A Christian by Any Other Name …
So is Anne Rice a Christian or not? The novelist—author of Interview With the Vampire and other supernatural bestsellers—says she’s not. Though Rice made a very public return to faith a few years ago, ditching her vampire trope in favor of some imaginative bios on the early life of Christ, she made a public, and […]
Movie Monday: Dinner for Schmucks
Inception has been, for the folks over at Warner Bros., a dream of a movie. For the third straight week, the Christopher Nolan/Leonardo DiCaprio thriller thumped the competition at the box office, claiming the top spot with $27.5 million. Steve Carell’s Dinner for Schmucks sauntered into second place with $23.3 million, while the Angelina Jolie […]
A Zombie World Series
So, oil’s still washing up on the gulf, the economy’s in the doldrums, the honey bees are dying and my favorite baseball team, the Colorado Rockies, have lost nine of their last 11 games. Naturally, my thoughts turn to zombies. I’m only half kidding. Zombies are big in the entertainment biz these days, which pretty […]
When Christians Like Bad Stuff
So, between some reading of Augustine and G.K. Chesterton, I’ve been perusing a book from another Christian sage: Jonathan Acuff, best known for his blog Stuff Christians Like. Acuff’s book, also called Stuff Christians Like, is a funny, irreverent look at the Christian subculture—one of my favorite reads this summer. And it contains a particularly […]
Those Sinful Superheroes
Superheroes were kind of a sensitive subject around my house when I was growing up. My best friend and I loved ’em, and whenever he was over, we’d stuff socks in our shirtsleeves (to make our muscles look bigger) throw some bath towels around our necks and zip around our back yard, fighting for truth, […]
Movie Monday: Inception
It was a dream of a weekend for Leonardo DiCaprio and director Christopher Nolan. Their project Inception, in which a team of thought-thieves pilfer corporate secrets from their targets’ dreams, REM’ed its way to a $60.4 million box-office victory. No snoozer there. Holdover Despicable Me scratched to second place with $32.7 million, while another newcomer, […]
Of Faith and Facebook
Are teens rejecting faith for Facebook? The folks over at the Barna Group suggest that something like that may be happening. Barna has been studying the intersection of Christianity and culture for years now. And while the researchers say that faith is actually doing pretty well amongst teens—more than six in 10 participate in at […]
Movie Monday: Despicable Me
Dastardly Gru may have struggled in his quest to become the world’s No. 1 supervillian. But he had no trouble at all propelling his film, Despicable Me, to the top of the box office this weekend. Universal’s new animated effort earned more than $60 million and booted The Twilight Saga: Eclipse off the weekend’s top […]
Movie Tuesday: Revenge of the Twihards
Just like their namesakes did in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, teams Edward and Jacob joined forces for a long holiday weekend to cast down their competition and posture triumphantly on the field of battle. The new Twilight film bit big at the box office, collecting $82.5 million during the Friday-through-Monday weekend. It’s already pocketed a […]
Snap Judgments
Some folks say that they and cameras do not get along. But few people can say, as I can, that they’ve killed one with their face. It’s remarkable it didn’t happen sooner. I was a gangly, pimply, brace-filled, bespectacled child in junior high, often taunted by classmates, teachers and the biology lab’s hamster mascot. It […]