On Movies & Media My favorite response to Saved! The best response to the movie Saved! that I've heard yet is a one-line quip passed along by my friend Michael Leary, who heard someone else say it after a screening of the film: “The Church will only be doing what it really should be doing when it
On Movies & Media I am a "shatterer of dreams"! I received this in my email box today, with the strange subject of "Remainder"... I read your article at the (promontoryartists.com) about the film Titanic. I was overwhelmed at the handling of the rviews about the film and my curiosity,anxiety and eagerness to see the film
P.J. Harvey P.J. Harvey album lands Tuesday [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. (If you find a solution to the broken link, let me know.) I’m preserving this post for archival purposes.] P.J. Harvey&
Taproot Theatre Jeff Berryman as C.S. Lewis [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. I’ve updated the TheaterWeekly link, directing readers to another copy of the same review at Aisle Say. (If you find a solution
Quotable Buechner on the foolishness of Christ Remember Obi-Wan Kenobi’s question: “Who is more foolish — the fool, or the fool who follows him?” I hear an echo of that when Frederick Buechner, in The Faces of Jesus, writes, If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the
Darren Hughes After reading rage mail, take Long Pauses Darren Hughes’ Long Pauses is one of my almost-daily stops. Imagine my surprise when I went to the site today expecting another insightful film commentary, or a profound political analysis, or a revealing anecdote, and instead I found him editorializing about my column about movies and profanity. Mr. Hughes, I’
On Movies & Media Weird Movie News: Joan of Bark? Since Paul Thomas Anderson recently directed Adam Sandler in a film, hey, why not have David Mamet work with Will Ferrell? Empire reports: Joan of Bark: The Dog that Saved France
Faith Rating the churches [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. (If you find a solution to the broken link, let me know.) I’m preserving this post for archival purposes.] Oh, how we
Concerts Sam Phillips live in Seattle: Tuesday Sam Phillips is playing this Tuesday at the Century Ballroom in Seattle. I’ll be there. How could I miss this once-a-decade visit from the singer/songwriter whose lyrics have, literally, changed my life? Her new album, A Boot and a Shoe, is the most enthralling hour of songwriting I’
On Movies & Media Move Review Quote of the Week: The Day After Tomorrow The New Yorker's Anthony Lane describes what happened in the theatre halfway through The Day After Tomorrow: There is no more refreshing sound than nineteen hundred people jeering in harmony at someone else’s balderdash. Lane adds: Even by the standards of disaster movies, “The Day After Tomorrow”
Dick Staub Listen to Anne Lamott ...as she talks with Dick Staub. [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. You can access Dick Staub’s interviews with Anne Lamott and many other special guests at his
On Movies & Media Now You Can Edit the Violence Out of Movies! CT Movies posted a point/counterpoint today regarding the new "U-Edit-the-movies" ClearPlay DVD Player, which can be set to filter out cussing, violence, and nudity. There’s one article about why it's a good idea. And then there's my article. You may want to
Josh Hurst Josh Hurst calls for closing the doors on CCM [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. (If you find a solution to the broken link, let me know.) I’m preserving this post for archival purposes.] Josh Hurst at
On Movies & Media More Than Half a Picture [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. (If you find a solution to the broken link, let me know.) I’m preserving this post for archival purposes.] Slate’s got
On Movies & Media SHOCKER! Christian critics hate Saved! [2025 Update: This post is past its expiration date. Some of these links may no longer work due to the cruel realities of the Internet’s impermanence. (If you find a solution to the broken link, let me know.) I’m preserving this post for archival purposes.] Right on cue,
On Movies & Media Three reflections on The Passion, post-hubbub In the latest issue of SPU's Response, Todd Rendleman, film instructor, and Rob Wall, professor of the Christian Scriptures, join me in offering reflections on The Passion of the Christ now that the hubbub has died down. Turns out we have three very different views.
On Books & Writing Another Scholar Calls DaVinci Code's Bluff Who’s next in line? It appears that Eric Vogt, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature at Seattle Pacific University, is the latest scholarly mind to find fault with Dan Brown's bogus bestseller.
On Movies & Media A Movie That Needs to Be Made It's been made before, but rarely seen. This true story has a plot that should captivate the imagination of some filmmakers out there . . . It’s the story of Jake DeShazer.
Scripture A Verse for Writers and Other Artists As I plunge headlong through a jam-packed, stress-heavy workday, I am reminded of a Scripture verse I found quoted recently in a devotional: Ecclesiasticus 38:24. The wisdom of the scribe cometh by his time of leisure and he that is less in action shall receive wisdom.
On Movies & Media Troy - a movie review for the sports page Here, at long last, is my review of Troy, written in a caffeine-induced haze last night. I was wishing I was at home watching more episodes of the great Aaron Sorkin-scripted TV show Sports Night, and that preference may have influenced what I said in my review... [Want to see
Anne M. Doe Overstreet Anne Quote of the Day One of the reasons I married Anne is that, while I’m trying to look closer at movies and music and other arts, she’s looking closer at what God has made. Yesterday, out of the clear blue, after a silent minute in the car, she suddenly said, “Did you
On Movies & Media "There's no profanity in my society..." This letter came to me in response to my article at Christianity Today about profanity in the movies. My argument covered a lot of points, including the fact that artists often use their work to hold up a reflection to culture with all of its pros and cons. Thus, art
On Movies & Media Most prestigious film award goes to... Michael Moore for Fahrenheit 911. That's right, this year's Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival goes to the guy who brought us Bowling for Columbine and who now is showing us what went on behind the scenes in the Bush administration during and
Anne M. Doe Overstreet “Surviving the Open Heart” Today I'm directing you to the excellent online poetry journal DMQ Review for some truly disquieting poetry. One of the poets published in this edition is particularly close to my heart. And congratulations to her! Be sure to read “Surviving the Open Heart.” [This post was updated with
Gratitude Thank You of the Week Linda Wagner has inspired a large crowd of writers through her work at the annual Seattle Pacific University writers’ conference. She changed my life one day, in 1994, when I was working in the Humanities office at SPU. She asked if the rumors were true, that I was writing science
