Pop Culture Roundup

I haven't had a whole lot of time to keep reading Sandman. Yeah, not enough time to read part of a comic book. Dude...seriously. Actually, it just hasn't been the medium of relaxation to which I've turned lately. Nevertheless, I have managed to read another chapter or two: most notably one where Morpheus and his sister Death (he has six siblings including Desire, Despair, Destiny, Death, etc...Morpheus' D-scheme name is Dream) overhear a guy in a pub talking about death being a sham: no one has to die if they don't want to. So Morpheus asks Death to let him go and he makes a standing appointment with the guy every hundred years to see what he really thinks about this not-dying thing. It's actually one of my favorite stories from these books.

I recently watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which I hadn't had a strong interest in seeing. But it was on HBO and I was home with Coffeeson, so I figured why not. Kevin James plays Larry, a widowed firefighter trying to ensure that his kids will receive his pension if something happens to him. After saving his fellow firefighter Chuck (Adam Sandler) in a burnt-out building, he calls in a favor for them to pretend that they're a gay couple so that he can put Chuck down as the pension recipient. The theme of tolerance is certainly there, but I was more struck by the theme that these guys would do anything for each other, as close friends but also as firefighters. In one scene where the other guys in the firehouse are acting especially antsy about Chuck and Larry's relationship, Larry reminds each one individually how Chuck has helped them through some major situations over the years. It's that theme that causes Chuck to agree to doing this for Larry to begin with.

I've only heard one new album the past few weeks: Feast of Wire by Calexico. This was another one of those that I picked up at the library on a whim, and another one of those where I was pleasantly surprised. Calexico has a kind of folk sound that in places reminds me of The Decemberists, but they also employ rock, country, and even some electronica. They're very eclectic, which is usually a plus in my book.

WWE's next pay-per-view, Unforgiven, is in Cleveland this Sunday. I thought about it. I really did. Maybe I still will. I dunno. The thing is, the gimmick for the main matches sounds dumb. So I probably won't.

Around the web, one of the bloggers I've followed around every time he begins a new space has moved yet again. Check him out now at The Gifts of God.

Pop Culture Roundup

I've moved on to the second Sandman, subtitled The Doll's House. Here, Morpheus goes on a quest to retrieve escaped dreams, and there's also a subplot involving the one time he was in love. I'm remembering more as I read from the first time I went through a lot of these. These are the kind of "smart" comics that I like.

As I've mentioned, I watched Jesus Camp this past week. You can read my thoughts about that here.

I ordered WWE SummerSlam this past Sunday, and to be honest, it was a disappointment. SummerSlam used to be one of the "Big Four" pay-per-views that the WWE would hold, before they started adding more and more PPVs to keep up with WCW and before they had five hours of television to fill every week and a felt need as of late to give some PPV matches a "tune in tomorrow on RAW to see what happens!" feel to them. PPV matches are supposed to solve something most of the time. They're supposed to feel epic. A lot of these were 12:00 or shorter, save for a near half-hour long main event between Undertaker and Edge. The other part of it is that I was so run-down from church and baby that I actually shut it off before the end. Yeah, I shut off a WWE pay-per-view before it ended. I'm a little ashamed, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything either (when reading what I missed the next morning I did, but I hadn't been given a whole lot of incentive to guzzle coffee to reach the end).

I continue to push myself to experience new music. This week's selections...

~My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges - This is my first real brush with My Morning Jacket, after I'd read such praise for them. And I'm left wondering...what's to praise? This was brutal. Seriously. The way Jim James spends so much time singing in a Prince-ish high range was enough for me to shut this album off halfway through the fifth track. I've since read that this album is not typical MMJ (even that they're more known for a more jamband sound), so if anyone out there is a fan, please direct me to something of theirs that might redeem them for me.

~My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade - I was pleasantly surprised by this group, another that I can't recall ever hearing before. The music here is so manic; gives a sense of a deranged carnival. There's a hint of Modest Mouse to it, and since I like Modest Mouse, I appreciated it.

~OAR, All Sides - It's your standard fare from OAR: light, fun jam rock, though with every album the music "matures." This is an especially solid outing from them.

And as mentioned, LeRoi Moore, the extremely talented saxophonist for Dave Matthews Band, died this past week. Here's the band playing "#41" and letting him cut loose.

Pop Culture Roundup - The Return

Yes, yes...it's back. We don't necessarily have a lot to catch up on, but I suppose that I have a lot more to write about if I feature more of a mishmash of books, movies, TV, music, whatever, than trying to focus on one and fouling up any enjoyment that I'd really get out of it otherwise.

