TV Review: Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025)

Secrets of the Silent Witch (2025) created by Matsuri Isora

In Monica Everett's world, magic is created by chanting formulas and using mana. She is a horrible candidate for magecraft since she is extremely shy and withdrawn around other people, hardly ever speaking up. But she has a lot of mana and works hard, discovering how to craft magic without chanting. So she becomes the Silent Witch. Her abilities are great enough that she becomes one of the Seven Sages, the greatest magic-wielders. But she still would rather be surrounded by books than by people. She retreats to a mountain cabin where she studies and writes. This idyll is ruined when another of the Sages comes to her with an assignment. Second Prince Felix is attending school at a prestigious academy but threats have come against his life. The other Sages are too old to pass for students at the school (and thus protect the prince in secret). But Monica looks the right age because she is the right age. She reluctantly goes to the school where she needs to befriend others and surreptitiously defend the prince from any would-be assassins. 

Monica's character is very charming and sympathetic. Her awkwardness around others is a common problem, especially among teenagers. She loves books and numbers, often assessing others based on mathematical ratios or solving problems by calculating out things. She slowly gains friends, mostly people who want to help her fit in or excel at the school. Her intelligence lets her save the prince more than once while her style of interacting helps keep suspicion off of her. The show moves at a slow pace, working through various prestigious school challenges like tea parties, horseback riding, ballroom dancing, and chess. And assassination attempts. The situations provide humor as well as character and plot development. It's a very enjoyable watch.

Recommended.

Book Review: Peace Be With You! by Pope Leo XIV

Peace Be With You! My Words to the Church and the World by Pope Leo XIV

This book collects the speeches and sermons that Pope Leo XIV gave just after he was elected pope in 2025. In addition to addresses to Catholics and the world at large, many of his speeches are to various departments of the Vatican and to groups visiting the Pope. While this book superficially seems like a cash grab (publishing a lot of thematically unrelated works just to get a book out ASAP), it does provide some insights into Leo's style and influences.

He emphasizes the need for collaboration and support when he talks to the Vatican diplomatic corps, the College of Cardinals, or the media gathered in Rome. He has a real sense of the momentousness of his task and the humility to realize that he cannot do everything on his own (what pope has?). He talks about the importance of synodality, the initiative to incorporate input from all levels of the Catholic Church into the decision making and governing of the Church. The process is controversial because it does not have parameters appropriate to its purpose or even a clearly-defined goal.  

What is clear is the influence from and admiration for Saint Augustine and Pope Francis. Before he was pope, Leo was ordained an Augustinian, eventually serving as Prior General for that order. He references Augustine as much as anyone in his talks. He also cites preaching and writings of Pope Francis often. He isn't exclusive to those two sources but they clearly have a dominant influence on his thoughts. So Leo emphasizes the preferential option for the poor and the need for humble service.

The book gives some idea of the man elected pope last year (as I write). It's not a full picture, like a biography or autobiography. It's not a coherent whole on a specific topic, like an encyclical or an extended interview. But it's a start. I look forward to learning more about and from Leo XIV.

Mildly recommended.

SAMPLE TEXT:

On the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, preaching to some men about to be ordained as priests, "...the history of Peter and Paul shows us that the communion to which the Lord calls us is a unison of voices and personalities that does not eliminate anyone's freedom. Our patron saints followed different paths, had different ideas, and at times argued with one another with evangelical frankness. Yet this did not prevent them from living the concordia apostolorum, that is, a living communion in the Spirit, a fruitful harmony in diversity." [p. 233]

Cute Kid Pix April 2026

More photos that didn't make their own posts...

Since Easter Sunday was a rainy day, we did an egg hunt inside the house before heading off to Mass. Later on, we had brunch at a friend's home.

Checking the shelves

Into the living room

Geocaching took me to one of Maryland's haunted places...Cry Baby Bridge. The legend goes that a distraught young woman threw her baby into the river below to avoid the scandal of out-of-wedlock motherhood. Another version has her driving a car off the bridge and dying though her child was not found. On dark, windy nights the baby can be heard crying, or so the story goes. The other story about the bridge is that the Maryland Goatman can be seen by people hanging around after dark.

