.

The first article I was interviewed for has been posted on the National Catholic Register’s website. I haven’t read the final copy, so you’ll have to tell me what it says. Big thanks to Celeste Behe for making me sound articulate and NCR editor Tom Hoopes for greenlighting this piece and the forthcoming article.

You can read “2 Blog Wonder” here. The article will also appear in Sunday’s print edition.

In other news, I’m on spring break, and as soon as I took my last midterm I packed Frankie and made a break for the border. I’m at home in San Diego until Sunday, trying to keep away from Facebook, email, my cell phone, spend some time with my mom and dog, and (maybe?) get my wisdom teeth removed. I swear getting these things pulled has been an ongoing saga that doesn’t seem to end. One of my BFFs from the Naval Academy is coming home on Friday and I’m looking forward to seeing her too.

I like to treat my school breaks as a retreat. Last night I was reading/meditating on 1 Kings and thought I’d share a passage with you:

Then the LORD said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.”

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD–but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake–but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire–but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. But the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” “Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus,” the LORD said to him. “When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you. If anyone escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill him. If he escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill him. Yet I will leave seven thousand men in Israel–all those who have not knelt to Baal or kissed him.”

Elijah expected to meet God on the mountain in all of these mighty things, and yet God was in the silence. I think it stuck out to me because I’ve been feeling so anxious and overwhelmed lately.

Just for the record, I feel way better. The past couple of days have given me a break and some perspective on why I do what I do.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.

Because what would my week be without someone calling me crazy?

I received this message in my inbox today from some guy named Alex Hammock (Content Warning):

You people are all fucking crazy. I think that you are entitled to your opinions but why don’t you leave other people and their options alone. I am not for abortion but i am for people to have the right to choose. Every one makes pro choice opinions out to sound like they get knocked up gust so they can have an abortion. That is ludicrous. If you are talking legal matters you need to leave your religious views the fuck out of it. Think like a rational human and find another argument that is legit. And who the hell are you to tell others what to do. If we take away peoples right to choose on this matter why don’t we take away all of the other rights that i am sure you enjoy. Like i said before you are entitled to your opinion, but its yours so keep it to yourself.

My response:

Alex:

First of all, if you want to talk to me fine, but there really is no need to hurl insults or use profanity.

I don’t even really know what you’re addressing. Are you mad because I’m the admin of a pro-life group?

~Rebecca

Only children and ignorant people have to throw tantrums to get their point across.

Wait. I take that back. I know some pretty well-mannered children.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.

If you don’t understand the current American economic meltdown or why there is a movement to “kill the [bailout] bill,” this is an excellent video that explains what in the hot, crispy heck is going on:

*Note: A “cross post” is a post that is on both Modestia and CFS. The Rumor Has It thread is a Catholic entertainment news thread I started last Lent. If you would like to read more past posts of this thread, go to my CFS archives.

Celebrities

The sole purpose of this thread is to relay positive
Catholic entertainment news. With all of these celebrities having babies out of wedlock in the last six months, I think it’s important that I salute those Catholics in the industry who are expanding their families in a God-fearing manner.

With that intro, I thought I would make this the baby edition of the Rumor has it thread:

I heard through the grapevine that “Bella” producer Leo Severino and his wife gave birth to a baby girl in July. I have another friend ready to give birth in a few weeks (I’m praying I make it back to LA by the time the baby gets here), and now we wait on the Willits baby #5 due in January.

Ali Landry and Alejandro Monteverde’s daughter Estela’s first birthday was covered in the August issue of Hola Magazine (pictured above). Actor Eduardo Verastegui is Estela’s godfather.

Congrats to all, and hooray for Catholic babies!

Did you know that one of the two executive producers of LOST is a practicing Catholic?

In an interview on the radio program “Personally Speaking with Monsignor Jim Lisante,” [Carlton] Cuse said, “The issue of faith and reason is really central to the lives of all people who are religious and grappling with a desire to find meaning in their lives. It felt like some of those larger issues would be relevant to a show which sort of examines the nature of existence the way Lost does.”

Though he doesn’t have any interest in proselytizing, Cuse knows how to skillfully weave spiritual elements into the show’s stories and characters. He said, “I think it’s about not putting things upfront. If there are religious issues in the show, they’re buried in the background of a show that’s essentially sort of an action-adventure-drama. Source

Eduardo Verastegui recently made a trip to Puebla, Mexico with a group of volunteers from his foundation Mantle of Guadalupe that “has the dual mission of providing assistance to minor pregnant women while promoting adoption; and better shelter conditions for impoverished families in underserved regions.” There’s plenty of pics here . I noticed a guy with a Sony camera in some of the pictures, and I’m wondering if there’s going to be some sort of documentary published about the foundation?

TV/Film News

Great news everyone: Transformers starlet Megan Fox is going to play Mother Teresa in an adaption about her life. Check out one of the promo posters:

Ahaha, just kidding! She’s not even wearing the right habit! That poster is a promo for one of Fox’s new comedies that is doomed to bomb at the box office. I know it’s going to bomb because after I saw this fake trailer for the fake MT movie which one guy called “atheist porn”, I’m sure there is nothing funny about the movie…

More great news that involves two words and a number: Lethal Weapon 5! I’m not even joking. Rumor has it that both Mel Gibson and Danny Glover have signed on to the project that will probably begin production next year (?)…allegedly the script is “fantastic” though I’m wondering what kind of action movie is going to be produced when Danny Glover just turned 62 last month…I’m just sayin…

Former NFL player Danny Abramowicz has created a sports-themed men’s show to premiere on EWTN August 31st…dude shows aren’t really my thing but I’ll probably check out the first episode….

