HELL BURNS OFFICIAL

Wicked good book. Scientific, comprehensive & compassionate. "Can a boy be trapped in a girl's body? Can modern medicine reassign sex? Is our sex assigned in the first place? What is the most loving response to a person experiencing a conflicted sense of gender? What should our laws say on matters of gender identity? Ryan Anderson offers a nuanced view of human embodiment, a balanced approach to public policy on gender identity, and a sober assessment of the human costs of getting human nature wrong. This book exposes the contrast between the media's sunny depiction of gender fluidity and the often sad reality of living with gender dysphoria. It gives a voice to people who try to transition by changing their bodies, and found themselves no better off." Especially troubling are the stories told by adults who were encouraged to transition as children as though there were no other option (and without therapy) but later regretted it. The book is full of statistics and...

Since John Paul II never outlined in exact detail what "the masculine genius" is (only "the feminine genius"), I asked men and women: "What, in your opinion, is the 'masculine genius'? That is, what's great about being a man?" from women: --it has nothing to do with beards --duct tape --controlled power shows meekness. Jesus showed us the masculine genius. --asking for directions --take care and protect, no matter what! --men have a strength so different from women's strength. My husband's strength allows me to be vulnerable when I'm around him. --the masculine genius is the quality of a man who knows to defer to the feminine genius before making ingenious decisions. --mechanical gifts and beyond. Anything involving wrenches, grease and heavy metal (not the music) --instinct to protect! --my father and brothers express their love by making sure my car's fluid levels are on point. --creativity! Think about the things men have mad...

America's favorite crime-fighting family with superpowers is back in the sequel entitled simply: "Incredibles   2," and it's not bad, not bad at all. Superheroes are outlawed in 100 countries, and it looks like our fearless defenders will have to hang up their spandex for good. But a young philanthropist and his sister, an inventor, are having none of it. They rally superheroes, including the Incredibles family, to get them reinstated through a media campaign: let the "supers" tell their own story, don't let politicians do it for them (politicians don't like the supers because "people who do good just because it's the right thing to do make them nervous"). There are two subplots featuring "strong female protagonists," namely Mom (aka Elastigirl) and the teenage daughter, Violet (with her invisible powers). The little boy, Dash, with his superspeed is almost totally overlooked in this film. Mom is torn between working outside t...

WARNING: SPOILERS THE SIZE OF A BRONTOSAURUS The latest "Jurassic" installment, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," lacks none of the action and heart-pounding fun of its predecessors. As a matter of fact, it's one long chase, pretty much. Humans being chased by hungry dinos, that is. However, I am sad to report that wacky ideology has infiltrated even the mindless, sheer entertainment of our beloved Paleolithic   franchise. "Which ideology, pray tell, even fits here?" you may ask.   You guessed it, radical animal rights. Speciesism. (See "The Shape of Water." My review: http://hellburnsofficial.blogspot.com/2018/04/movies-shape-of-water.html#.W0gkTdJKiM8 .) How dare humans think their lives are more important than gargantuan, predatory beasts with uber-annoying, ear-splitting bellows and screeches who couldn't manage not to go extinct the first time, and were unnaturally and unwisely revived the second time? Lonely feeling deep inside Find...

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX We can't talk about contraception and Humanae Vitae until we talk about sex. There are two purposes of sex that are inseparable: love (union) and life (procreation). If we separate them we are "using" a human person, which is never in accord with human dignity. There are two other purposes of sex within marriage as well (that also tie our sexuality directly to God): a foretaste of heaven and a way to heaven (marriage is a sacrament, sacraments get you holy, sex or "the marital embrace" is a big part of marriage and consummates the marriage, the marital embrace is doing physically what marriage vows do verbally). IT STARTED IN THE GARDEN I always think of Eve when I think of contraception, primarily The Pill: "But it's just a little fruit!" ("But it's just a little pill!") So what's the big deal whether we use artificial contraception (against God's Word, natural law and Church teaching) OR Natural Fam...

At first I avoided the NBC series, "The Good Place," which just completed its second season--because it looked like the same old/same old, "heaven and hell reimagined" cutesie tripe that feeds into the trivialization of eternity and the life to come. But, at the recommendation of a priest friend, I gave it a whirl. Not bad, and seasoned with some pretty good yuks.  Kristen Bell plays "Eleanor" who has died and just arrived in "the good place." Ted Danson plays the architect and guide of the Pleasantville-like neighborhood she's been assigned to. But all is not well in paradise. Flaws and deceptions begin to mount. The most glaring incongruity is the fact that Eleanor is, well, not really a good person. Without doing spoilers, since it's the premise of the whole show: Eleanor wound up in heaven by mistake. Yes, that's right. A glitch (there's bureaucracy even in the realms above) sent "fake Eleanor" to heaven in place of ...

The sci-fi thriller, "Annihilation," starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, starts off intriguingly. Lena is a   woman whose soldier-husband is sent on a secret mission--and goes missing. But Lena, a biologist, makes the case that she should go in search of him. There are lots of unanswered questions from the get-go. Was he unfaithful? Did he go insane? What happened to all the other soldiers who go on this same mission and never return? The secret mission is to investigate a remote part of Earth that seems to be taken over by an alien force. An area that is ever growing and in which the laws of physics don't apply. Lena finds traces and   belongings of former explorers, including a video of her husband, who's obviously in distress. The suspense only grows in this fantastical but hostile world. "Annihilation" was directed by Alex Garland, who also directed the stunning, flawless and haunting "Ex Machina" for which Alicia Vikander should have got...

The new horror film, "A Quiet Place," sets forth a unique, promising and engaging world. A rural family with young children finds itself in the midst of an invasion of creatures who track and kill their victims by sound. It's absolutely necessary that this family lives their lives in utter and encompassing silence. So, is this, er, a "silent film"? Kind of! There's sign language and subtitles, handmotions and reading of lips, and a few special places where the creatures can't hear the spoken word. Makes you really pay attention. In "A Quiet Place," John Krazinski directs himself and his wife, Emily Blunt--as they play the   beleaguered couple & parents who make the best of their nightmarish existence with love, smiles, and finding ways to make life feel normal for their kids. You can only imagine the survival gymnastics that happen   when a new, noisy baby is born into the midst of this tomb-like silence! My one beef with "A Quiet Plac...