Not so scary on a sunny spring morning

Another geocache had me discovering one of the boundary markers for the District of Columbia. The markers were put down in the 1790s when a survey team that included Benjamin Banneker marked off the 10-mile square area for the capital of the newly-formed United States of America. This particular marker is now in Virginia, part of the square given back to that state.

Imprisoned boundary marker

Yet another geocache had me visiting Brighton Dam, which blocks the Patuxent River and thereby creates the Triadelphia Reservoir. Right next to the reservoir is the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden which was in full bloom.

Triadelphia Reservoir seen from the dam

Road on the dam

Azalea garden seen from the dam

Entrance sign--do not enter!

Pink and red

White close up

Brighton Dam seen from the garden

My son was in a school production of The Comedy of Errors in the role of Antipholus of Syracuse, one of the main characters. He was brilliant. They had a big cast, so they had two different sets of actors play the main characters in alternating performances. In the other cast, my son was part of the Greek Chorus that did exposition drops at the beginning, end, and wherever needed in between.

Talking

Fighting

Chorusing

Bowing

Book Review: Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man by J. Tynion et al.

Universal Monsters: The Invisible Man written by James Tynion IV, art by Dani, and colors by Brad Simpson

A new version of the horror classic The Invisible Man is crafted by James Tynion. Jack Griffin is an obsessed scientist. He's studying monocaine powder, which has very unusual properties. Griffin wants to work in secret but he shares a lab under the tutelage (and financing) of Doctor Cranley. He's also been hanging out with Cranley's daughter Flora, who believes in him and wants to get married. But Griffin is much more interested in his monocaine-based formula which will cause a living being to become invisible. As he becomes more successful, he becomes more obsessed, more secretive, and less humane than ever.

The book does a good job creating a new storyline for the classic character. His larger story arc is familiar but plenty of details have been changed, resulting in new suspense and horror. He already has sociopathic tendencies even before he's exposed to monocaine's influence. The art underlies his secretiveness and hostility, with Griffin's face typically shaded in an environment already full of blackness, figuratively and literally. This is one of the better adaptations of the Universal Monsters canon.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Thrash (2026)

Thrash (2026) written and directed by Tommy Wirkola

A massive hurricane is about to hit the Atlantic coast town of Annieville. Most people evacuate but the story naturally follows those who stay (or are caught) behind. Dakota (Whitney Peak) lost her mom a couple of months ago and is living an agoraphobic life so she doesn't make it out. Her uncle Dr. Dale Edwards (Djimon Hounsou) is a shark expert working north of the storm and sets out to rescue her with the help of a self-serving TV crew that wants to get great footage of the disaster. Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor) is a very pregnant meat company worker who leaves the local plant too late to make it out and gets trapped in her car as the waters rise outside Dakota's house. Meanwhile, three foster kids get trapped in their home when their adoptive parents insist on waiting out the storm until its too late. The big problem is sharks. They've come in with the storm surge, partly drawn by a truck full of meat-packing waste that fills the town waters (even though the foster kids live live much further out of town). The storm and the sharks menace everyone.

Director Wirkola has a track record of high-concept/medium delivery films (Dead Snow, Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters, Violent Night). He has some interesting ideas here but so many things don't make sense. When the truck of chum breaks open, why does the blood and gore go out to sea when the storm surge is pushing everything inland? Why are the foster parents getting checks from the US Treasury and not a local foster care agency? How does their "snorkel-equipped" pickup truck even work? The execution just is not well thought out. The movie is not exciting enough to cover over the big holes in believability and it takes itself too seriously to laugh off the dumb ideas. 

Not recommended--we need a better shark movie!

Food on the Spring 2026 NYC Trip

On the way up, we stopped for pizza in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. We drove a little further for dessert at The Shoppes of Premise Maid. We found a geocache, had some ice cream, and bought a treat for our NYC hostess. I had their Shoo Fly Pie ice cream in a pretzel cone. My wife called it the most Pennsylvanian thing I could order.

Entrance to heaven

"Educational" part of the store--how they make stuff

Me and my ice cream

We made it to New York in time for the dinner rush. We got ramen at Ramen Ishida Chelsea, just north of where we were staying. I had a bowl of the Plant Based Shoyu, with broth, bamboo, bok choi, corn, bell pepper, bean sprouts, and other delightful bits. It was delicious.

Fancy bowl at no extra charge!

