Casey Cole's Blog, page 10

Some Heavy Stuff This Week

What Happens When A Priest Loses His Faith? The television show House is about curmudgeonly who is incredible at solving rare cases of diseases… and also hates everyone. Including God. In the episode that Fr. Patrick and I... Read More

Double Feature!

The Chosen is great, but not perfect Sometimes, you’ve just got a lot to say. That was the case this week when I decided to share a problem I had with the hit TV show The Chosen. The... Read More

Going Back to the Classics

(The following is an email form of this week’s newsletter, stripped of its original formatting. If you would like to view it in its original form, click here.) The Classic of Classics: Casablanca (1942) I’ll admit it: up... Read More

Welcome to the Newsletter!

Hi all! I hope you great summer and are looking forward to more content from Breaking In The Habit!

As I reflected on the changes that have taken place over the years, I realized that the idea of a “blog” had fallen to the wayside years ago when I started posting reflections on YouTube. I continued to post on the blog whenever a new video or podcast would come out, sometimes giving some behind-the-scenes information, other times just rewriting part of the script. It was tedious, as it never really offered anything new, and I often forgot to do it. Sorry about that.

It’s for this reason that I’ve decided to reformat how I use this site. Instead of a traditional blog, it will serve as a weekly newsletter, hosting all of the week’s content in one place. Look for an email each Saturday morning for videos, podcasts, and news from Breaking In The Habit!

Are you in control of your life?

This was the question I had in this week’s YouTube reflection. Have I gotten to where I am because of my own decisions, or are there other forces as work? Some call it luck, I call it providence.

New Season of Everyday Liminality… with a theme!

Last year, you may have noticed that Tito and I reviewed a lot of movies from the 90s. This was entirely on accident, but made for a great finale episode! Thinking about it over the summer, we decided we wanted to pursue that idea a bit further, and came up with a new idea for this semester. Listen to the trailer below, and look forward to new episodes each week.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/everydayliminality/616._90s_Movies.m4a

The Chosen is back, and so are we!

Last season, Fr. Patrick and I reviewed the first season of the hit show The Chosen. Over the summer, new episodes were released and we’ve had a chance to view them all. Now, what do we think? See for yourself below.

What a summer is was!

If you weren’t following my instagram over the summer, you missed quite a few incredible pictures. In my tour across the US, I visited Cleveland, Nashville, New York, St. Louis, Longview, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, and Houston. I saw some incredible churches and hiked some breathtaking mountains. Here are just a few of my favorites, but be sure to check them out yourself!

News

No major news to report here, yet… but I did post a teaser for something coming soon. I’m happy to almost announce something new coming to the Breaking In The Habit family of media. Look for more information shortly, but in the meantime, here’s a trailer to something coming September 27.

Fixing Boring Homilies

I may be the one giving the homily each week, but this wasn’t always the case. As someone who studied for many years in religious life, I have heard my fair share of homilies… including quite a few terrible ones. In this video, I’d like to offer my take on why that is, and suggest three things that preachers can do to improve their preaching.

The 90s Movie Bracket

Click here to listenhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/everydayliminality/616._90s_Movies.m4a

The 90s were a great decade. The world moved on from the Cold War, Nickelodeon ruled television, Beanie Babies were a solid investment, boy bands were all the rage, Harry Potter made reading fun, and Tom Hanks, the nicest man in Hollywood, was everywhere. It was a great decade to grow up.

In a decade packed with blockbusters and iconic hits, picking the greatest movie is a difficult task. Luckily, Fr. Tito and I are here to help you. In our season finale of Everyday Liminality, we invite fellow Franciscan Aaron Richardson to the show to battled it out.

For more fun, we encourage you to print the bracket below before listening and see how well you do!

An Open Letter to Atheists

Believe it or not, I meet a lot of atheists in my line of work. Some reach out to me simply to tell me I’m wrong, but many come lost, looking for answers. Both present interesting opportunities for conversation.

For the latter, I try to figure out what they do believe in, what inspires them, what they’re looking for in life, and try to guide them to someone tangible they can explore. Their openness to dialogue is always exciting to me.

The former are a bit different. Given their disposition and desire to compete, I know that I’m not going to make a lot of headway, and so I don’t usually push too hard. Instead, I try to turn the conversation on them with a simple question. That question… is this open letter I’ve posted to YouTube.

The Spoof You Didn’t Know You Needed

Click here to listenhttps://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/everydayliminality/614._Kung_Fu_Hustle.m4a

Including references from Looney Tunes, The Blues Brothers, The Shining, Spiderman, The Godfather, Raging Bull, and a host of others, Kung Fu Hustle is by no means a serious work. It’s a spoof of the industry. Unlike most spoofs, though, it does so as a means of paying homage. It makes fun in order to show its love. With countless homages to previous kung fu movies, the appearance of once-famous kung fu heroes, and the use of many popular tropes. one could definitely argue that it was made to show the greatness of the genre.

Or it’s just a farce. We really couldn’t decide. Either way, we hope you enjoy!

The Two Popes: Fact of Fiction?

The Two Popes is a dynamic, well-made, inspiring mess. That’s what Fr. Tito and I said last year when we reviewed it on our podcast. This year, I decided to sit down with Fr. Patrick to see if he thought the same. In this episode, we look at just one scene, Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting with then Cardinal Bergoglio at Castle Gandolfo.