On Movies & Media

"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus": Starring Tom Waits?

In El Pais, Terry Gilliam reports (if I'm not misreading the French) that his next project is The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, starring Tom Waits and Heath Ledger. (This, according to Film Ick.) Excellent. Waits had an unforgettable cameo ("I'm like a moral traffic light,

On Songs & Albums

Vintage T-Bone Burnett

Interested in some vintage T-Bone Burnett music? Check it out. Rhino is releasing a deluxe package of Proof Through the Night and Trap Door (or, to be exact, The Complete Trap Door). Thanks to Jim Bricker for the alert!

On Movies & Media

Specials: Cairns and Overstreet Poetry! "Knocked Up." "All About Adam." "The Golden Compass." "Spidey 3." Helen Mirren. Aronofsky.

Here are a few links I've been saving up this week... Scott Cairns and Anne Overstreet both have poems in the new issue of Relief! Order your copy today! Ross Douthat on Knocked Up and its (surprising?) lack of talk about abortion. (Updated: Even more.) (Oh, and I

U2

Music bits: U2 Album Progress. Whitman's aves. Hartse on Feist. The Believer.

A quick blitz of music links: * U2's progress on their new album. * Andy Whitman rates the best albums so far this year. * Joel Hartse reviews Feist's The Reminder. * A summary of The Believer's annual Music Issue.

On Songs & Albums

The Police, Unplugged

MTV's decided to dust off Unplugged. Billboard reports it will feature appearances by Mary J. Blige, The Police, Bon Jovi, Kenny Chesney and John Mayer. Well... I'd tune in for The Police, anyway. But how about The Arcade Fire? Or The Decemberists? Nick Cave? Feist? Lucinda

On Movies & Media

Your Favorite Moments of "Silent Acting"

Last week, Elvis Mitchell interviewed Sarah Polley on NPR's "The Treatment." They talked about Polley's new film, Away from Her, which stars Julie Christie. This led them to talking about how Polley was enthralled with Christie's performance in Doctor Zhivago. Mitchell then

Concerts

Over the Rhine's "Trumpet Child" Tour Kickoff

From the Over the Rhine MySpace page: Beginning this Saturday, June 2nd at Midnight Eastern Time (that's either Friday Night or Saturday morning - depending on your preference), you'll be able to buy tickets for the 8/31 Coney Island show exclusively at OvertheRhine.com. At the

The Innocence Mission

Sufjan Stevens Plays The Innocence Mission

In this Pitchfork blog entry on Sufjan Stevens, there's a link to video of Sufjan Stevens (hooray!) performing a cover of The Innocence Mission's "The Lakes of Canada" (hooray!!!)

On Movies & Media

Victor Morton on "the Russian Abortion Film"

I agree with Victor Morton. Let's not condemn a movie before we see it. Let's respect trust that the jury celebrated this film for good reasons, and find out what those reasons were. I, for one, can't wait to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks,

On Books & Writing

John Wilson (Books and Culture) on the New Michael Chabon Novel

John Wilson reviews The Yiddish Policemen's Union: The Yiddish Policemen's Union

On Movies & Media

Film, Faith, and Justice: A Film Festival

Here's my good friend Martin Stillion writing about this year's Film, Faith, and Justice film festival in Seattle. Sounds like I missed a challenging event. (Wanted to go, but deadlines took over.)

On Movies & Media

Star Wars Week: "Clone Wars" Trailer, Star Wars Muppets

As I mentioned Friday, it's the week of Star Wars' 30th birthday, so I'm trying to put aside my resentment over the prequels' failures and remember what made Star Wars great. You know, I might just get excited about Star Wars again if I&

On Songs & Albums

Sinead O'Connor's Psalms

Theology, the latest album by Sinead O'Connor, is coming next month. Her life has certainly been interesting to watch from a distance, but I gotta say, there aren't many singers whose gifts move me the way O'Connor's voice does. Whatever strange turns

On Movies & Media

My Favorite 10 Minutes of David Letterman... Ever.

This interview was my favorite ten minutes of late-night talk show ever... this spontaneous, unpredictable David Letterman interview with Steve Martin about Roxanne, Bill Murray, and the fine art of pencil-throwing. "And if you've ever been on the floor of a context..." Oh, how

On Movies & Media

It was 30 Years Ago Today Ben Kenobi Taught the Farmboy to Play

On May 25, 1977, Star Wars arrived. I could wax nostalgic and tell you what that did to my seven-year-old imagination, how it changed my life, how it encouraged me to envision "a larger world" ... but I've told that story in Through a Screen

Geoffrey Deweese

A Few Words from Geoffrey S. Deweese

Stopped over at the blog of my dear friend Geoffrey Deweese, a military attorney stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington; husband of my longtime friend Melody Fields, and father of two newborn twins, and two more beautiful children. I remember when Geoffrey wrote for Seattle Pacific's student newspaper. He

On Movies & Media

Farewell to the Storyteller Who Imagined the Horned King

Lloyd Alexander was one of the fantasy authors who inspired me to write story after story as I was growing up. He died last Friday, and I didn't learn about it until today. What a loss. Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles remains one of the great achievements

Overstreet's Books

Your Favorite Monster

I'm "in the zone." I've "jumped a train." I'm hanging on to the story while it charges ahead. The sequel to Auralia's Colors has the tentative title Cyndere's Midnight. And I'm going to be

On Books & Writing

Tolkien would not be pleased.

At the beginning of the trailer for The Golden Compass, New Line boasts about its wildly successful Lord of the Rings franchise. (Interesting, since their president has nothing good to say about Peter Jackson, and won't let him make The Hobbit.) As the trailer opens, we see the

On Movies & Media

No Country is "Staggering," "Coen's Best Dark Film Ever"

Oh, but I do hate to say "I told you so." Jeffrey Wells is reeling, raving, overwhelmed by the new Coen Brothers' movie. This is going to be a difficult test of my patience. I'm going nuts here. I've got to see this

On Movies & Media

Crown Video asks about "Through a Screen Darkly"

Here's the latest online interview I've done about Through a Screen Darkly. Tim Willson of Crown Video asked me some questions.

On Songs & Albums

Revealing Interview with Arcade Fire's Win and Regine

You may have already heard Arcade Fire saying some of these things in other interviews, but this is worth reading anyway. I would post some excerpts, but if I start clipping my favorite parts, I'll end up clipping most of the interview.

On Movies & Media

I've Survived the "Steve Brown, Etc" show!

Did you hear my conversation with the wild and crazy guys on the Steve Brown, Etc. show? That's okay. It's right here. Just try and believe your ears. There's no radio show quite like this on Christian radio in my town.

On Movies & Media

Commonweal on "Into Great Silence"

The new issue of Commonweal includes one columnist's thoughts on Philip Gröning's Into Great Silence and the Viriginia Tech massacre. The writer (I can't find his name on the page) says, Gilead Not everyone is so enchanted by the film. Susan Dunne (Baltimore Sun)

On Movies & Media

"The Tale of Despereaux": Promising Signs

One of my favorite children's books... no, scratch that. One of my favorite books is being adapted into an animated feature. And I'm very nervous. Can the filmmakers do the story justice? The Tale of Despereaux is such a delicate, exquisite story. It'll be