![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/226\/2015\/04\/Photo-on-3-27-15-at-11.54-AM.jpg\")
<\/a>From April Fool\u2019s antics to coming attractions, this installment of \u201cLooking Elsewhere\u201d is loaded with goodness.<\/p>\nPlease forgive the slow-down in posts lately: I have just returned from ten days on Whidbey Island. It wasn\u2019t a vacation. It was the third of five residencies that are the main events of my adventure in Seattle Pacific University\u2019s MFA in Creative Writing program. Ten days of reading, writing, and relationships filled me with inspiration for new writing endeavors. The busy schedule gave me few opportunities to\u00a0keep up with news and social networking \u2014 which was good. I needed the break.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, I wrapped up work with my first MFA mentor \u2014 Paula Huston<\/strong>, who has been a constant source of counsel and encouragement \u2014 and began working with my new mentor: Lauren Winner<\/strong>, author of Mudhouse Sabbath,\u00a0<\/em>Still,\u00a0<\/em>and a new book called Wearing God. <\/em>By the way, Image<\/em>\u2018s Good Letters blog just posted a two part interview with Winner about that book. Check it out: Part One<\/a>, Part Two<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the world did not slow down in my absence. I returned to my office at SPU to find a mountain of email that required my attention. And I also found a whole new world of news from the worlds of movies, music, and more.<\/p>\n Here are some of my discoveries\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now you can hear Phyllis Sortor<\/strong> tell her own incredible story<\/a> about being captured by armed men in Nigeria\u2026 and the brave soul who saved her life.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2022<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n Image<\/em> has redesigned their website\u2026 for April Fool\u2019s Day<\/a>! Find out which Over the Rhine bandmate is your soul mate<\/a>. Order an Image<\/em> pizza<\/a>! Discover the daily routines of ten famous writers<\/a>!<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Over at The Rabbit Room, Pete Peterson shares a poignant poem<\/a> for the, um\u2026 do you call April Fool\u2019s Day a holiday?<\/p>\n \u2022<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n You can pre-order<\/a> the new Josh Garrels album \u2014 Home.<\/em><\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Steve Taylor and the Perfect Foil have a new music video\u2026 \u201cMoonshot.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n I think this is the best piece of writing I\u2019ve read by Ken Morefield<\/strong>: \u201cDo You Believe in Confirmation Bias? Reflections on the Christian movie echo chamber.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe the more pertinent question to ask in the face of Christian movies like God\u2019s Not Dead<\/em> and Do You Believe?<\/em> is not whether they are accurate representations of the world we live in, but whether the way they respond\u2014and invite us to respond\u2014to that broken world will help us to remake it into something healthier, holier, and more reflective of kingdom principles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Along the same lines, Alissa Wilkinson<\/strong> compared God\u2019s Not Dead<\/em> to Fifty Shades of Gray<\/em><\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n and then Steven Greydanus wrote an answering commentary<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026it flatters Christian viewers with the triumphalist message that we are the heroes, that our enemies are bankrupt and miserable, that we will be rewarded and they punished. It tells its target audience exactly what they would most like to hear, rather than challenging them with what they need to hear. It\u2019s not just bad art, it\u2019s bad morally as well. God\u2019s not dead, but movies like this don\u2019t help His cause.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n If Hugh Jackman<\/strong> really does end up playing the Apostle Paul<\/a>, I hope they make it a musical.<\/p>\n 3.<\/p>\n My favorite interview of Interstellar<\/em><\/strong> yet!<\/p>\nAmazing Stories<\/strong><\/h2>\n
April Fools Shenanigans<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Music<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Cinema<\/strong><\/h2>\n