Back on March 19, I reported on the strange coincidences between quarterback Tim Tebow and the Scriptural reference John 3:16, especially during his stint with the Denver Broncos. I ended the story with this: What we do know is that Tebow worked out on Monday for the Philadelphia Eagles, who didn’t immediately want to sign him (but didn’t say they never would). If perhaps the Eagles did eventually take Tebow, he would be the backup to Mark Sanchez, the same QB he... Read more
In Nov. 2013, the Buffalo Mass Mob began as an effort spearheaded by Buffalo, New York, resident Christopher Byrd to gather together Catholics to fill the pews at a designated historic church for a particular Mass. The goal was not only fellowship but to bring attention and new life to beautiful churches that were losing parishioners because of ethnic and demographic shifts. After an AP story about the group ran in Feb. 2014, interest piqued. I wrote about it a few... Read more
Somewhere in the pilot for The CW’s new drama “The Messengers,” premiering Friday, April 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT — and which I got to screen at the network’s headquarters last Monday — a character announces that there are no coincidences. After the screening, stars Shantal VanSanten (who said she was “raised Catholic”) and Jon Fletcher (“The Good Wife”), and executive producer Trey Callaway (“Revolution”) — a convert to Judaism whose mother is a Presbyterian minister — came in to... Read more
In a world peopled by politically correct types worrying a great deal about everybody’s feelings about everything, satire sometimes gets lost. In late March, Los Angeles-based Catholic actors Kaiser Johnson and Jennifer Milani dressed up in ’20s garb to shoot a promotional video for an historic property for sale in Coronado, California, near San Diego (that video is at the bottom of this post). While in costume, they decided to shoot some short videos for the Web, using the Vine app, which... Read more
This Saturday, April 18, at Cleveland’s historic Public Hall, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its latest slate of nominees. The ceremony and accompanying concert air Saturday, May 30, on HBO. Paul McCartney will be inducting Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr; Stevie Wonder inducts Bill Withers; Peter Wolf, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; John Mayer inducts Stevie Ray Vaughn; Steve Cropper, the “5” Royales; Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts; and Patti Smith is inducting Lou Reed. In... Read more
My pal, partner-in-crime in unmasking bad Vatican translations, businessman and foodie Joe Garcia announced to me the other day that he was making the case that Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 crime thriller “Pulp Fiction” is a deeply Catholic film (leaving aside the fact that he apparently rewrote Scripture). I didn’t really get a lot of specifically Catholic stuff from “Pulp Fiction,” but on the other hand, “Die Hard” is one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies, so everybody’s got a different... Read more
Last week, I got on a conference call with other reporters to talk to actor Milo Ventimiglia (“Mob City,” “Heroes”) about his new multi-episode arc on the Fox drama “Gotham,” set in the DC Comics “Batman” universe, when Bruce Wayne is still a boy (David Mazouz) and Commissioner Gordon is still just Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie). “Gotham” returns tonight, April 13, for its final run of episodes with “Beast of Prey,” in which Gordon and partner Harvey Bullock (a tortured... Read more
We’ve all just walked through the Passion narrative between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, and part of that is Jesus’ betrayal by Judas Iscariot, one of the 12. You can argue his reasons — love of Rome, hatred of Rome, self-hatred, greed, desire for revolution, whatever — but what we do know is he took the 3o pieces of silver and then threw them, and his life, away. Was he repentant? Only Judas and God knew for sure, since the... Read more
On Friday, I dropped by the house/set for Hallmark Channel’s daily talk/magazine show “Home & Family,” at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, with hosts Cristina Ferrare and Mark Steines, to catch up with some old friends — the cast of one of my favorite, and most-missed shows, “Clean House.” Airing from 2003-2011 on the now-defunct Style Network, “Clean House” came to a cluttered home, helped the residents part with their excess junk, sold it at a yard sale and then helped... Read more
Over at CatholicVote today, I have some comments from actors Adam Levy and Babou Ceesay, who play the Apostles Peter and John, respectively, in NBC’s “A.D.: The Bible Continues,” which airs it second episode tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT (following an 8 p.m. ET/PT repeat of the first episode). Here’s a taste of what they said after a press conference in Pasadena, California, in January, starting with Levy: Peter is just a worker, he’s a fisherman, and he’s illiterate. That’s... Read more
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