A happy client

The second day, we had breakfast and lunch at Google NYC, so no pictures there. Then we made pasta for dinner at our home away from home, which was not very photo worthy either. The next day we had bagels for breakfast from a nearby bagel place, Sofia's. They were great. I had a cinnamon raisin bagel.

Sofia's Bagels

We were in the theater district for lunch and had to rush so we had some McDonalds (no pictures of that). For dinner, we tried out a very popular hot bar at Tashkent Market (a supermarket in the Village). I got the Kutabi with Spinach, an Azerbajani flat bread stuffed with spinach and other good things.

The store spells it "kutabi"

For dessert, we went to Salt and Straw, a local ice cream shop with custom flavors (along with classic flavors). I had the Coconut Cherry Pie with Almond Crust ice cream (two desserts in one!). They were making special salted brownie waffle cones, so I couldn't resist getting that. It was amazing. If I lived here, I would go at least once a week, if not more often. Maybe I would get a job there?

Coconut Cherry Pie ice cream

The next day was our final morning in the city, so we got bagels again (had to finish the leftover cream cheese!). If the ice cream shop had been open, I would have gone there again!

Maybe they will open one in our hometown?

Book Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien

Among his other accomplishments, J.R.R. Tolkien translated many ancient and medieval texts into modern English. One project was "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The poem survives from the fourteenth century AD and is one of the more famous Arthurian legends. Gawain is a knight of the Round Table and nephew to King Arthur. One Christmastide, the enigmatic Green Knight shows up and makes a challenge to a beheading game. Arthur gets one swing of his axe to behead the Green Knight, then in a year and a day the Green Knight will get one swing to behead Arthur. Gawain rises to the challenge, takes Arthur's place, and lops off the Green Knight's head in one blow. The Green Knight picks up his head, reminds Sir Gawain of his appointment in a little over a year, and bids him to come to the Green Chapel where payment will be taken.

Gawain then has to travel all over England in search of the Green Chapel, since it is as unknown as the Green Knight. His search takes almost a whole year. He finds a hidden castle. The castle's lord says he knows where the Green Chapel is and will have someone guide Gawain on the appointed day. At this point, the appointment is only a few days away. As Gawain prepares, a lady of the castle tries to seduce him before the encounter. Being a chivalrous knight, he resists, especially as he sees himself about to die and not wanting to commit a grave sin just before. The final confrontation with the Green Knight reveals a lot about what is going on (including the source of his supernatural powers) and brings the story to an interesting conclusion.

Gawain is a classic knight of the Round Table, embodying honor and initiative. He follows through on his promise even when it turns out quite the opposite of what he expected. He searches for the Green Chapel even though getting there has little appeal. He resists the lady even as she comes into his room in the morning to have a tete-a-tete and maybe something more. His nobility makes him an appealing character. 

The poetry has an interesting style. Rhyming isn't as important as alliteration, giving it a rolling rhythm as it runs its race. I enjoyed the creativity. The vocabulary made some vivid visuals and keeps the reader engaged. Here's a sample:

Now New Year draws near and the night passes,

day comes driving the dark, as ordained by God;

but wild weathers of the world awake in the land,

clouds cast keenly the cold upon the earth

with bitter breath from the North biting the naked. [Stanza 80]

The poem is reviewed on A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast #378. Check it out!

The book has two other poems. "Pearl" is, at the beginning, a poem describing a man who has lost a pearl of immeasurable value. The first few stanzas immediately put a Christian in mind of Jesus's parable of the man who sold everything he had to buy a pearl of inestimable price. That parallel becomes explicit as the poem moves on from the physical jewel to a pure, unblemished woman to the very biblical reference. The praise of purity continues on as the author invokes many biblical images of perfection, finishing with a lot of the imagery from the Apocalypse of John. The poem is interesting and delightful.

The final poem, "Sir Orfeo," describes the life of an early medieval king name Orfeo whose wife is kidnapped by fairies. In sorrow, he puts himself in exile, wandering the earth and slowing growing thinner and hairier as the years go by. A chance encounter with fairy folk lets him into their kingdom where he has the opportunity to discover his love again and return with her to his kingdom that was left in the care of a steward. The story is charming, told in rhyming couplets with vocabulary that puts the reader into bygone era.

Recommended for Tolkien fans, poetry fans, and the like.