Our church has canceled Sunday evening service for the Super Bowl. No, they’re not broadcasting a feed in the sanctuary per the NFL’s restrictions. They’re encouraging small groups and individual members to open their houses, gather with friends (hopefully, many of them unsaved), and enjoy this bloated American tradition. The decision, of course, is not [...]
How honest should your pastor be? At first glance, that question is a no-brainer. Why, we want a pastor who is totally honest, accountable, transparent, willing to admit his faults and be up front about his failures. If the ministry scandals of the last twenty-or-so years have taught us anything it’s that congregations deserve a [...]
Actor Heath Ledger’s untimely death has provoked many different responses. Perhaps it’s the price of celebrity that one is either loved or hated, but both emotions have been on display since the tragic news. According to the New York Times report, Hundreds of fans, curiosity seekers and news crews gathered in front of Heath Ledger’s [...]
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia is one of my all-time favorite films. Christian themes play no small part in the movie which includes prayer, quotes from Scripture, and the re-creation of a very biblical plague. (For a fantastic discussion about the Christian themes in Magnolia, visit The Fire and the Rose‘s A Reflection on the Cross [...]
Several things have converged and moved this topic to the front burner of my brain. My first novel was based on an idea I’d been pondering for quite a while. It took me maybe a year-and-a half from conception to completion, and the process, while grueling, was relatively smooth. One thing that aided that process, [...]
Patrick Goldstein’s The Big Picture appears weekly in the L.A. Times and is one of the most informative Hollywood insider columns out there. Yesterday’s entry, Mouse House Tops Studio Report Card was no exception. In it, Goldstein hands out year-end report cards to the studios. The overall score consists of three grades: first for box [...]
No matter what happens in the future, rock and roll will save the world. — The Who guitarist, Pete Townshend. There’s no shortage of rock stars who believe, like Mr. Townsend, that “rock and roll will save the world.” It’s a lofty proposition, I know. But what do you expect from 60 year-old guys wearing [...]
Epic love stories are not my genre of choice, which is what made Atonement such a pleasant surprise. That’s not to say the film isn’t “epic” or that it’s not a “love story,” but that, in the end, it’s aiming for something altogether different. Some have criticized the movie on the grounds of this atypicality [...]
With the Writers’ Strike in its second month, the new year is guaranteed to bring us even more bad media. Reality television shows expect to proliferate — bad reality television even moreso. I’m placing Cher and her lesbian daughter, Chastity Bono’s attempt in that category. This from the UK’s Daily Mail, They have, according to [...]
The internet has opened many doors for aspiring authors. But it’s arguable whether all of those doors are worth opening. On the positive side, there are far more places a writer can find a home for their material. Whether it’s short stories, fan fiction, literary fiction, think pieces, womens’ issues or political rants, you’ll find [...]
