Granted, the Seattle Times article is about young evangelicals. But the current phenomenon of political confliction crosses lotsa boundaries. It’s not just young evangelicals that are rethinking their views. Count me in the mix. Nevertheless, it’s a bit puzzling. While the Times is clear to point out the scant defection of young Republicans to the [...]
I’m fascinated by blurbs, loglines and media teasers. Of course, they’re three different things. Blurb — Quotes from an author, publisher, reviewer, fans, or from the book / movie itself; fodder for posters, back covers and DVD jackets. Logline — A one sentence summary of the plot; boils down essential characters / elements; usually includes [...]
Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA), the ultra-popular, ultra-smarmy video game series, opened to killer sales — a record $500 million estimated globally in its first week. According to Daily Tech: The power of GTA IV… is not merely in sales, but in shock. On top of its extreme violence, usage of profanity, drugs and alcohol [...]
I’m in the early stages of an article on The 10 Best “Writer’s” Movies. The idea occurred (and it’s, by no stretch, an original one) as I was recently watching Barton Fink, an early Coen brothers film about an intellectual, idealistic New York playwright who comes to California to write a low-Q wrestling pic. It’s [...]
I still haven’t made my mind up about Jack Chick. Is he a fanatical fundie or pen-wielding prophet? Is he scaring people out of hell or driving them away from God? He’s the butt of parodies, protests, and has even been charged with overseeing a hate group. And now his spiritual shock treatments are going [...]
The Yale “abortion art” scandal has gotten a lot of press, and well it should. Aliza Shvarts’s senior art project — in which she (allegedly) artificially inseminated herself, took herbal abortificants, and displays the “results” of her self-induced miscarriages — is disturbing on several levels. The project is being hailed by some as “provocative,” intended [...]
Jeffrey Overstreet has posted the complete list of 2008 Christy Award nominees at his site. I had a chance to meet Jeffrey at last year’s City of the Angels Film Festival, where he was hosting a panel discussion. I recently finished reading his Through a Screen Darkly and thoroughly enjoyed it. He’s a wonderful writer, [...]
My latest post is up at Novel Journey. But don’t let the title throw you off. Jedi G and the Audible Omelettes is a contemplative (albeit, snarcastic) rumination on postmodernism’s influence upon the arts. I’m a bit puzzled, however, that more wasn’t made of NJ’s inclusion in the new issue of Writer’s Digest “101 Best [...]
Of all the insights in Mark Bertrand‘s Rethinking Worldview, the one about the place of Story in worldview formation is the most fascinating to me. Much like the building of a house, I tend to see worldview formation as a deliberate exercise, a logical process of analyzing and assembling ideas in cohesive, “liveable” fashion. Do [...]
Yep, I’ve morphed again! This new format is less visually demanding than my last site, and (hopefully) easier to load. The header collage is mine, a mashup of “constituent parts” — pop cultural images and icons that grace our collective psyche (or have special significance to me). See if you can spot them all: Charles [...]
