Baron Friedrich von Hugel
Aug 7th, 2009 by linthatcher
Well, after a dazzlingly lengthy hiatus, we’re back. This time I offer a few quotes from Baron Friedrich von Hugel, a writer whom I sense to be right in his views even when I don’t altogether understand them. About the family: Katie is doing well, is a very happy baby, is a joy to hang out with. Susan is getting an MRI tomorrow, so please pray about that. Nick has broken his foot, but is getting better. Sarah and Holly are busy with school. My wrestling match with OCD (and now depression) continues — so prayers are much appreciated. Some day I will be at a nice restful healthy place in life and will look back on these difficult times and barely remember them. Here are a couple more quotes from von Hugel:
“Religion has never made me happy; its no use shutting your eyes to the fact that the deeper you go, the more alone you will find yourself… Religion has never made me comfy. I have been in the deserts ten years. All deepened life is deepened suffering, deepened dreariness, deepened joy. Suffering and joy. The final note of religion is joy.”
“Christianity is a heroism. People seem sometimes to think it is a dear darling, not-to-be-grumpy, not-to-be-impatient, not-to-be-violent life; a sort of wishy-washy sentimental affair. Stuff and nonsense!”
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Lately I’ve been stretched rather thin, so this episode on liminalism isn’t quite the thrill-a-minute porpoise show regular listeners have come to expect. It is on liminalism — or liminality, if that’s the better term. That’s what they use on wikipedia and that’s what you’ve got here — the wikipedia entry on liminality with commentary from yours truly. It’s very interesting stuff, so that’s why this episode can manage to be “lame yet not lame” — which is a sort of liminal thing in itself. Please keep my family and me in your prayers. Thanks much!
Here’s a short and sweet update on what’s going on at the Hatcher maison. Like how about our new baby, Katie? And an opportunity for listeners to reach down deep to see if they have any suggestions for show topics. Like how about liminalism? “The threshold people,” as Criswell would put it. People, places, and things which sit at the border between two worlds. Like Christ, who is both God and man. Or like men, who are both spirit and flesh. Or like the Wolfman, as we see him here in one of his stranger incarnations. Anyhow, if that sounds interesting, place your vote here at the blog page by posting a comment. Or if you have an idea of your own, post a comment. Thanks!
Our tribute to Mystery Science Theater 3000 goes out with a bang as Lint delves into the mysteries of satire, pop culture, and that time Tom Servo sang to his pet turtle, Tibby, for a full five minutes. Meanwhile, Susan is having a baby — tomorrow! Yikes! That makes baby number four! Yikes! The current three already drive us crazy! Yikes! We shall have to change and become more stern and paternal and “draw the line” and no longer “put up with that crap” in our tiny (very tiny) maison - just to create some kind of groundwork for peace and quiet and mutual respect and less screaming! Yikes! Susan has suffered from post-partum complications in the past, but the meds are ready to go! Yikes! We are just a couple of crazy Catholics who actually paid serious attention to Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI’s big time letter about contraception 
For many years, one of the great pleasures in life (in my life, at least) was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I remember one Thanksgiving, in particular, when they had a marathon of around thirty episodes. I was in fanboy heaven, scarfing down turkey and watching turkeys at the same time. Although some took offense at the jibes and riffs and such, I couldn’t help but enjoy Joel and the Bots, then Mike and the Bots, in their peculiarly painful dilemma: stuck on a satellite in space, forced to watch bad movies. It seemed a smaller version of our own dilemma, since Earth itself is a satellite in space, as it were, and we also are forced to imbibe so much inane, mind-numbing, soul-destroying stuff simply while driving to the grocery store: billboards, radio ads, road rash, the whole sense of swimming endlessly through a consumer culture which has drastically changed the human horizon. Sometimes, the best option is to poke fun at it all and thereby make it less omnipotent and omnipresent. With that in mind, here is part one of our two part tribute to Mystery Science Theater 3000. Thanks Joel, Mike and everybody else at Best Brains, Inc. (Of course, past episodes of the show are available in various dvd boxed sets and episodes unavailable in that form can be found online through various bootleggers making use of the “one collector to another” legal loophole. As they say, keep circulating the tapes!)
Ever felt like God stopped returning your calls? This very personal episode (and aren’t they all?) begins on location in a parking lot at Georgia College & State University where wifey Susan teaches a class while I wait in the car. There is much ado about spiritual growth, the “three ways”, intimacy with God and/or the lack thereof, negative spiritual experiences which may cause some to bail on the Faith, Christian apologetics, Mother Teresa, C. S. Lewis, and more. Then, Susan returns, climbs behind the steering wheel and we are off homeward again to Macon, Georgia by way of Gordon, Georgia — a small town with a big, big hunger for elaborate Christmas light decorations. The new weekly pace for excuse me, ghidorah continues!
Shhhhhh! I’ll tell you a secret. This is the first episode of the now weekly edition of excuse me, ghidorah. Don’t tell anybody in case I screw up.
I’ll go ahead and blaze a trail of ignorance and say that Derek Yaniger’s art has always reminded me of the Sixties — of Jay Ward cartoons and Quisp cereal. In the description for his new book, Wildsville: The Art of Derek Yaniger, Amazon links his style with the Fifties: “Celebrating a retro subculture of tiki gods, hillbillies, and burlesque, this collection of Derek Yaniger’s incredible body of 1950s-style cartoon art is a must for all tiki and Kustom Kulture addicts. The only work devoted to his illustrations for Cartoon Network, Marvel Comics (for which he worked on such titles as Hellraiser, Transformers: Generation 2, and Web of Spider-Man), and more, this book contains more than 150 original paintings and illustrations. Derek’s illustration style, reminiscent of cocktail napkin art of the 1950s, delves into the retro world of beatniks, tiki bars, and Vegas glamour. Original cartoon art collectors, students of cartoon art, and fans of lowbrow artists will all find this an essential reference. …Derek Yaniger publishes in such magazines as Atomic, Barracuda, and Car Kulture Deluxe and does prints for shows such as Hukilau, Tiki Oasis, and the Wild Weekend. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.”
