Sam Phillips is currently without a label, an intolerable circumstance. So she’s releasing new songs for free on her website. There’s a new track up today, available here. Okay, it’s not exactly new. It was recorded in 2004, and produced by T-Bone Burnett (which is rather ironic, if you think about what was going on with Sam in 2004, and what this song seems to be about). She’s played it live, but the song’s never been released before. It’ll only... Read more
If everything goes according to plan for director Scott Derrickson, he’ll direct a feature film based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and we’ll see the war in heaven and the fall in the garden depicted more vividly than any film that has come before. But he’s apparently not the only one with such ambitions. The Hollywood Reporter says that producer Martin Poll has a similar aim. Who knows? Paradise Lost may follow in the path of Truman Capote, who had... Read more
[These reviews of Still Life and Up the Yangtze were originally published in the “Through a Screen Darkly” column at Christianity Today.] – Nothing here along the Yangtze River is what it seems. If we just look at the mountains, we’ll be fine. They’re breathtaking, looming green and formidable over the river’s winding silver path. They flow into and out of one another like waves, shrouded in an eerie mist as if the ghosts have gathered here to rest. If... Read more
I’m so busy editing the next strand of The Auralia Thread, Raven’s Ladder, and composing new articles for Image and Christianity Today that I’m flat out of time to blog anything substantial. So here’s a rundown of links that caught my attention over the last few days… There’s a new Sam Phillips song on the way May 1st. David Bazan rocks Seattle Pacific University. Robert Shiller discussed Starbucks VIA, Miracle Whip, and economic bubbles, at Seattle Pacific University’s Downtown Business... Read more
The latest Kindlings Muse podcast is up, featuring Dick Staub, Greg Wright, Jennie Spohr, and myself in conversation about: Knowing; Coraline; Sunshine Cleaning; Days and Clouds; Rachel Getting Married; Still Life; Silent Light; The Robe; and Jesus of Montreal. Read more
In the territory of art and culture, there is a lot of turmoil among Christians and conservatives in the Netherlands. (more…) Read more
This interview was originally published at Looking Closer in 2006. An abridged version of this feature and interview was previously published at Christianity Today Movies. – A movie star is sitting on an old couch in the middle of the street in Butte, Montana. (more…) Read more
I’m back from The Netherlands, and I hope to cook up a good long journal entry for you about all of the exciting things that happened there. Meanwhile… Have I expressed how excited I am about Filmwell, and all that is is slowly becoming? We decided *not* to prescribe what the site would be. We made a list of places we wouldn’t go, things we wanted to avoid, and then decided to let a mystery emerge. What would happen in... Read more
This review was originally published at Good Letters, a blog published by Image. – Sharing cigarettes, two boys recline on a sun-baked rock high above their village. Here, close to heaven, they’re able to forget their troubles and enjoy the view. A gunshot jolts them from their reverie. Down among the technicolor trees, a hunter blasts at a bird with his rifle. He hits his mark, but then wanders off without claiming it. Bewildered, the boys descend and find the... Read more
Thank you for alerting me to your breaking-news scoop on a celebrity and his troubles. No, I don’t think I need to blog about it. I’ve been through enough hardships of my own to know that having people blog about them would only intensify the suffering for all involved and indicate that the public has a right to shove their noses into my personal business. There are far better ways to respond to celebrity gossip than to throw fuel on... Read more
Looking Closer
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