HOUSE CALL Apparently, there was a storyline on House last night about parental notification on abortion. I didn’t see it, but Anne and Emily over at After Abortion have the details. I haven’t seen House yet, but some of my Christian friends are very enthusiastic about it. Looks like they did a fair job with this issue anyway. Read more

GETTING SPUN It’s happened twice in the last five days. I was interviewed by journalists for Daily Variety on Friday, and The New York Times yesterday. The interviews were basically same-old same old stuff about Christians in Hollywood, and specifically the change in the market since The Passion of the Christ. But in both interviews a funny thing happened. About half way through lots of half-hearted questions about why Christians won’t like Revelations and whether Christians will take a contract... Read more

FAVORITE OMINOUS “THE CULTURE IS THROWING UP ALL AROUND US” QUOTE OF THE DAY Heard in my car just now, from the local NPR affiliate… “Life is important. Drive carefully.” Life is “IMPORTANT”??? No, idiots! Life is sacred. Comfortable shoes are important. Getting your oil changed every 3,000 miles is important. Having a spam blocker is important. Life is first. Sacred. Irreplaceable. Most precious. Beyond value or definition. I am insecure sharing the planet with people who think my life... Read more

EMILY MONDAY #338 TIE the strings to my life, my Lord, Then I am ready to go!Just a look at the horses— Rapid! That will do! Put me in on the firmest side, So I shall never fall;For we must ride to the Judgment, And it ’s partly down hill. But never I mind the bridges, And never I mind the sea; Held fast in everlasting race By my own choice and thee. Good-by to the life I used to... Read more

WRITING AS APOSTOLATE Back in L.A., I’m taking what must be just a short break from my work on the rewrite of the Spanish Civil War movie. After spending the last five hours working as hard on this project as I ever have on anything in my life, I have to take a moment for a little recuperative self-pity. Wow. Being a writer is very, very hard. Being a screenwriter is agononizingly hard. This would be the wrong day for... Read more

CATHOLIC FILM FESTIVAL IN PHOENIX [I got an email asking me to help get the word out about this event. I don’t know any of the folks connected with it, but better to be obliging.] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Christ the King Catholic Church is proud to present the first AZCatholic Film Festival May 20th – 21st, 2005. The church is located at1551 E Dana Ave in Mesa. Organized by Fr. Chris Carpenter, Pastor of Christ the King and filmcritic for... Read more

PROTO-FEMINIST? ‘NUFF SAID… Variety’s web-site reported recently that the writer, Ray Loriga, who co-penned Pedro Almodovar’s, Live Flesh, will helm Teresa, a Spanish language project which the filmmakers tout as “a near-psychedelic vision of the raptures and writings of a towering figure, Spain proto-feminist mystic saint Teresa of Avila (1515-82).” Paz Vega (Spanglish) will play Teresa, with Viggo Mortensen projected to flesh out “a cleric.” Variety notes… “Pairing religious subject matter with the sultry Vega, who toplined Julio Medem’s sensual... Read more

ON THE ROAD AGAIN… I am in New Orleans the next two days. Then, Baton Rouge. Then, back to L.A. Friday. I can’t see blogging much. Which is too bad because I am thinking a lot of very cool and profound thoughts. Oh well. Please do pray for all the wonderful people who are being so kind to me on my travels. Read more

HABEMUS BENEDICTUM! (Trying not to be smug that, in some sense, I got my Pope Joseph…) I am loving the whole Benedict thing! So many reasons why this was a perfect name in this moment of ecclesial history! Most of all, I love the idea that we are re-connecting to the Church of history, that the 20th Century (“a pile of corpses” JPII) was just one more century in the Church’s story. Another name thing that stands out in my... Read more

THINGS TO DO WHILE WAITING FOR WHITE SMOKE Your Linguistic Profile: 45% Yankee 40% General American English 10% Dixie 5% Upper Midwestern 0% Midwestern What Kind of American English Do You Speak? Read more