March 25th Comments (1) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

My friend “Kiwi” from down under has just sent a link to a very fine Australian parody of the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. You can read it here:

March 22nd Comments (6) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, Recommended Posts, The Da Vinci Code

Early in The Da Vinci Code, long-suffering Silas returns home all tuckered out after a busy evening of homicide a la mode Parisienne: “He climbed the stairs quietly, not wanting to awaken any of his fellow numeraries. His bedroom door was open; locks were forbidden here. He entered, closing the door behind him. “The room [...]

March 19th Comments (9) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, Recommended Posts, The Da Vinci Code

I hope you weren‚Äôt expecting more whips and chains, because I have something else in mind. ‚ÄúMany who would let themselves be nailed to a cross before the astonished gaze of thousands of spectators, won’t bear the pinpricks of each day with a Christian spirit! ‚ÄúBut think, which is the more heroic?‚Äù The Way, St. [...]

March 17th Comments (8) / RSS Post Filed under Cartoons, The Da Vinci Code

“Da Vinci Code was Ok, but…”

March 15th Comments (2) / RSS Post Filed under Recommended Posts, The Da Vinci Code

Yesterday, reading the Collector’s Edition of U.S. News and World Report dedicated to “The Secrets of Angels and Demons” – no I did not buy it! – I ran across this sentence: “In The Da Vinci Code, it was the mysterious Priory of Sion and the religious order, Opus Dei.” My heart sank a little, [...]

March 9th Comments (7) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has just launched a site in response to The Da Vinci Code. It includes many excellent pieces by people like Amy Welborn, Liz Lev and Peter Bancroft. I contributed an article called “What’s Wrong with The Da Vinci Code?” You can read it here:Truth Be Told

March 6th Comments (6) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

Some might call it laziness. Some might call it a lack of originality. Janet Maslin of the New York Times might call it “gleefully erudite” research. The Boston Globe, owned by Maslin’s newspaper and loath to wander far from the mother ship, might call it “a delightful display of erudition.” Others might call it plagiarism. [...]

March 5th Comments (3) / RSS Post Filed under Cartoons, The Da Vinci Code

“At the end of the corridor, illuminated signs bearing the international stick-figure symbols for toilets guided him through a maze-like series of dividers displaying Italian drawings and hiding the toilets from sight.” (chapter 12)

Am I the only person who thinks that this sentence may have been written by an alien?

March 4th Comments (112) / RSS Post Filed under Recommended Posts, The Da Vinci Code

It’s reassuring to know that Dan Brown isn’t picking on Opus Dei, Leonardo da Vinci and the Catholic Church. It turns out, they’re just getting the standard treatment. Apparently Brown writes with the same if-it-sounds-good-say-it indifference to the truth about various historical matters in his other novels. Boston author (of science, fiction, and science-fiction) and [...]

March 2nd Comments (1) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, The Da Vinci Code

“If the mighty works that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago.” (Matthew 11:21) I must confess that this year, after all the talk about corporal mortification on this blog, eating my one main meal (a seafood pasta), receiving the ashes on [...]

March 1st Comments (4) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

For what it’s worth (I’m no lawyer… but most of my best friends are): It looks to me as though Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are doing what they’ve always done best: looking for publicity and a buck. And, honestly, who can blame them for being a bit envious of Dan Brown, who’s made a [...]

March 1st Comments (4) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

On a positive note: perhaps I misread the novel. I could have sworn that Langdon and Teabing tell Sophie, in one of their few-people-realize-it-but-it’s-a-well-documented-fact bull sessions, that Jesus was a “mortal man,” but now Dan Brown is defending the Resurrection, thus distinguishing himself from Baigent, Leigh and at least one Anglican bishop. Associated Press reports [...]