Wow! Somewhere around fifteen minutes ago, this humble blog notched its 300,000 visitor! Thanks to all of you for stopping by so regularly, and for making this blog a fun and dynamic stop-over in cyberspace. I keep thinking I will need to go on a blogging hiatus soon. There are books and screenplays and newspaper columns to write…. But not today! Read more

I was quoted in an article that appeared in the recent issue of Daily Variety’s bi-monthly magazine, V-Life. The article was on a marketing company owned by my friend, Jonathan Bock, Grace Hill Media. Grace Hill is playing an advisory role to Columbia Pictures as it produces and markets The Da Vinci Code. It’s a risky business Jonathan is in. I’m on the record as supporting Jonathan, as opposed to supporting the movie. [“Split hairs much, Barb?”] I couldn’t find... Read more

695 As if the Sea should partAnd show a further Sea —And that — a further — and the ThreeBut a presumption be — Of Periods of Seas —Unvisited of Shores —Themselves the Verge of Seas to be —Eternity — is Those — Read more

[Note from Barb: Act One alumn, Lauri Deason, asked me to post a notice about an upcoming film festival being hosted by her church…and Lauri is not someone to be denied! Here follows the announcement. I only add that if Lauri is involved, it will be great. And also that the film “After the Truth” was written by Christopher Riley, the Director of our Act One Writing Program.] UPC Presents FilmFest 2005:June 16, 17 & 18 in Larson Hall at... Read more

Karen Hall, sister of Joan of Arcadia creator, Barbara Hall, notes on her blog that there is still a remote chance that Joan could be saved. She writes… …everyone should stop bugging CBS and start writing to Sony, who is shopping the show to other networks. Also wouldn’t be a bad idea to write to other networks to encourage them to buy the show. Try NBC, ABC and Fox. UPN is owned by CBS, and the actors probably wouldn’t be... Read more

You want to laugh, except that it’s not a joke. Did anybody else catch ABC’s This Week Sunday morning? There was Sen. Arlen Spectre (R?-PA), and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) arguing for George Stephanopoulos as to when it is ethically okay for scientists to do experiments on human embryos. Spectre (talk about the shoe fitting..) his voice dripping with disgust that he would even have to explain it, detailed how human life can’t be said to begin until the little... Read more

One of the things that defines a beautiful work of art, is that – to use sacramental language – it is a harmony of matter and form. The ideas that the artist has to communicate choose the artistic medium that suits them. A brilliant work of art pushes the limits of the chosen medium, exploiting all of its levels of meaning to impact the receiver. It’s the difference between a painter using all the colors in the spectrum, or just... Read more

LILY AND ME…[HUMBLE COUGH] There’s a nice interview up here with Barbara Hall. (You have to click on the link on the upper-righthand side, where they spell our name wrong.) This is my favorite part… FAITH: Tell us about your conversion to Catholicism. BH: I was born and raised Methodist. I went through the RCIA process – I was taught by an ex-nun. She was much like the ex-nun who appears on Joan of Arcadia, but wasn’t into surfing and... Read more

GOD + PLAY STATION = AN UNEQUAL YOKE?” Joel Stein has an intriguing piece in the L.A. Times this week about his day at the Los Angeles video game convention held here recently. He basically hated it because the totality of the violence plus the objectification of women was too much for him. (ref., well, me: on the adherents of the Sexual Revolution finding their way around to exhaustion with its consequences…) The article comes around to a Christian video... Read more

ACT ONE ON AMAZON! I’m not someone who gets excited very often…but this is cool. Here’s a link to our new Act One book Behind the Screen. Published by Baker Books, you can place a pre-order for it NOW (Hurry! Rush! Quick!) and help us get our Amazon ranking up. Right now, we are hovering around 498,247 most popular book on the planet. If we get enough pre-orders, the publishers will do a bigger initial press run. The book is... Read more