I've been re-reading The Sandman comics. They've been bound in a series of ten graphic novels. When I read them before, I think I only made it through Volume 6. These comics follow the adventures of Morpheus, master of dreams. When we first meet him, he's been imprisoned by a secret occult society who'd actually meant to trap his sister, Death. The first volume traces his seeking his freedom, then retrieving various tools that he uses for his work. When I read them before, I also forgot about all the other comic characters who show up: so far, there's a brief nod to Batman, and a longer episode involving John Constantine (remember the movie starring Keanu Reeves?) before I knew that he was an established character in his own right. Like Watchmen, the stories are brooding and more complex, and graphic novels are handy reading when there's an infant about.

In an effort to keep with my desire to experience new music, I've heard a couple CDs this week:

~Kings of Leon, Youth and Young Manhood - I didn't like this one as much as Because of the Times. I don't know what it is. This one didn't have as much variation to it.

~Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama, There Will Be a Light - Well-done gospel/bluegrass, and the perfect combination for it. I was so impressed by the Blind Boys of Alabama on Solomon Burke's "None of Us Are Free" that when I saw this in the library there was no question about picking it up. Plus it's Ben Harper.

~Everclear, Songs From An American Movie Volume 2 - Other than the couple of singles that I've heard on the radio, I wasn't very familiar with Everclear. This album just made me a fan. Guess I need to track down Volume 1 and such.

Around the web, I added MGoBlog to the blogroll a while back and I don't think I ever said so. And if I did, it doesn't matter. I'll say it again because it's a great Michigan blog, and since this is my blog, I'll freaking tell you again that it's there. What are you gonna do about it?

Pop Culture Roundup - Farewell Edition

I haven't read any further in my book and I haven't seen any movies this week. In a way, it's fitting that this is the last one. Seems that having a 2-month-old doesn't allow me to crack off a book a week any more. I also used to be about music the way I've been more recently about books anyway. When the shift happened, I don't know. But I'm glad I'm going back. Music has played a longer and stronger role in my life anyway. But I'll write more about that as we get into the new thing.

As I mentioned the other day, this past week I had a strong urge to listen to "Round Here" by Counting Crows, so I popped in August and Everything After, and ended up listening to the entire album as I began to remember how good it is. Coffeeson was in my arms for pretty much the entire thing. He fell asleep as I sang "Round Here." I'll have to remember that. The next day I put in Recovering the Satellites, thinking this might be a full-fledged appreciation for Counting Crows happening, but it's not nearly as good. I like "A Long December" and a few others, but they decided to feature more electric guitar on this one and it's kind of a letdown after listening to AaEA. It's the same reason why I stopped buying Jars of Clay's later albums.

I've also been listening to "Weird Al" Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood this week. It's his typical mix of parodies, originals, and the token polka. The polka, as always, is good. His parodies, for the most part, are solid as well. This time around, we get "White & Nerdy" (Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty), "Canadian Idiot" (Green Day's "American Idiot"), "Do I Creep You Out" (Taylor Hicks' "Do I Make You Proud"). His originals are always hit and miss, though. "I'll Sue Ya" is a rap-rock satire of frivolous lawsuits ("I sued Dell Computers 'cause I took a bath with my laptop and now it doesn't work") and "Don't Download This Song" is a "We Are the World"-type song parodying how upset artists get about their music being downloaded ("How else can I afford another solid gold Humvee?"). The rest are mediocre to outright bad.

I've also been listening to Roger Waters' In the Flesh, a live concert CD from 2001. He plays a lot of the classic Floyd stuff, mostly from Animals, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and Dark Side of the Moon. As I listened, I thought to myself, "Would I rather see Roger Waters in concert solo, or Pink Floyd featuring today's members (not that they've really done anything since 1994)?" And I have to say that I'd take Waters. This is a good concert.

Around the web, I tried to think of something profound to say, this being the end of a 3 1/2-year run of the Pop Culture Roundup. But all I could find was a video of a dog singing to the Chemical Brothers. Enjoy. And thanks for the memories.

Pop Culture Roundup

This week I started reading Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, a book about America's "Revolutionary Generation:" Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington, and Madison, and some of their actions in the earliest years of the U.S. Essentially, Ellis argues that they were far from being of like mind as they led the country's organization, and that the disagreements that they had about personal liberty vs. national oversight were thus woven into this country's fabric. I'm not too far into it yet.

