I find that when you're trying to get a feel for someone who's super private and reserved, one way to find an opening is to ask a harmless open-ended question; something along the lines of “What is your favorite movie scene of all time?”
For me, it's the train station scene in The Untouchables, where Elliot Ness seizes the bookkeeper that leads to the arrest of Al Capone. Remember that one? --The setup where the station clock ticks to midnight as a dapper Kevin Costner (Ness) sweats bee bees in an Armani trench coat, a mother lugs a squirming baby and clunky suitcases up flights of marble stairs, a music-box lullaby tinkles alongside an ominous bass, a distant announcer calls all-aboard, and the climax; a slow motion shootout between Ness, his deputy and the bookkeeper's bodyguards, as the baby in its carriage free falls back down the stairs.
Speaking of free falls—de Palma shot this scene three years before Bonfire of the Vanities!
And then spur her on with a follow up question like, “What's the craziest scene you've ever seen?”
Ace Hannah gets the credit for this one, hands down. In his movie Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, a massive shark makes a herculean leap out of the ocean and snags a passenger plane in its jaws, bringing everyone on board to an untimely end. Later on, this same shark chomps down on the Golden Gate Bridge and collapses it. Smh. If you haven't seen this movie, you really need to.
Nowadays, this sort of insane hyperbole passes as the everyday. What we're living through is so spectacular we don't have to go to the movies anymore.
Every time our eyeballs affix themselves to a screen, it's to see montages of war, disease, hail, locusts, fires, riots, catastrophes, hurricanes, and earthquakes playing before a soundtrack of triggered, screeching ideologues. We've got all the archetypal characters performing on this world stage: the Dr. Evils hell bent on securing Total Absolute Control, the politicians with Messiah complexes promising to shelter the tired, huddled masses, the charismatic savants who swoop in when all hope seems lost, stirring hope into the silenced and forlorn. We've got the axe-wielding Jasons, the rugged heroes, the cryptic oracles, the false prophets, the wanna-be Katniss Everdeens, the cunning and tortured Gollums. The plot is a fusion of Friday the 13th, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Rings.
It leaves me wondering whose vision all this is. Has a director gone rogue, have the characters gone off script? Or is no one directing at all?
And in this production, we’re not mindlessly eating popcorn in a bucket seat as things play out. No matter how surreal or horrible things become, nobody gets to walk out of this theater.
As you can see, I have a flair for melodrama, and a bit of hyperbole myself. And maybe I'm making myself sound like someone who gets too much screen time. But I mean come on, who doesn't like to work through a box of Ding Dongs watching and re-watching her favorite movies?
And I've compensated, or tried to anyway. I also go on binges where I drink smoothies, venture into the outdoors, talk face-to-face with people.
And I got zapped about two decades ago and turned into a hard-core Catholic junky. I blame Medjugorje, honestly. So I also spend plenty of time in THAT world. I go to Adoration and Benediction, have actually read the entire Catechism (the one that came out in the 90s), The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and Story of a Soul--way too many times to count for that one. I've been to Fatima and hiked the Camino de Santiago—twice!
Do you want to know what I'm really hung up on these days? The Illumination of Conscience.
Now THAT really sounds like something. Have you heard about it? It's God's second single greatest act of mercy of all time--second only to the Incarnation. And it's supposed to happen soon. WE'RE GOING TO LIVE THROUGH THE SECOND SINGLE GREATEST ACT OF MERCY IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY!
But it's not going to be fun. Not entirely, anyhow.
From what I hear, it's this special moment, unlike any other, where God suspends everything, and speaks to each person intimately. He'll give us a raw and honest evaluation of our entire lives. People will understand where they're headed in the afterlife, and those on a track to hell will see satan punishing them for all eternity! Many will die on the spot from the shock of it.
Sheesh. I've met two people who've experienced “The Warning,” as it's also called, and they say it was pretty painful. Their entire lives played before them, like a movie, and they saw every single thing they'd ever done to offend God. I'm terrified about it, for sure, so I made a general confession and got everything off my chest. Or almost everything. But I imagine it's going to be a blow anyhow.
The BVM talked about it at Garabandal. She said it's supposed to happen after the world returns to Communism or something, when the world situation is at its worst. We’ll have a period of respite from Lucifer to process it and reconcile and repent. Then, after several weeks, God will release Lucifer and his Legions from their bondage in hell, and they'll savage Middle Earth with a ferocity that diminishes the battles in Lord of the...
🎬 Going to cut myself off here. As you see, once I get going I can ramble on as much as the next person. But this gives you the gist.
