Movie Review: Obsession (2026)

Obsession (2026) written and directed by Curry Barker

Bear (Michael Johnston) works at a local music shop with Nikki (Inde Navarrette), Sarah (Megan Lawless), and Ian (Cooper Tomlinson). Bear has his eye on Nikki, though she is so cool and aloof that she doesn't show signs. Bear is shy and unassertive, so he's getting nowhere. Sarah is into Bear but he's not interested. Her dad owns the shop and is hoping she will make it into one of the colleges she applied for. Ian is a wing-man for Bear. He thinks Bear just needs to be honest and admit his feelings to Nikki, though not at their usual trivia night because he doesn't want Bear's situation to ruin the vibe. Bear is a bit distraught because his cat died, something he has trouble admitting to his friends. Chatting on the phone with Nikki, he finds out she lost a crystal necklace. Bear goes to a local New Age gift shop to get her a replacement but winds up buying a One Wish Willow, a novelty item that promises to grant a wish. After trivia, he winds up driving Nikki home but still can't get the courage up to talk to her even though she seems very open. He uses the One Wish Willow for himself, asking that Nikki love him more than anyone else in the whole world. She comes back from the house and is more aggressive about inviting him in, claiming she's distraught over her estranged dad's cancer diagnosis. Nikki and Bear start having a romantic relationship, but she becomes very possessive and very erratic. That's noticed by Sarah and Ian, who try to intervene. The situation spirals out of control as Bear can't say no to Nikki and Nikki can't behave like a decent human being.

The movie is a Monkey's Paw-style horror film. Bear is sympathetic at the beginning though his unassertive behavior and dishonesty make him less and less appealing. By the end, I considered him the villain of the piece. Nikki seems like the obvious villain, but her character is underdeveloped, leaving her erratic behavior less character-driven than plot-required. Her obsessive behavior does not seem like love on any level, just possessive manipulation. She's scary for sure but not really a person. Navarrette is great in the role, selling the erratic behavior and keeping it from becoming over-the-top nonsense that's more laughable than frightening. The story runs through its paces with good direction and fine performances from the supporting characters. The ending is the typical bleak modern horror ending. After the movie was over, I felt like this was following in Joker's footsteps as the "feel bad" movie of the year. I don't think I'll ever watch it again. 

Mildly recommended--I am surprised this was a big box office hit (do people really watch this multiple times?), but I say the same thing about Joker.

Book Review: Early Christian Lives by Various Authors

Early Christian Lives by various authors

This anthology gathers several lives of the saints written in the first centuries of the Catholic Church's existence.

Life of Antony by Athanasius

Antony is a monk who went out to the desert in Egypt to live an ascetical life. There, he dealt with many temptations and assaults by demons. His response was to rely on the Lord Jesus Christ, invoking His name against the power of the devils. The devils naturally fled. Antony's reputation spread and people constantly came to him for prayers and advice. Some came to join him in the hermit's life of prayer and penance. He welcomed them reluctantly, preferring his solitude but recognizing the needs of others. As the flow of visitors grew stronger, he fled further into the desert. People had to prove they really wanted his help by enduring a dangerous and taxing journey. Of course, "his help" was merely the working of God, a fact he constantly pointed out to the monks and the pilgrims alike. This book details some of the miracles and many of the teachings of Antony, ending with his pious death. I thought was good but a little long and repetitive.

Paul of Thebes by Jerome

In a short work, Jerome describes how Paul of Thebes was the first desert hermit even before Antony. The narrative explains how Paul came to be in the desert and then skips almost a hundred years to the point when Antony goes to visit Paul, who is near death. They have some interesting conversation and Paul asks Antony to get a special cloak for him to be buried in. By the time Antony gets back, Paul is dead. Without a shovel to dig a grave, Antony wonders what to do when two lions come and dig out a hole for the corpse of the holy man. Jerome's style is entertaining to read, a nice plus to the pious actions and conversations.

Hilarion by Jerome

Hilarion lived toward the end of Antony's life. They were in contact a few times. Hilarion modeled much of his life after Antony's style. He lived as a hermit, contending with the Devil and his minions while living a very simple life. Like Antony, his reputation got around and people started coming to him for advice and miracles, once the miracles started happening.  Later in his life, Hilarion tried going other places, even sailing to Mediterranean islands and the European mainland.

Jerome's writing style makes this a fascinating read. Hilarion has a very interesting character. It's easy to imagine him sighing as the public invades his privacy, knowing that he needs to help out other people. I had a lot of sympathy for Hilarion and enjoyed the vivid descriptions and fun little side comments.