I've honestly never been a huge fan of the Shrek movies. I thought that the first one was pretty good, with its jabs at Disney movies and general send-up of classic fairy tales. I found the second one to be a lot like the first, except different jabs and slightly different send-up, but basically the same schtick. I had little to no interest in seeing Shrek the Third, figuring it to be the same thing a third time around. Well, we watched it the other night, and I was right. This time we add Justin Timberlake voicing Arthur (as in the eventual King Arthur) and Eric Idle as Merlin in Prince Charming's SECOND attempt to rule Far Far Away. There is a funny bit with Pinocchio trying not to lie and a clever reference to one of Julie Andrews' (voice of Fiona's mother) most notable roles, but otherwise it's Same Shrek, Different Day. Meh.

When I first heard that Hairspray was being made into a movie, I asked, out loud, to anyone who'd listen: "Why?" Admittedly, I didn't know anything about the musical, but went ahead and assumed that I'd probably feel about it the same way I generally feel about Grease: cheesy, annoying, ultimately pointless, pop culture won't let it die, and John Travolta is in it. I caught part of it on HBO yesterday, and while it was indeed cheesy and slightly annoying, it actually had a great message about racial integration. I was surprised. Perhaps someday I will watch the entire thing.

When I was in college and before Heidelberg built their snazzy new fitness center, I would work out in the athletic center weight room. Of course, this place was heavily populated by football player/wrestler types, and we would listen to Loud Meathead Music while lifting. As I've returned to a regular routine, I find that such Loud Meathead Music gets the blood pumping more, so I've been listening to my scant collection of industrial metal, which hasn't been updated since college: a lot of Circle of Dust and Klank. It gets the job done. And I'm on the lookout for some newer stuff, too *coughChicagopeoplecough*.

Around the web, the Internet Monk, Michael Spencer, is slowly making the transition to his new blog, Jesus-Shaped Spirituality. Check it out.

Pop Culture Roundup

What better way to jump back into things than my signature flavor? Well, probably lots of things. But this is the one I chose.

Over the past week, I read two books. The first was The Final Season by Tom Stanton. Stanton is a sports reporter who went to all 81 home games during the last season played at Tiger Stadium. He chronicles not only the major happenings of the games (including every score), but also the larger events around the city as it collectively anticipates the closing of an iconic ballpark. Stanton relates historical snippets of major events and figures and interacts with many of the stadium's staple characters. He also weaves this around what he experiences within his own family during this time as he attempts to reunite his father with some long-lost uncles, and stay connected to his oldest son who has hit That Age where he starts to pull away for a time. This was a fantastic book, one of my favorites of the year so far. It's about mourning a ballpark that was known to many not just for memories of games played, but also for memories of families who bonded and experiences shared. I could easily relate, as my earliest baseball experiences were at Tiger Stadium. Reading this made me sorry that I wasn't more intentional about experiencing a snippet of that final season for myself.

I also read Brian McLaren's latest, Finding Our Way Again, which is actually an introductory book into a series on spiritual practices. McLaren was apparently charged with writing about why these disciplines are important to a life of faith, and I think he does a great job here. Essentially, McLaren's argument is that spiritual practices prepare us for living out our faith, becoming active agents of what we contemplate by ourselves or in community. He doesn't spend a lot of time explaining specific practices (that's for the later books), but instead explains why they're necessary. In the next week or so, I hope to get a full review up of this one.

We watched National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, which definitely wasn't great. It features the same formula: a mix of historical factoids strung together to create a treasure hunt while staving off the bad guy who wants it for himself. This time, Gates wants to clear his family's name after his ancestor is implicated in the assassination of Lincoln. The bad guy's motivation is only really mentioned in passing and thus I had a hard time caring, and the whole movie felt rushed and forced.

On television this past week, I watched this happen:


'Nuff said.

Our minivan has XM radio, and while listening to a punk/ska station I heard a song by a band called The Blue Moon Boys, whom I'd call "new rockabilly," or something. I don't know why this
band stood out to me during an entire show dedicated to this style of music (actually, the term the host used was "Hee Haw Hell")...maybe because it's the one I remembered. It made me want to go out and rent the movie Swingers.

Around the web...I haven't been on the web that much. So I got nothin'.

Pop Culture Roundup

As I mentioned the other day, I started N.T. Wright's Simply Christian, and since writing that entry I haven't made it any further into the book. That other entry may make it seem like I don't like the book too much, but that wouldn't be accurate. In the first two chapters, Wright has first argued that all humanity has an internal compass of justice (basically the philosophical Argument from Morality) and that all humanity has certain spiritual tendencies as well. I never really bought into the Argument from Morality (the notion that our natural sense of right and wrong proves that God exists) because I don't think it adequately addresses environmental factors in which people are nurtured. Unless one whittles things down to a very bare argument that people tend to believe that certain things are good and other things are bad without getting into specifics about which things fall into either category, this argument doesn't always work that well. Anyway, the book is doing what I want it to do, namely getting me to argue with it.

