SHORT FEATURE: THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME

So, the number one movie at the box office this past weekend was The Conjuring, a fairly well-received haunted house movie with Catholic undertones. Oh yeah! Of course, I ended up seeing Turbo for Aleteia instead, a movie about a snail that goes really fast. Sigh. One of the hazards of having a ten year old, I suppose.

To be fair, I actually did appreciate the urban setting of Turbo and the attention paid to the details in the animation, but the story… meh. And even though I liked the visuals, sometimes old school non-CGI effects are just more enjoyable. For instance, if you really feel the need to watch something with speed, it’s hard to go wrong with this classic short.

The creator of the short, Mike Jittlov, eventually got around to turning The Wizard of Speed and Time into a pretty fun full length picture, but oddly enough given the subject matter, it took him nine years to do so. Who knows, while funding probably had a lot to do with the delay, maybe Jittlov just liked to take his time.

As someone who has been burning the candle at both ends recently due to work and family concerns, the idea of slowing down isn’t all that appealing right at the moment. But maybe it’s necessary. Contemplating the Year of Faith, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger notes that ‘busyness’ is one of the chief obstacles in our spiritual life. “The truth is that God’s voice is vibrant and alive within us” his excellency writes, “but we silence it when we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with the busyness of life. Abraham needed the silence of the desert to hear the voice of God. Scripture and sacred tradition reveal this consistently in the lives of the patriarchs, prophets, saints and indeed Jesus himself. There is no spiritual alternative to silence and simplicity of life if we are to nurture a relationship with the Father. We can heal the wound of busyness only when we rediscover the joy of simplicity — of doing less and discovering more, of quieting our lives to hear God’s voice. The wound is busyness. The healing balm is a simplicity of life and quiet stillness that allows the voice of God to begin a conversation with us.”

So it sounds like it might be a good idea to slow things down a bit, maybe even break out this old chestnut just to set the mood…

Not at mass, though. Anybody starts playing anything remotely similar to that at mass and I’m outta there as fast as my feet can carry me.