2025-02-15T13:39:03-07:00

As we continue to think about what entertainment will look like in the media landscape in the coming years, especially as our culture continues to fragment, I want to off-road for a second into non-electronic media. As broadcast and streaming fragments, I think we are going to see a renaissance of live performances. Or maybe in the wake of the Eras tour, we’re going to see more of a renaissance of live performances. There are two reasons for this: first, as media... Read more

2025-02-17T18:37:36-07:00

I have never lived in an America without Saturday Night Live, and while my parents technically remember such a time by far the vast majority of their lives has involved hearing “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” on the occasions they tuned in to NBC on Saturday nights at 10:30 (because that’s how Mountain Time roles–it also meant I could watch without having to stay up all night). Now SNL has turned 50, and on Sunday(!), February 16 they ran... Read more

2025-02-02T18:48:42-07:00

As we continue to think about the future of media in a fragmented world, there is a real opportunity that everyone knows about, that has been around basically as long as media itself, and that few have successfully capitalized on. This is the potential of genre-specific fiction. There has of course always been a whole spectrum of genre fiction out there in visual media. Melies’ Trip to the Moon (Science Fiction, 1902) or Porter’s Great Train Robbery (Western, 1903) show that... Read more

2025-01-26T14:25:14-07:00

This series thinking about the future of media is wide ranging, as evidenced by the fact that I want to spend one post talking about the archaic technology of television. And I say “archaic” only partly ironically, in that TV obviously still exists. But the reality is that most of us aren’t watching it live, and we’re certainly not setting any schedules around it the way we used to. Aside from a handful of special events like the Superbowl (and even that... Read more

2025-01-14T14:56:29-07:00

As we continue to think about what the coming new world order for entertainment will be, one question that’s almost (but not quite) a side-note is: what will happen to movie theaters? This isn’t a new question of course. The old stage theaters that had seen their day (especially in small towns) were dealt with, as were drive-in movie lots. Still, it feels different to see the big screens themselves collapsing. So what will happen to these buildings? Obviously simply... Read more

2025-01-28T08:20:09-07:00

How should we die? I think it was one of the Wesleys who noted that Christians are the ones who die well. I hope this is still true, but just how to do so can be a challenging question in an affluent nation with a Byzantine health care system. To help cut through the noise, reduce the fear, and manage the physical and emotional pain, Dr. Pamela Pyle has drawn on her years as a physician and written the excellent... Read more

2025-01-14T14:32:21-07:00

As we continue to think about what the future holds for media, I think it’s worth asking what streaming is going to look like. (We’ll get to non-streaming as well; did you remember that theaters still exist–as does broadcast television?) We’re in the middle of a streaming war right now that nobody seems able to win–though Netflix is clearly ahead of the rest. Still, we all know that Hulu, Prime, Peacock, HBO, and Paramount+ are options (among many others). So... Read more

2025-01-19T15:51:30-07:00

Continuing the not-necessarily-for-everyone exercise of reading through the Schaff set of Church Fathers (if my count is right, I should be done with this in only one more decade, give or take). My latest conquest here is Volume 3 of Series 2, containing the writings of Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, and Rufinus (mostly Theodoret, Rufinius, and Jerome). Frankly, it was excellent. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It had all the challenges of reading the 19th century translations of the church fathers.... Read more

2025-01-07T15:43:13-07:00

As the media landscape changes, one thing that is already underway is the rise of the microbudget films. No, I don’t mean the ones that are funded on Indiegogo or Patreon or whatever (though those certainly exist as well, and are filling up platforms like Tubi). I mean bigger budget than the $30,000 raises through crowdsourcing, but far, far under the $100 million range small-scale blockbusters put to work. Specifically, we should expect to see the return of the $10-$50... Read more

2025-01-07T11:02:38-07:00

The landscape of film–both television and the movies–has been changing in the past twenty years. More and more money has been poured into shows and movies by production companies. This saw impressive results for a while (think of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe–at least until Endgame hit the theaters), but has more and more often resulted in diminishing returns or even outright losses in the past five years. Consider as just one example the film Chaos Walking, which you almost... Read more

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