If You Tweet, They Will Come
Play catch with a major league starting pitcher? Most of us will never get the chance. But thanks to Twitter, it might be a good idea for us to cart around a glove. Earlier this week Jeremy Guthrie, the opening day starter for the Colorado Rockies, sent out this tweet: “Anybody on lunch break & […]
Age Before Beauty
Jennifer Aniston is old. Not old old, mind you—but at 43, she’s older than Shaquille O’Neal, and he’s been retired for years. She’s older than the Internet. She’s old enough to be Justin Bieber’s mom. She’s older than me, for goodness sake—by like three whole months. Had we dated in high school, my friends would’ve […]
Movie Monday: Forget the Wrath. It’s All Games
Spring is traditionally a fallow season for the box office. The blockbusters of summer are still months away. Oscar hopefuls are still being gussied up for their November/December debut. March and April are supposed to be times for the “other guys”—quirky action flicks, cute kids stories … films that might do pretty well if given […]
Words and Pictures
So I’ve been following the robust conversations y’all have been having regarding The Hunger Games. And while much of the discussion has focused on the premise of Games—can anything worthwhile be gleaned from a story that focuses on kids killing each other?—it sparked another thought in me. What has the power to be more influential—the […]
A Voice From ‘The Voice’
We have a tendency to bemoan reality television, and sometimes with good reason. But, just like most everything in life, it’s a mixed bag: For every Jersey Shore there’s an Undercover Boss. For every duplicitous act on Big Brother there’s a feel-good story on American Idol. And let’s face it: If it weren’t for reality […]
What Makes a Movie ‘Christian,’ Anyway?
Lost in all the Hunger Games brouhaha this weekend was the remarkably strong debut of October Baby. The film details both the literal and spiritual journey of an abortion survivor—not exactly the sort of premise that you’d expect would pack ’em into theaters. It was the first film ever for directors Jon and Andrew Erwin, […]
Movie Monday: The Hunger (and the Ratings) Games
We all saw this coming. The Hunger Games, one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2012, screamed to an estimated $155 million opening weekend take, obliterating the rest of the field (21 Jump Street finished a distant second with $21.3 million) and setting all sorts of records in the process. It was the third […]
The Radical Mr. Rogers
When I was a little boy—maybe 4—I was sure of perhaps just one thing. That no matter how bad I was that day, whether I colored on the kitchen walls or threw a fit or had an unfortunate “accident,” there was one person who would love me no matter what: One person who would say […]
Movie Monday: 21 Jump Street
Don’t look now, but Channing Tatum is plotting to take over the world. Well, maybe “plotting” is a little strong. That suggests that the versatile pretty-boy actor is in a secret bunker somewhere, rubbing his hands together and cackling with evil glee. And “the world” might be overstatement, as well. “The box office” might be […]
The Power, Noise and Confusion of Kony 2012
I just finished watching “Kony 2012,” a documentary some are calling the most watched Internet video of all time. As I write this, the official video on YouTube has received nearly 80 million hits. But the film was surprisingly hard to find, and who knows how many others have watched other versions of the film. […]
