PARTING SHOTS

Parting words to eldest son, who ships off to the 'Stan in a month:

"Remember:  the Taliban aren't evil -- they're just misunderstood."

He replies:  "I think I'll return fire anyway."


Background:  (in case he missed it)





MOVIES

Watched in the air between here and San Diego:

Mirror Mirror -- mildly funny, not for children.  Writers probably felt they were extremely clever.

Crazy Stupid Love -- Steve Carell hits another home run on behalf of families and marriage, while illustrating the devastating effects of modern amorality and family breakdown.  As an indictment of easy-outs from marriage and the ease with which post-sixties parents eat their young, it rates with Mrs. Doubtfire and 'Spanglish.  Cry for the children.

Also, in the documentary department:  God is the Bigger Elvis, a profile of Mother Prioress Delores Hart, the young screen goddess who opted for God at the pinnacle of a hot career, having starred opposite numerous screen gods (Elvis among them), but chose to join America's (then) only cloistered Benedictine female monastery in 1963.  I remember it because my mother talked about it with amazement, and I always did wonder what happened to her.  Now we know.  There's something slightly hippie-dippy about the convent, but they do appear to keep the rule and sing the songs with dedication.  What's amazing, and a little sad and creepy, is that the man Hart romanced for five years and was engaged to when she bolted, never married, and remained in love with her and a regular convent visitor until his death last November.

The late Patricia Neal is buried at the abbey, having been a long-time friend of Hart's, and a convert to Catholicism just prior to her death in 2010.

The film was nominated for an Oscar and brought Mother Prioress and her abbey into the news, which is a good thing, because these days hardly anybody believes that anything other than unbridled sex can possibly provide one with a happy life.  (Buy some stuff from the shop.)