Book Review: Beauty and Imitation by Daniel McInernry

Beauty and Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts by Daniel McInerny

In an analysis that is both deep and wide-spread, Daniel McInerny explores how art is a reflection of the most fundamental human pursuit and longing. A lot of vague words are used for this end, words like "happiness," "fulfillment," and "flourishing." McInerny rejects the modern answer, namely that each person decides those meanings for themselves. Following the path of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, he argues that human flourishing consists in a life of virtue, a life of moral perfection that strives for the Divine. Art brings us stories and ideas that represent both successful and unsuccessful pursuits, but not in a didactic way. The stories embody that meaning. They reflect or imitate human life, both causing delight in the viewer and causing the viewer to see things in a new light. The works inspire viewers to greater understanding or greater pursuits in their lives.

McInerny has a foundation in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition but uses a lot of contemporary insights into human knowing, artistic representation, and human fulfillment. He readily acknowledges many contemporary artists and thinkers like Flannery O'Connor and David Mamet, Robert Sokolowski and Mortimer Adler. The wide use of resources is a two-edged sword. On the positive side, many concepts are presented in different ways, giving readers multiple ways to gain understanding. On the negative side, familiarity with some of the thinkers and their ideas is needed especially when technical philosophical language is introduced. McInerny does a good job providing a big picture view, but some of the details might seem obscure without knowing what the agent intellect is or the philosophical meaning of "phantasm." The reading requires attention to detail and maybe a little extra research.

The book gives a general overview of artistic understanding in the first half. A bridging chapter presents a Platonic-style dialogue to move readers into the second half. The book continues with a look at various categories of art: music and song, poetry, painting, movies, and stage performances. The application of the theory in these fields makes the ideas in the first part more concrete and helps the reader to apply them to examples beyond the book.

I enjoyed this book very much. The overall argument is interesting and so many insights crop up all over the place that I always found new and interesting ideas or connections. It is a bit daunting to read (400+ pages and the aforesaid technical vocabulary), but is well worth the effort.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: One World Under Doom by R. North et al.

One World Under Doom written by Ryan North, art by R. B. Silva, and color art by David Curiel

Doctor Victor von Doom had previously taken on the mantel of Sorcerer Supreme and gone into reclusion in his home country of Latveria. Now, he has come out as Emperor Doom, ruler of the entire Earth. He claims to have secretly negotiated with every country's ruler and brought them all in as part of Latveria. He promises to make the world a better place, first by abolishing war (no Latverian province may take up arms against another). Second, he raises the living standard of every human being to the Latverian standard, meaning universal health care and education to the highest levels, as far as any individual wants to go. As he is making his introductory speech, he says revolts are already happening in several areas. His forces squash those uprisings but he will not punish the countries. He ends his speech with the promise: "Doom is Wisdom, Doom is Power, Doom is Prosperity! And only Doom can save you." Naturally, all of Earth's superheroes (including the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and a handful of other unaffiliated heroes) come together to deal with this new situation. None of them believe Doom is on the level. They think he is on a power trip, probably with Doombots replacing world leaders or some mind control technique on the leaders. They spring into action but Doom has already anticipated many of their moves. More disturbingly, the world leader are all themselves and not under any mystical or mechanical influence by Doom. Is the Pax Victoris for real?

This narrative is the epitome of high concept storytelling. Having one of the greatest villains gain unimaginable power and then use it to make the world his own is just the beginning. His besting of the initial efforts by the heroes solidifies his role as benevolent ruler of the world, making future actions against him that much harder. There's an impenetrable barrier around Latveria itself--what is Doom hiding in there? Can the heroes find out without making Doom more sympathetic and likable to the rest of the world?

The story plays out nicely, with fun reversals and twists as the heroes try to outthink and outmaneuver Doom. Doom is his usual arrogant (always referring to himself in the third person, for one thing) and genius self, making the drama and the action fun and exciting. The plot is very over-the-top and also very enjoyable.

Recommended, highly for Marvel fans.