We watched I Am Legend this week, and to be honest, I didn't really like it. This is the Will Smith movie about a scientist living alone in a post-plague New York, trying to find a cure for the virus that has turned people into animalistic cannibals (some reviews call them "zombies," which is wrong because they aren't dead...or undead...or whatever). The other important thing to know is that these infected people can't go out in the light because it burns their skin. I think that my biggest problem with the movie was the portrayal of the infected. We're supposed to think of them as very devolved, lower-brain creatures, and yet in certain scenes they seem to have a leader and one of them sics attack dogs (also infected) on Smith's character [I've since learned that in the book the creatures are more intelligent, in which case the movie can't seem to make up its mind]. Besides that, they're computer animated, which would have been easier to buy into if they weren't supposed to look so human. The mummies in The Mummy? Okay. The skeletons and fishpeople in the Pirates movies? Fine. But these are supposed to be still pretty close to human-looking, and they come off very cartoonish. The best scenes are the ones with Smith all by himself, when the movie explores his loneliness and his desperation to find a cure.

We also watched Futurama: Bender's Big Score, which is the feature-length DVD that just came out within the past year with the reunited cast. The professor is tricked into signing over the delivery service to some internet-scamming aliens. The aliens find a Bender-shaped tattoo on Fry's butt showing binary code for time-travel ability. Bender, meanwhile, is reprogrammed to do the aliens' bidding, so he goes back in time repeatedly to steal famous treasures for them. The time travel stuff is also used to re-attach Hermes' head to his body, and Fry goes back repeatedly for various reasons as well. After a while, the time-traveling stuff started to grate. The writers did manage to cram most of the regular side characters into the plot, so kudos for effort there. I read on Wikipedia that this movie was actually the first of four that will be produced, which is good, because the ending was pretty bleak.

I discovered a TV show last night on Animal Planet called Creature Comforts. It originated in Britain; this is the U.S. adaptation. The concept is that they interview people all over the country, and then match up what they say to Claymation animals. Of course, the animals give the interviews a totally different context. In one, an ant complains that her supervisor never notices her. In another, two cockroaches talk about how hard it is to live in an urban environment. It's great. You have to watch. Seriously.

Around the web, here's a game where you tranquilize runaway sheep.

Pop Culture Roundup

I finished Gilead this week. At one point, I was about to give up on it, thinking, "What made this so special for me the first time that I wanted to read it again?" I hit that point, and then the moments of grace begin to happen between characters. The narrator, after hearing his story, blesses his best friend's son in a train station, and then goes to keep vigil with his friend as he awaits the end of life. These are both such beautiful moments that answer my question. Gilead is about fathers and sons: estranged, reconciled, repentant, unsure of how to be one to the other, one giving the other second and third chances, and so on.

In the midst of finishing Gilead, I started reading Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner. Winner converted from Judaism to Christianity, and yet retains a strong appreciation for Jewish spiritual practices and seeks to appropriate them to her new Christian context. She seeks to do this not only out of a love for her heritage, but also to seek how to make Christianity more of a lifestyle rather than a set of beliefs. Each chapter briefly explains a Jewish practice and its purpose (basically variations on "it helps you focus on God"), and then muses on ways she's trying to practice it as a Christian. The chapter on keeping kosher sticks out to me at the moment, as she describes eating in general as a spiritual practice, and even an act of justice (i.e., buying fruits only when they're in season to save on the expenditure of oil that it takes to bus out-of-season fruit from wherever...sounds better than wasting it all in ethanol). What Winner ends up describing is a life of attentiveness: attention to how we manage our time, or to what we eat, or to how we mourn in community, and so on. The book is small: around 150 pages, but smaller dimensions. I'd have finished it already, but certain other things have been demanding my attention lately.

I watched American Gangster this week, based on the true story of Frank Lucas, the drug kingpin of Harlem in the early and mid-70s. As I watched, I tried to remember details from the essay on which it was based. The film clocks in at over two and a half hours, but I thought that they needed all of it to set up both Lucas' character and Detective Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe. There is a subplot involving Roberts trying to gain custody of his son in his divorce, and I questioned the inclusion of this, but it adds to how dedicated Roberts is to his police work as he eventually decides that he couldn't provide a healthy environment for his child. The principal focus, however, is Lucas: his rise to power, his dedication to family, his wrestling with when to get out of the business. The film muddles the traditional "good guy/bad guy" lines by having both Lucas and Roberts frustrated with and threatened by a group of dirty cops, and portrays Lucas in some sympathetic ways besides.