Malchus by Jerome

Malchus's story is fairly simple but highly dramatic. He was living an ascetic life in a monastery when he decided to return to his parents. He sold off his few possessions but kept some "traveling money" to get him home. The abbott cautioned him against leaving and against hanging on to wealth. Malchus did not listen. On his way, he was captured by bandits and sold into slavery. He worked honestly as a shepherd for his new master, so well that the master decided to give a female slave to Malchus as a wife. Malchus had readopted his monastic lifestyle as a shepherd, eating hardly anything, praying constantly, and working hard. He did not want to give up a celibate life that was going so well, especially with a slave woman he did not find particularly attractive. The two went off to a cave where Malchus decided to kill himself rather than renounce virtue. The woman told him not to do it or she would be blamed. He should kill her first or they could live a pretend marriage. She didn't want to sleep with him either. They lived as brother and sister (though the master did  not know) and their Christian care for each other convinced the master that they were happily married. Eventually, they decided to escape through some harrowing adventures. Malchus returned to his monastery to live the holy life he was meant for.

The story is quick and exciting, full of action and drama. It's also full of faith and good examples. Jerome's writing style is top notch. Why isn't this story a movie yet?

Life of Martin by Sulpicius Severus

Martin of Tours was a very popular saint back in the day, thanks in part to this hagiography. He started life as son of a Roman soldier. Martin became a soldier as well, fighting bravely though slowly withdrawing from the military life. He famously saw a beggar in winter and cut his cloak in half to give part of it to the destitute man. Others mocked Martin for his shabby cloak. That night, Martin had a dream where Christ was wearing that half-cloak, a confirmation of the goodness of Martin's behavior. Martin left the army and became a monk. He made the mistake of settling just outside Tours, France. He was close enough to the city that people came to him for advice and miracles. They were so impressed with him that they insisted he become their bishop. After many efforts at resistance, Martin finally gave in. Severus chronicles many miracles attributed to Martin's intervention and some conflicts with devils who tried to pass themselves off as holy people (one even claimed it was Christ!). The story does not end with Martin's death because Severus wrote before Martin died.

Martin's story is fascinating and well told by Severus. He captures the innocent wiliness of Martin and how much of an impression he made on others, be they fellow soldiers, monks under his care, or Christians in search of help. 

Life of Benedict by Gregory the Great

 This is the classic text of hagiography. Gregory the Great chronicles the life of Benedict, the father of western monasticism. Like others, he tried to live in isolation in order to achieve spiritual perfection. He was tempted by many sins. He famously distracted himself from lustful thoughts by stripping naked and rolling around in thorny bushes. The physical pain was enough to put any other thoughts out of his mind! His life soon drew the typical combination of men to imitate his lifestyle and general populous who wanted advice or miracles. Benedict's lifestyle was so popular that he had to open several monasteries, which required the further step of appointing abbots and writing his famous Rules to guide the communities. Gregory tells the many miraculous stories of Benedict's life, ending with one performed by his sister Scholastica. In another famous incident, she came for her yearly visit with Benedict and they had such a good time talking about holy things that it gets late. She asked Benedict to stay up all night and continue the pious conversation. He said he wanted to get back to the monastery. She put her head down, cried and prayed to God for him to stay. When she raised her head, the rain poured down with lightning and thunder convincing Benedict that he could go nowhere.

The stories are interspersed with little dialogues between Gregory and his disciple Peter, who asks questions about the incidents and miracles, helping to add some more theological explanations to the situations. Many of the miracles read like pious exaggerations, especially when there are so many examples presented. It makes for lively reading that's spiritually enjoyable but that nagging thought of "is this for real?" crops up too often. 

Recommended--these are classics of Christian hagiography.

Cute Kid Pix September 2026

More pictures that didn't make their own post...

At Hershey Park, I broke the fifth metatarsal on my left foot. I didn't know that till we went to an urgent care facility and got an x-ray. I will be in a stabilizing boot for a couple of months, hopefully downgrading to a fixed-sole shoe until the bone is fully healed. 

Top view of my left foot

A closer look

The urgent care folks said I should wait a week before going to an orthopedist, but I wanted to get more advice quickly, like if I needed surgery or to keep the foot up constantly or put no weight on it at all. The doctor reaffirmed the urgent care assessment, recommending that I get more calcium and vitamin D in my diet. Later in the week, we went out for ice cream, just for medicinal purposes. We sat outside so I could get some natural vitamin D. 