Movie Review: Deep Water (2026)

Deep Water (2026) directed by Renny Harlin

Ben (Aaron Eckhart) is a co-pilot on a flight from Los Angeles to China. He's been taking long flights to avoid going back home where his young son is battling cancer. The main pilot (Ben Kingsley) left his family behind a long time ago. Now he hits the karaoke bars in between flights to fill the emptiness of his life. Their flight to China is shanghaied by some broken electronics in the luggage that catch fire. The fire spreads and causes the plane to go down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and in the middle of shark-infested waters. A lot of the passengers are introduced to viewers, giving plenty of side plots to follow as everyone is jeopardized by a situation that's part Poseidon Adventure and part Jaws. 

This flick is a solid B-movie. The story has some decent scenes and ideas in it. Eckhart and Kingsley give solid performances. On the other hand, a lot of the minor characters have cliched story-arcs that play out as you would imagine (will the Chinese captain of the e-sports team finally admit his true feelings for his cute teammate?) and there are many very implausible moments. The sharks are very random, sometimes ignoring certain characters or only mildly injuring them or majorly-but-not-fatally injuring them or leaping out of the water spectacularly. I don't mind that I saw this but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

Barely recommended. You need to be a fan of someone in the cast (that includes the sharks).

TV Review: X-Men '97 Season 2 (2026)

X-Men '97 Season 2 (2026) created by Beau DeMayo based on the 1990s series based on the Marvel Comics

This series has the X-Men fighting the supervillain Apocalypse. He starts out in ancient Egypt as an insignificant slave and rises to become the first mutant. He lives on for thousands of years. The X-Men fight him in the far future, the past, and the present. The far future is dominated by Cable, the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey, who is fated to kill Apocalypse. Cable knows about his fate and has become obsessed by it. His aggression leads him to form his own mutant team, X-Force, who travel through time to fight Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Professor X and Magneto try to stop En Sabah Nur from becoming Apocalypse in 3000 BC. When all the X-Men return to modern day (1997, that is), they have to deal with X-Factor, a group of mutants hired by the American government to keep mutants in line. Naturally, the three X-groups come into conflict with each other as they are trying to deal with Apocalypse in their own ways.

The show gets a little convoluted as it goes along. The main story line gets scattered, especially when filler episodes show up, like the one where Wolverine gets his adamantium back while on a mission to the Weapon X facility. The stories are exciting even if they don't all gel together. The finale introduces a new problem, the election of an anti-mutant president of the United States. Also, Mystique takes over the identity of the head of X-Factor, which probably won't be good news in season 3. I enjoyed this season enough to be looking forward to next season.

Recommended, highly for X-Men fans.

As I write this (September 2026), this is only available streaming on Disney+.

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park, Maryland

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park was a historic farm in Montgomery County, Maryland. Doctor William Palmer built the house in the early 1800s and ran a farm here. The family also ran a boarding school for a while. Francis Scott Key, writer of the American National Anthem, visited several times since his daughter was enrolled there. The construction of the manor house follows the Federal style popular then. Tours are available on the weekends, but I visited on a weekday. 

Woodlawn Manor

A double side porch!

The back of the house

Lawn with gazebo but not much wood

Fairly soon after building the manor house, Dr. Palmer had the Stone Barn constructed. It is a large, multi-level structure that houses the on-site museum (which was also closed). It is one of the most impressive barns in the area.

Stone Barn

The back of the barn

Another view of the back

Several of the minor outer buildings are still extant. A smaller stone structure, thought to be a springhouse or meat house, is just behind the manor house. Possibly it served as the kitchen back in the days when a hot and hazardous kitchen was kept separate from the main house, to prevent summer overheating and the spread of a fire. 

Too small to be another barn

A board and batten tenant house and a log building may have served for the school and for the enslaved farm workers. The tenant house has a statue nearby. "The Inner Light" by Marcia Billig is a bronze sculpture installed in 1988. A Quaker woman holds a child up who has a bird landing on his upheld hand. 

