Thoughts on ‘G.K. Chesterton: A Criticism’

March 21, 2023March 21, 2023 / DBreitenbeck / 1 Comment

This is really one of the most valuable books on Chesterton that I think I have read. Coming from a loving, but clear-sighted brother, it avoids the two errors that many people fall into regarding GKC; that of overpraising him as an infallible or only semi-fallible prophet and of simply dismissing him as an out-of-date … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘G.K. Chesterton: A Criticism’

Reviews: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

December 14, 2022December 14, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / 4 Comments

On the surface, 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street is somewhat unlikely as an all-time classic. The story sounds like something you’d find in a cheesy, made-for-TV special, perhaps something from the Hallmark channel: a kindly old man working as a mall Santa Claus claims to be the real Santa Claus, spreads the Christmas spirit everywhere … Continue reading Reviews: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Feast of St. Boethius

October 23, 2022October 23, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / Leave a comment

There are a surprising number of people whom even knowledgeable Catholics don't realize are Saints, and Boethius is one of the more prominent. While secular scholars loftily debate whether he was even Christian (which seems to me absurd given even a cursory reading of De Consolatione), the Church has recognized him as a Saint and … Continue reading Feast of St. Boethius

Review: ‘The Thing’

October 12, 2022October 11, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / 1 Comment

It’s October, moving toward the Halloween season, and you know what that means: time for horror movies! And kicking off the season for me is a film I’ve been meaning to get around to seeing for years: John Carpenter’s The Thing, the 1982 remake of Howard Hawks’s 1951 classic, The Thing From Another World, both … Continue reading Review: ‘The Thing’

Review: ‘The Guardian Cycle, Vol. 1: In Dreams and Other Stories’

October 5, 2022October 5, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / Leave a comment

Anyone whose been following her blog or catching her entries in different anthologies over recent years will have been wondering when Caroline Furlong was going to favor us with a book of her own. At last she has obliged with this rich little collection of imaginative, emotionally taught short stories. (Full disclosure, I served as … Continue reading Review: ‘The Guardian Cycle, Vol. 1: In Dreams and Other Stories’

Thoughts on “The Greatest Game Ever Played”

August 24, 2022August 24, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / Leave a comment

Historically-based sport movies were all the rage for a while in the early 2000s. Off the top of my head you had Remember the Titans (football), Miracle (hockey), Cinderella Man (boxing), Seabiscuit (horse-racing),Invincible (football again), The Rookie (baseball) and I’m sure about a dozen others that I’m forgetting or never saw. Coming in the midst … Continue reading Thoughts on “The Greatest Game Ever Played”

Friday Flotsam: Mostly About ‘Forbidden Valley’

August 12, 2022August 12, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / 5 Comments

1. Most important news of course is that Perseus Corbett and the Forbidden Valley is up at last! 2. When you buy the book (as I must assume you will, being readers fond of adventure and romance in darkest jungles full of ancient secrets), you’ll find that I include epigraphs in ever chapter and one … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mostly About ‘Forbidden Valley’

Thoughts on ‘Flatland’

May 19, 2022May 18, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / Leave a comment

You have almost certainly never read a novel like Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott (under the name ‘A. Square’). It depicts a two-dimensional world, and the narrator’s experience of being granted visions of other dimensions. About two-thirds of the book consists in simply describing the nature and some of the … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘Flatland’

Thoughts on ‘The Monster Men’

April 30, 2022 / DBreitenbeck / 4 Comments

"Let those who will say that I have no soul, for I am satisfied with the soul I have found...And if the savage men who came tonight to kill have souls, then I am glad that my soul is after my own choosing—I would not care for one like theirs." I had started to read … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘The Monster Men’