Ok, so I’ve calmed down from last week – sorry for that attempt at high concept anger. Back to focusing on new music! This week, I’ve chosen some far more familiar artists who will all (hopefully) have some exciting albums coming out this year. Enjoy! Pay Attention Selection of the Week Father John Misty – “Pure Comedy” This is not hyperbole: I think Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, is prophetic. A sarcastic misanthrope, a salacious romantic, and a slick-witted... Read more
Their Finest wasn’t on my radar going into Sundance this year, but it turned out to be one of my more enjoyable screenings. Based on the novel, Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans, it focuses on British propaganda filmmakers during WWII. In the process, it’s a celebration of cinema and filmmaking and, especially, women’s roles in it. (more…) Read more
Columbus, the first feature film from Kogonada, a video essayist and artist, reveals a filmmaker who understands the ways in which the aesthetics and narrative of cinema should compliment one another. It’s rare to find a writer/director who can execute this relationship at such a high level. (more…) Read more
This was a big week for all of us, huh? I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted – not defeated but pretty exhausted. Well, in honor of the Inauguration, I’d like to offer a handful of my own personal reflections for this week’s mixtape. I pray these songs might provide you with some comfort but, if anything, that they help start a civil conversation. We need more of those and, in these difficult times, music is a great help. Onward and upwards,... Read more
Greetings everyone and welcome to the second installment of my weekly mini-review mixtape suggestion listicle. As this is just starting, I’ve decided to play with the format a bit and give each selection a category of sorts to help frame them. Let me know what you think. Enjoy! Psychedelic Politics Selection of the Week Flaming Lips – “We A Famly” I am of the opinion, or perhaps the persuasion, that the release of a new Flaming Lips album is... Read more
Over the weekend, I had the rare opportunity to listen to–and briefly meet–one of my favorite directors (and one that I consider the greatest of all time), Martin Scorsese. We screened his latest film, Silence, for the Fuller Seminary community. After the jump, you can read some of the highlights from Scorsese’s Q & A with Kutter Callaway, assistant professor of theology and culture at Fuller, and Mako Fujimura, director of the Brehm Center at Fuller. (more…) Read more
That we have all been touched by cancer, if not personally, then relationally, is why Jason Micheli’s new book, Cancer is Funny: Keeping Faith in Stage-Serious Chemo, is such an important book. It’s also my first must-read recommendation of 2017. (more…) Read more
Happy New Year everyone! I pray you are all well and recovering nicely from your hangovers – both drinking and general 2016 related ones. As I was compiling my year end Top 50 list a couple weeks ago, I came to the sad realization that I was barely able to share and discuss all the incredible new music that came out last year (I mean, really, there was almost too much). As one of my resolutions, I would like to... Read more
If the box office receipts are to be believed, you’ve already seen Rogue One: a Star Wars Story. So rather than a full review, I thought I’d offer a few thoughts on this, the intertestamental literature of the Star Wars saga: This is the most geek-tastic Star Wars film ever: “THRILL as Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor sift through the structural engineering files of the Galactic Empire! GASP as they try to upload the Death Star plans... Read more
Martin Scorcese’s monumental Silence is now playing in select theaters and is slated for wide release on January 13th. The story of Jesuit missionaries in 17th century Japan is based on the novel by Japanese Catholic convert Shusaku Endo. It explores the nature of faith and doubt in the most impossible of circumstances–when profession of belief can lead to torture and death. But as the film plays out the conflict between the colonial impulses of Europe, which use Christian conversion... Read more
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