Greg Wright, who edits Hollywood Jesus and runs Past the Popcorn, impressed me with his thoughtful examination of the new documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed when we participated in a roundtable discussion at The Kindlings Muse a week ago. (That discussion will be available via podcast soon.) So I was delighted to see that Wright had published a full review of the film at Past the Popcorn, and I quickly asked him if he would be willing to share the... Read more
It’s not hard to demonstrate that Christian rock is often… even usually… cheesy, derivative, and shallow. Much of it sounds like commercials for Jesus rather than artistic endeavor. But there are exceptions, although I’d prefer to take the modifier “Christian” off of those songs and just call them Songs… Good Songs. On April 16, The New York Times ran a column by Daniel Radosh, who identifies himself as a secular Jew, author of Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe... Read more
Good news: I had an extraordinary time at Calvin’s Festival of Faith and Writing. So many new friends, so many books signed, so many inspiring encounters and lectures and conversations! My friend Stephen Lamb has been blogging about his experiences there. Bad news: My laptop blew up. Yes. With smoke and everything. So, I’ll be back with more details and regular blogging soon, but it’ll be slow for a while here…. Read more
I’m packing for an early-morning flight to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing, and I won’t be home until Sunday night. So, I probably won’t have much opportunity to blog from there. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you there. If you want to attend my presentations, check the schedule (link above). Have a great weekend. Go see The Visitor this weekend! Read more
Yesterday as I was driving home from work, I heard Garrison Keillor’s daily “Writer’s Almanac,” and when he read the poem for the day, I almost had to pull over for the tears in my eyes. It’s a beauty. I need to listen to this little program every day from now on. What are your favorite poems? Give us the title and author… and a link to the text if you can find it. Read more
Hemmingway, via my friend David Habecker: Jeff, I ran across this reference to Hemingway today and thought you might appreciate it, with its obvious application to much so-called “Christian literature”: “No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in,” says Hemingway. “That kind of symbol sticks out like raisins in raisin bread. Raisin bread is all right, but plain bread is better.” He opens two bottles of beer and continues: “I... Read more
This capsule review was originally published in the Winter 2008 installment of Connections, an email newsletter for Seattle Pacific University alumni. – Presented on HBO in 2006, Tom Hooper’s film Longford offers one of the most inspiring and moving portrayals of a Christian in recent memory. A frequent and compassionate minister to prisoners, the Seventh Earl of Longford — Frank Pakenham, or “Lord Longford” — made headlines and stirred up scandal in the 1960s as he developed a friendship with one of England’s... Read more
At The Kindlings Muse, you can now download the latest podcast conversation about movies between Dick Staub, Greg Wright, Jennie Spohr and me. On that fine afternoon a couple of weeks ago, we discussed… (more…) Read more
Michael Chabon, who I’ll be seeing at Calvin’s Festival of Faith and Writing next week, isn’t just an acclaimed novelist. He also took a stab at the screenplay for Spider-man 2, and when I heard him speak about that in Seattle a few years ago, he talked about how the experience of writing a comic book movie for Hollyowod was not one he was eager to repeat. Now, the script he wrote is available for download, at least for now,... Read more
It’s 2008, and I’m still waiting to see if any brave filmmakers out there will dare to introduce a Christian character who isn’t a mass murderer or a psychopath. (more…) Read more
Looking Closer
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