Two nearby structures

"The Inner Light"

The carriage house has been turned into the visitor center for the property. Happily, the bathrooms were open to the public even if the center wasn't!

Carriage house

The property is part of the Rachel Carson Greenway. 

Rachel Carson Greenway sign

This particular part of the greenway is also the Underground Railroad Experience Trail, which we visited a while ago (see the blog post). The nearby town of Sandy Spring had large Quaker and African-American populations. Thanks to their religion, most Quakers freed their slaves, resulting in a large free Black community in the area. African Americans owned and worked on farms, ran schools and churches, even the local Odd Fellows Lodge. All of this made the area a natural path for escaped slaves to find assistance on their way North to freedom. 

Underground Railroad Experience Trail

The Montgomery Police department have a training facility here as well. There are no visiting hours there!

The forbidden zone

Book Review: Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time by M. Mignola et al.

Captain Henry and the Graveyard of Time written by Mike Mignola and Bruce Zick with art by Bruce Zick

Young Whittier inherits his uncle's mansion in 1880s England. Edward Grey and some other Whittier relatives are summoned when he hears a voice speaking from one the decorative polar bears the uncle once hunted. The family hooks up a fancy steampunk suit that will transport someone to "the other side," hopefully to settle down the uncle's ghost. Captain Winston Henry, ex-military and friend of the family, is in the suit when they power it up. Initially, he is transported to what seems like the spirit realm version of the mansion's interior but an overload sends him to an entirely different place, the Graveyard of Time. He only knows the name because he runs into a professor who claims to be a time traveler trapped in this dimension along with a lot of other time travelers. As the name suggests, the other time travelers are all dead, most still sitting in their time travel machines. The graveyard is not without its monsters, as Captain Henry soon discovers. 

The book is part of the Hellboy universe, though a very tangential corner. The graveyard is a steampunk art playground for artist Zick, who comes up with very fantastical machines, ruins, and monsters. Other than exploring and the occasional fight, the story is not so interesting. An explanation for the graveyard is given at the end that could easily have been given much earlier. This story is more of an excuse to be creative than to develop a new character or a more significant plot. I enjoyed reading it but probably won't come back to it. I'd read a sequel.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Galaxy Quest (1999)

Galaxy Quest (1999) directed by Dean Parisot

"Galaxy Quest" was a canceled science fiction television show that looks an awful lot like Star Trek. The actors still go on the convention circuit, where they sign autographs and answer arcane technical questions that obsessive fans have. At one convention, lead actor Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) shows up late yet again, a habit annoying to everyone else. Two other things happen at the convention. In the bathroom, Nesmith overhears some people making fun of him and the Galaxy Quest fandom as nerds who are completely pathetic. Second, Nesmith is approached by what seems like a quartet of cosplayers who beg him to come to their homeworld and save them from an oppressor. He assumes it is some gig he is scheduled for and demands a limo pick him up tomorrow. They come to his house with the limo, then take him into space to help with their negotiations. He still isn't quite sure what's going on (partly because he is hung over) and blusters his way through, firing all weapons at the baddie. They send him back to Earth in a gel pod, which is when he realizes he was actually in space and the "cosplayers" are real aliens who think he and the other actors are intergalactic heroes. Nesmith has a hard time convincing the other actors about what happened until they all get sucked up into space to help with a second round of negotiations.

The movie does a great job spoofing Star Trek in its entirety. The TV show has the cheap look of a 1960s production with the typical diverse crew including an alien first officer (played by Alan Rickman). That actor is tired of the role since he used to do Shakespeare and has a lot more self-importance than everyone else. Rickman and Allen are great together. Sigourney Weaver plays the female lead who is in the show more for fan service than for checking a diversity box. Tony Shaloub and Sam Rockwell also give great performances in lesser roles. The premise is a bit bonkers but very entertaining, doing a good job balancing the satire, sci-fi, and action. The movie is so much fun and easily rewatchable. It's both a science fiction and comedy classic.

Highly recommended, even if you aren't a Star Trek fan.