a dozen years, James Wyler has raised his brothers and sister since their parents died.   Andrea is married now, Dennis has numerous problems, and Bobby is still living with James and about to turn 16.   James has done a pretty good job of trying to teach Bobby Christian values.

It is now time for their parents' will to be read.   Andrea is greedy and hoping she gets everything.   Dennis hopes to get enough to pay off the 'anarchists' (part of his problems).

In addition to these issues, Bobby has a friend Eric who is dealing with an alcoholic mother.  Bobby also meets a girl named Liz in school. He likes to dress gothic, but he's been dressing  more like other students to impress her.  She challenges him him to show her who he really is.   That's exactly what he tries to do:  found out who he is.

A nice family-oriented movie with just enough quirkiness and humor to be entertaining.

http://bringingupbobbymovie.com/

Pro-Life "Guerrilla Journalist" Lila Rose to be Featured on CNN Program Soon

Way to go Lila!

Lila Rose, the pro-life activist credited with using new media techniques to expose abuses at Planned Parenthood abortion activists, will finally receive some credit from the mainstream media. CNN, in a program devoted to what it calls "guerrilla journalists," will feature Rose's work.

Rose is the head of Live Action, a student-led pro-life group that has relied on the use of undercover investigations and hidden camera work to catch Planned Parenthood officials.

The abortion business staffers have been shown covering up cases of statutory rape and sexual abuse, misleading women about abortion's risks and dangers, and giving women erroneous information about the development of their unborn child.

The CNN program "Right on the Edge" will debut next month, according to an article today in WorldNetDaily.

The network talked about the new type of activist journalists like Rose who are "armed with video cameras and ideas," and "post their videos online to get their message directly to the public, bypassing the mainstream media."

"It's a new wave of what they say is old-fashioned guerilla (sic) journalism," said CNN, adding that it is done because there's a "growing distrust of the mainstream media among young conservative activists."

story

Reviewing "Let the Right One In": A Study of Evil

Oskar is a lonely and bullied 12-year-old. Eli is the 12-year-old girl who moves into the apartment next door. They form a friendship over puzzles and Morse code. Except that, as Eli tells Oskar, she is not a girl. He must discover for himself that those puzzling words mean she is a vampire. Naturally, one cannot have a vampire in the neighborhood without missing people and murders, which leads to an interesting and telling sideplot about someone who is attacked but lives through it.

This is a Swedish vampire movie and, as such, is somehow completely Swedish with contemplative photography, neutral colors, and the square, Ikea-ish buildings. It is also somehow completely a vampire movie in the truest sense of the word with evil dominating everything once Eli shows up. That evil is expressed through gore that is also somehow completely in line with a Swedish movie because we are as distanced as it is possible to be from it. Much more immediate is the bullying that Oskar must endure, which is an interesting contrast to the unworldly vampirish sort.

At one point we had to pause the movie for some reason and I told Tom that this was not the "great movie" I had seen praised by so many. He said, "Well you can look forward to the American remake. They'll probably have an explosion or two to liven it up." I had to laugh ruefully. How true.

However, our appreciation of this film grew greatly through reflection and conversation as we put together the puzzle pieces more completely. In fact, I am now going to be curious to see the American remake because we all wonder if the Americans will not somehow find it irresistible to muddy the moral message.

It is definitely worth seeing for the artistry and for the unflinching examination of evil, our attraction to it, our own muddling of what we know to be right and wrong in order to grasp what we find attractive, and the fact that we have the power to turn evil away or invite it into our lives. Oh, and for the cats scene in the apartment. Definitely for the cats scene. Never have cats been so ennobled in the fight against evil.