Are there Catholic themes in the latest X Files blockbuster? A CFS reader pointed me to a review that claims the film is anti-Catholic, but Fr. Peter Malone seems to think there is merit to the film…tomorrow I am going to go see The Dark Night, but the X-Files is next on my list and I will be sure to write a review of it, probably next week…

And speaking of alleged anti-Catholicism, it appears that people aren’t very happy with the new Brideshead film…I’ve never seen or read Brideshead, but a number of Catholics have come out against it. Barbara Nicolosi said the integrity of the book was “eviscerated” in the latest adaption…this movie is also on my list of ones to see ASAP…

Right now I’m reading “Left to Tell,” a book by Immaculée Ilibagiza about her surviving the Rwandan genocide. I’ve mentioned before that Passion of the Christ producer and LMU alum Steve Mcveetey was maybe(?) talking about doing an adaptation of the book, but I also just learned that there was a
documentary made on Imaculee too.

A movie about St. Thomas premiered in India on July 3rd…

An Act One Alumnus’ new movie “This is My Body” screened in Hollywood a few weeks ago.

Might there be a new Fatima movie in the works?

Origin Entertainment is working to bring the story of the apparitions of the Mother of God at Fatima Portugal to the big screen. The story was made into a movie once before in the 1950’s, but recent events, like the assassination attempt on John Paul II, the revelation of the 3rd secret, and the recently published recollections of Sr. Lucia are all good reasons to tell a more complete version of the story today. Also, today’s CGI can render events like the miracle of the sun and the vision of hell much more impressively.

Catholic Media

My newest project “Pilgrims,” a World Youth Day mini-series, will have its web premiere September 1st. You can see the teaser here . The official trailer will be out next week.

The Hands & Feet Show is undergoing some major changes. Jose, G, and the ladies save Aneesa are no longer a part of the crew for various reasons. Javier and Aneesa will be teaming up with their parish priest Fr. Roberto to overhaul the old show and create new content. It’s sad news yes, but let’s pray for the crew and encourage them in their new direction. The newest episode of the 2.0 version of the show premiered earlier this week…

It looks like Lisa Hendey of the Catholic Mom Moments blog and podcast has ventured into video. You can watch “Catholic Book Chat with Lisa” here.

And finally, have I got big podcast news for you! The Rosary Army has officially hit satellite radio…Sirius Satellite Radio. Greg and Jennifer Willits of the Rosary Army and SQPN apostolates will have a three hour show on Sirius Satellite Radio five days a week. For the time being they will continue to podcast in addition to the show, though it looks like the second season of “That Catholic Show” is going on hiatus.

I was so happy when I heard this news, because it means that the Holy Spirit truly is working within those of us involved in Catholic Media to bring the Gospel to others.

If you would like something included in the next Rumor Has It thread, email me.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.

*Note: The original version of this article had a blurb about singer Jaci Valesquez who was incorrectly referred to in my news source as a Catholic singer. Because the purpose of this thread is to relay exclusively Catholic entertainment news, I took the piece about Jaci out.

Have you ever noticed how the commercials for medicines for herpes, male impotence, and whatever other sexually related disease you can think of tend to be the cheesiest? It’s always some middle-aged douchey-looking handsome guy playing tennis or painting a picture as he turns to the camera and goes, “I have genital herpes.” (Boy, I wish a man would whisper those sweet nothings into my ear…)

In a similar vein, I’m sure you have noticed that the same “cheese factor” goes for birth control commercials as well….only this time it’s a girl kickboxing in the morning and riding a horse on the beach in the evening. One random day about a year ago, I decided to start to pay attention to these commercials. What I noticed is that after a new commercial for the birth control patch or baby-blocking thingamajig to stick up your vajayjay premieres, about six months later that commercial vanishes into thin air never to be seen again. Around the time it disappears, new commercials for class action lawsuits start to appear.

As my unscientific study concluded, the truth hurts, and sometimes it kills. Remember Gardasil, the HPV vaccine that was supposed to be the holy grail for girls everywhere? Those commercials disappeared a while ago:

The public interest group Judicial Watch recently obtained more than 8,000 reports, under the US Freedom of Information law, of adverse events in girls and young women after they were injected with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

The reports reveal everything from massive wart outbreaks to seizures, paralysis and death.

Ten deaths have been reported since September 2007, bringing the total to 18 since the vaccine was approved for use in 2006.

In this year there have been 140 reported “serious” complications, 27 of which were categorized as “life-threatening,” as well as ten spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a very rare (1 in 100,000 in a healthy population) immune response to foreign antigens such as infectious agents or vaccines, that paralyzes the afflicted person.

And may I remind you that Gardasil was the vaccine they were trying to push onto junior high schools.

Mary Mother of God, please pray for us. We’re killing ourselves for the sake of orgasms.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.