Banana Creme Pie in ice cream form

I went for some mild geocaches to get some sunshine and exercise. Nothing was deep in the woods or hard to find. Falls Church Trondhjemite is an earthcache at the Tinner Hill Arch. The arch commemorates the first rural branch of the NAACP. The stones were originally quarried by African American stone masons who lived in the area.

Tinner Hill Arch

Wakefield Chapel in Wakefield, Virginia, has a virtual cache associated with it.

Going to the chapel

I finally went to a local farmers' market, something I've meant to do all summer. I bought some wine and garlic-cheese focaccia for dinner. They were great, I would go back again.

Savage Farmers' Market (Savage is a town, not an adjective)

The kids are back in school and with my foot, we didn't do much exploring. Maybe more next month?

Book Review: Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 33 by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Volume 33: The Hidden by Stan Sakai

One epic adventure of the rabbit ronin!

Two men are chased into town and killed by Shogunate agents. One man carried a precious item that was stolen by a local thief before the agents could get to the arrow-stricken body. Inspector Ishida winds up on the case with Usagi tagging along to help out. The mystery becomes more intriguing when the item taken is identified as a foreign object, possible from the Christian sect that has been forbidden by the Shogun. Can Ishida and Usagi solve the case and find the item?

 The story is just as much Ishida's as Usagi's, emphasizing the investigation and the much more humanitarian attitudes of Ishida, even though he's a fairly strict police officer. He uses his authority to get to the truth and to fight actual crimes, saying at one point that he lets people believe what they want, even if he disagrees with them or they have been outlawed. Ishida prosecutes people for their actions. Being a Christian is punishable by death in medieval Japan but Ishida has no interest in persecuting the belief, something that surprises Usagi. Ishida is a very interesting character and could easily have his own spin-off.

Highly recommended.

Movie Review: Hokum (2026)

Hokum (2026) written and directed by Damian McCarthy

Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) is a mildly successful writer who heads off to the hotel in Ireland where his parents honeymooned. He's taking their ashes to spread by a special tree near the hotel. Bauman is a bit of a grump, being rude to the hotel staff for no good reason, even when they recognize his name and try to make some connection with him. They tell him the honeymoon suite has been locked for years because it is haunted by a witch. They also tell some fairy tales about the area, including a witch who carts off kids in chains when she can get them. He gets drawn into the mysteries, somewhat unwillingly.

The story has a lot of unsettling twists, some that are predictable (like the fate of his parents) and some that are not predictable (like the fates of various hotel people). The narrative provides a good blend of mystery and horror as what's going on is slowly explained. The creepy atmosphere is well executed, with occasional jump scares. The whole show works very well and the ending wraps up things nicely, paying off the natural and supernatural elements of the story. This is a top-end low-budget horror film.

Recommended, highly for horror fans.

TV Review: Daredevil Born Again Season 2 (2026)

Daredevil Born Again Season 2 (2026) created for television by Matt Corman and Dario Scardapane based on the Marvel comics character

Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) is New York City's mayor and has enacted an anti-vigilante law which comes along with a heavily armed and armored task force. He claims he's reduced crime in the city and made things a lot safer for the city that he loves. But the cost is a lot of overreach by the task force. And Fisk is still running some illegal operations, especially through a port that doesn't have oversight by anyone else. A ship comes in with a secret cargo of military-grade weapons. Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) as Daredevil goes on board to find evidence only to come into conflict with the task force. The captain and his first mate have orders to scuttle the ship if things go badly, which they do. But the ship is already in New York Harbor and doesn't sink all the way. Fisk scrambles to control the situation while Daredevil also scrambles to make the most of the situation. He's been fighting from hiding along with Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll), who is running the propaganda part of their anti-Fisk operation. They have few allies.

While I love the characters here, the show is quite bleak and a bit of a slog to get through. People are miserable on all sides and not much hope comes from any direction until the last five or ten minutes of the show. The courtroom drama parts are not authentic and feel designed to be melodramatic rather than to reflect how the legal system actually works. If that wasn't jarring enough, Fisk enters a celebrity boxing match while he's also on high alert for threats to him and his wife. What's the mayor of New York doing that for? The whole plot of Fisk's overreach with his task force is a clear parallel with President Trump and the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a very heavy-handed and obvious commentary. With the somber and realistic tone of the series, the departures from reality stick out too much. The ending managed to pull things together but this is only an average drama for an exceptional character.

Mildly recommended.

As I publish this (October 2026), this is only available streaming on Disney+.

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.