Caution for viewers: Rated R. There is, of course, vampire induced gore and violence. As well, there is a one second flash of nudity (Eli's genitals). Scott Nehring at Good News Film Reviews rightly points out that this is child porn. However, and this is a big however, the moment when this happens is well telegraphed. We know Oskar is going to look ... and with that warning ... we can not look. I avoided plenty of this movie's vampire violence in that way and wish I had done so for that moment of nudity. Having read Scott's comment, however, I was curious though wary about exactly what he meant. He's right. It adds nothing except some disgust. Do what I say, not what I do. Don't look.

Further reflections upon the message ... with POSSIBLE SPOILERS
(I have tried to do this without spoilers, but for those who want absolutely no clue about the story then this is something to skip.)

Unbelievably, I have seen this called a tender and pure love story. That is far from the case, if we are seeing it clearly and sorting out all the evidence that we are given right up to the very end of the film.

It can be difficult to sort out the evil and our feelings because we see that 12-year-old girl and want to find some redemptive value in the friendship she has with Oskar. Again and again we are shown her monsterish habits and yet somehow still shake them off because they come in the sympathetic guise of a pretty young girl. This leaves us turning against what our brains tell us to be true as we watch victims lured to their end and instead relating to Oskar, who is at best emotionally stunted since he wants not just relief from the bullies but the ultimate revenge which he is too weak and afraid to exact.

At the end of the movie, we are left with the contrast between the actions of the attack victim who could tell what she was becoming, the fate of Eli's original companion, and the deliberate luring (some might say wooing) of Oskar. In considering the fate of Eli's original companion, we see what Oskar's fate is. That fate is not any semblance of love. It is the result of cooperating with pure evil.

Movie Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - PG13

Gordon Gekko is back after spending 8 years in prison. One of the first people he connects with is Jacob Moore, the fiance of Gordon's estranged daughter Winnie.

Gordon and Jacob have a common enemy:  Bretton James.  Bretton caused the downfall of Jacob's company, causing the suicide of someone close to Jacob.  Bretton also contributed to the evidence that put Gordon in jail.  

The common theme is, of course, greed. I did feel that Shia Labeouf brought some humanity and sincerity to the character of Jacob.  He is devastated when someone close to him commits suicide.  He also really believes in the new fusion energy startup that he is trying to help get started.  Gordon's motives, however, are always unclear.    I found the character of Winnie  to be very self-righteous and very slow to forgive.  She was the only character I didn't care for. Gordon's  character actually showed more about accepting people as they are.

I really enjoyed the integration of the characters with the story.  Although it is not necessary to have seen the original Wall Street movie to understand and appreciate this one, I think I did enjoy it more because I did see the original.  And yes, Charlie Sheen does make a very brief cameo as Bud Fox  :)

Very entertaining and worth seeing.

http://www.wallstreetmoneyneversleeps.com/

Movie Review: Alpha and Omega - PG

Kate and Humphrey are two wolves in the same pack, but she's an alpha and he's an omega.  They have fun together, but she is supposed to marry Garth, an alpha from the Eastern pack.  The two packs are rivals for the food in the valley, and their wedding is supposed to unite the packs.   While out goofing around, Kate and Humphrey are shot with tranquilizers and driven to Idaho to repopulate there.  Instead, they work together to find their way home.

I found the story very entertaining, as the wolves are portrayed as pretty fun creatures who sing and dance.  There is quite a bit of humor, quite clever, and not the crude type.

a very wholesome movie, entertaining for the whole family.

http://www.alphaandomega3d.com/

New Irish cartoon will feature main character with Down syndrome

A new children's cartoon in Ireland will feature "Punky" a six year old girl with Down syndrome. It promises to be a positive portrayal, treating her as just one of the family. This cartoon is perhaps a result of living in a nation where 90% of babies with Down syndrome are not aborted. Abortion is still illegal in Ireland, and a visiting US professor wrote an article about how casually children with Ds are accepted in Irish society.
The only US cartoon to feature a character with Down syndrome was Family Guy, which was a disaster, as it led to a disgusting song about the sexuality of girls with Down sydnrome. People with Ds are a novelty in this nation, and an object of ridicule, not simply members of the community as they are in Ireland.

