It seems hugely anti-climactic to end my two year movie review silence for the likes of the new Julia Robert’s soft-focus orgy Eat, Pray, Love. (Hmmmm… I’m a bit out of practice. Have I just tipped my hand a bit here as to how I felt about the film?) The main flaw of the piece may proceed from the nature of the source material itself. The movie was preposterously, stylishly, Hollywood big-budgety, and insultingly banal. And while a scriptwriter always... Read more

Here’s a nice review of a book for which I wrote a chapter. They had some kind words for my piece: Barbara Nicolosi’s chapter on shepherding artists was one of my favorites. She offers suggestions for identifying, teaching, nurturing, and challenging artists to pursue excellence in their field “for the general edification of the body of Christ and for the world,” because beauty and art, when done excellently, can “open a channel of revelation between God and man.” Thanks to... Read more

This blog just passed that rather cool benchmark. Thanks so all of you who have stopped by. More soon. Read more

Here’s the long version of my article on the Boomers and their cultural legacy. Thanks again to The Anchoress for coaxing this out of me. Read more

Kudos and best wishes to Bob Martinez (WP-00) and his writing partner who recently sold their original screenplay, currently titled “Deathgames,” to the Motion Picture Corporation of America. Principle photography begins May 5th in Baton Rouge and stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kellan Lutz (of the “Twilight” saga) and Daniel Dae Kim (of “Lost”.) The movie is set to come out next year. Everything is proceeding as I had foreseen. Read more

Dear Snowpeople — Well in case you were wondering — finally — there are SNOWMEN in the forecast! We have been “officially” invited, and SNOWMEN has just been “officially” accepted to make it’s WORLD PREMIERE this Saturday, April 24th at the TRIBECA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. SNOWMEN was one of 5500 entries and the only family film of the 85 films selected. Below are all the screening times, location and demographic breakdowns for Tribeca. Would love you to pass along and... Read more

Just released! I have a chapter in this book called something like “Identifying Real Artists and Ways to Shepherd Them.” The book was based on a series of talks given at a wonderful symposium held a few Springs ago on Austin, TX. The book was compiled by the gracious and astute David Taylor and includes talks by great thinkers like Jeremy Begbe, Andy Crouch, Eugene Peterson. (The only real question is, what yours truly is doing in a book with... Read more

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Well, it’s over. And I have lots to say as a requiem. Unfortunately, I am swamped for the next two days with legitimate writing work. And really, I think I am still a bit too grief stricken to write yet. I will soon, however, as I think there are some key lessons about bad storytelling, and the problems of sustaining excellence in television in general, that we can pick off the carcass of this once great series. I’m opening a... Read more

Here is my talk about haunting moments in storytelling, from the Storytelling Conference that Act One hosted last October. Following my talk there is about thirty minutes of discussion with our panelists which included Dr. Peter Kreeft (Socrates and Jesus), Bill Marsilli (screenwriter Deja Vu), Karen Hall (writer Judging Amy), Christopher Riley (author, The Hollywood Standard) and Bobette Buster (studio story consultant), among others. I listened to it yesterday and am humbly going to proclaim it a real blast to... Read more