In the old days, before Blockbuster became busted, there used to be a whole section marked 'romantic comedies'. There was however no section marked romantic tragedies. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet however is a classic romantic tragedy. And it has recently (Oct. 11th was the release), been refilmed, and then become a box office bust. Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame is responsible for the screenplay. Is the script basically faithful to the original play? Well yes. But in various ways … [Read more...]

Perhaps you have seen his TV show--- Snake Church, a reality show on Nat. Geo. Andrew Hamblin is a member of the Church of God. His church is on a gravel road in Campbell County, north of Knoxville. And recently he has gotten some attention he really didn't want. The Law came and took away a bunch of poisonous snakes from his church. He sees this as a violation of church and state. They see it as a violation of the law of the state of Tenn. which does indeed regulate who can and can't have … [Read more...]

I remember the ride very clearly. It was a good number years ago and we were on the way to Tupelo for me to do a continuing ed event at First Church Tupelo. My friend Bud Gordon pointed to a big spread on the right side of the highway and said, "That's John Grisham place. That is, it was until he moved to Virginia." How does one go from being a small state small time lawyer to being a big time novelist? The most natural straight line from A to B, is to write convincingly about what you … [Read more...]

There is a Pink Floyd song entitled 'Comfortably Numb'. It is about medicating yourself presumably, about drugs to dull the pain of existence. Of course it could be about the use of novocaine during oral surgery so you will be 'comfortably numb' before the drilling. But I want to talk about the effect of the total bombardment from the media in their coverage of one world disaster after another, after another. What happens is after a while there is what is called 'compassion fatigue'. … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPVWy1tFXuc … [Read more...]

There are probably only a distinct minority of persons on this globe who have not heard of Nelson Mandela, a man imprisoned for 27 years on Robbens Island for protesting the evils of apartheid. Millions have even seen the movie Invictus or read his biography about the long road to freedom. It was a long road for Mandela himself, and one that led eventually to his being the President of South Africa and a Nobel Peace prize winner. He has been an inspirational figure for millions, and having … [Read more...]

It's not everyday you get to: 1) play Julius Caesar at the Colisseum; 2) meet the Pope; 3) give a lecture at a Vatican conference; 4) get a private time in the Sistine Chapel, and with your Russian daughter! Christmas did indeed come early.... Praise the Lord. … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmF2rsDHOZc I have discovered I have something in common with Amy Grant--- the same Christmas wish list. BW3 … [Read more...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGY8BQ5N9wA&list=PL3169FFF6D7D99F5D … [Read more...]

"The Magdalene Laundries" is a song on the Joni Mitchell 1994 album "Turbulent Indigo". They were the forgotten women of Ireland, kept under lock and key, forced to clean and sew, and to wash away the sins of their previous life while never being paid a penny. Some stayed months, others years. Some never left. They were the inmates of Ireland's notorious 20th century workhouses, the Magdalene Laundries. The laundries — a beneficent-sounding word that helped hide the mistreatment that took … [Read more...]