Gerard O’Rourke from Monster animation says that the main character Punky is a playful six year old girl who lives with her family but she is slightly different to other children. O'Rourke told the Evening heard that judging from their research this is the first ever series where the main character has Down Syndrome.

"It was unique and scary to deal with the subject matter on a mainstream cartoon. Down Syndrome Ireland provided a great bedrock and they were completely behind the idea of us doing the show," he said.

He added: "We wanted it to be shown among mainstream cartoons. It's not like a special show being shown at a special time. It'll be shown in amongst Dora the Explorer and Peppa Pig."

Good for Mr O'Rourke! You can't accept a type of person you rarely see, so frequency of contact leads to acceptance. I have never faced rejection of Christina by children, merely curiousity.

Maybe American TV will carry the show and teach young people in the US what a child with Down syndrome is like, they would certainly have to search far and wide to find one here.

Read the entire story at Irish Central.

Book Review: "Dear God, I Don't Get It"

Dear God, I don't get it!
by Patti Maguire Armstrong
Illustrated by Shannon Wirrenga
Waterford, MI: Bezalel Books, 2009

Why does God answer some prayers and not others? This is a question that plagues even adults. Sometimes, we pray so hard and think we know what God should do in our lives. And then, God does something else or He does nothing. What gives? For children, these questions can be even more acute. Without a lifetime of experience to rely on, God ignoring a prayer can be a faith-shaking incident.

That is the premise behind "Dear God, I Don't Get It." Patti Maguire Armstrong tells the story of sixth-grader Aaron Ajax. His father just lost his job and he has to move from Montana to North Dakota as a result. He prayed and prayed that this would not happen, and God just didn't pay attention. He has to leave his friends behind and while his younger brother Luke is making new friends easily, Aaron seems to only be making enemies. Nothing is going well for him. He concocts a plan to be a "hero" in order to get some positive attention, but that blows up in his face as well. Yet, God can use even bad things for good, and by the end of the story, everything has worked out, and Aaron decides that God knows what He is doing after all.

Armstrong writes with a good sense of humor that will appeal to the 8 - 12 age group that this book is targeted toward. It is a story with an important lesson on prayer for children, and the adults who care for them (and who might read this book with them). For those interested in delving into the story on a deeper level, there are discussion questions in the back.

Polish priest Fr Jerzy Popieluszko

Polish feature film about Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko. This is the trailer with English subtitles,
director Rafał Wieczyński, soon in theaters in Europe.

A story of a martyr Priest for freedom of Poland, beatified June 6, 2010 in Warsaw.
He was charged with "Abuse of freedom of conscience" by the Russian Communists UB [secret service] regime in Poland.
He was thrown into the boot of a car which was driven into Vistula River. It took several days to discover his beaten body.

His martyrdom had a huge impact on liberation of occupied under communist Central and
Eastern Europe, especially Poland.

Book Review: : "The Pawn" by Steven James

The central character is FBI agent Patrick Bowers. He is a widower (he's still mad at God about that) with a teenage stepdaughter he has trouble relating to. Pat is called into help catch a serial killer dubbed the Illusionist, who leaves a yellow ribbon and a chess piece at his kills.  

The case becomes more complicated when it is tied to the Jonestown massacre and apparently might involve the Governor of North Carolina (the story takes place in Asheville, NC). 

This is the first, but definitely not the last, novel of Steven James I've read.  He is masterful at diverting the reader from the true killer, and the twists and turns will leave you constantly wondering what is next, and who the guilty person is. 

Mr. James devoted more time to the plot than to character development, which was very successful, because we get a more detailed and entertaining story as a result.   The two characters we learn most about are Pat himself and his daughter Tessa.  However, we do learn enough about the killer's childhood and  life to life to see why he kills.  I like the plot twists at the end,and  especially that a relatively insignificant character plays a key role in saving people.

Content warnings include the gore of the murder scenes.