I felt a strong urge this week to listen to "Not Just Anybody" by Rae & Christian, which will only mean something to two people who read this. I know the song from a Chill Out compilation that I own. So eventually that just led to my listening to the entire album. This music always takes me back to St. Louis.

Around the web, the United Church of Christ Blog Network added its 40th blog this week. Celebrate.

Pop Culture Roundup

I'm still re-reading Gilead. The main character and I both enjoy empty sanctuaries. He talks about wandering to his church before dawn just to watch the room light up with the first rays of the sun. I prefer how it looks in the evening when the sun is setting myself. But maybe I've just never tried it at dawn before, and don't have any basis for comparison. That's really all I have to write about that this week.

We watched Hot Fuzz this week, from the same guys who brought us Shaun of the Dead. Simon Pegg stars as an overachieving London police officer who is transferred to a sleepy country village after his superiors decide that he's showing up the rest of the station. He's incredibly frustrated by his new assignment: his colleagues are lazy and would rather look the other way, and the town in general has seemingly deluded itself into thinking that nothing bad ever happens there, even when it does. The film is a tongue-in-cheek send-up of cop action movies much the same way Scream was of horror movies: at one point after Pegg defeats a big henchman, his partner asks him, "Did you say something smart afterwards?" Fuzz features the same quick camera shots and seamless transitions as Shaun, which are one of my favorite things about their movies. It's funny, clever, a little gory, and has Timothy Dalton in it. Thumbs up.

We also watched The Number 23 this week, starring Jim Carrey as a dogcatcher who starts reading a detective novel that he swears mirrors his own life. The story he reads also causes him to develop an obsession with the number 23: adding the numbers of famous dates, numerical codes with letters and names, how many pairs of shoes his wife owns (yeah...seriously). The plot payoff and the 23 stuff is based on a ridiculous amount of coincidence and contrivance and required more of a suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give. Besides that, Carrey does better at dramatic roles that have a bit of goofiness built in (Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It seemed like he couldn't avoid bringing some goofiness to this one, whether the part called for it or not. It didn't help that the movie as a whole was pretty goofy, besides.

We also watched Sweeney Todd this week (hooray for paternity leave), the adapted musical starring Johnny Depp as a barber looking for revenge on a judge for wrongfully imprisoning him and trying to steal his family. This is a Tim Burton film, and that's easy enough to tell: dark, twisted characters set against dull grey backdrops. The music is by Stephen Sondheim, who is fully capable of setting a macabre mood of his own, even without Burton's help. Besides all that, we get Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sacha Baron Cohen rounding out the cast, so we end up with this perfect storm of dreary, bloody, melodic insanity culminating in a message that revenge doesn't tend to work out for the best for anybody.

So this past week on Monday Night RAW, the WWE somehow managed to have all three presidential hopefuls send in taped messages for the fans, encouraging them to vote and somewhat awkwardly tying it into wrestling. We had Hillary ask everyone to call her "Hill-Rod" and assure Randy Orton that she wouldn't come after him for his title yet. We had Obama ask if you smell what Barack is cookin'. We had McCain say something about sending The Undertaker to Iraq to find bin Laden (once he gets to Iraq, he could start by looking in Pakistan). And then we had a fake Hillary wrestle a fake Obama, the very thought of which was so torturous that I left the room. It was a nice gesture for all three to address the fans, as the WWE has encouraged voter registration for years. But whenever they go for the impersonator-comedy stuff, it pretty much tends to suck.

A few weeks ago, I picked up Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City Music Hall. I tend to stay away from full DMB live discs, and there have been a rash of them the past few years...what I'd really like is a new studio album. Don't get me wrong, live Dave is awesome and is his and the band's real M.O. (an M.O. we are scheduled to enjoy in late July). Anyway, I particularly love Dave's stuff with just Reynolds, where he plays stripped-down acoustic versions of his songs. Radio City is another fine outing from them, and this one includes "The Maker," one of my favorite covers.

Around the web, here's an amazing essay from RealLivePreacher about death and love.

Pop Culture Roundup

As I've mentioned, I've been re-reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I think that when I first read this book, I didn't fully appreciate the narrator's personal musings on everyday, seemingly mundane experiences. For example, he mentions watching a couple walking under a tree after a rain, and the man grabbing a branch and dousing them both with the water from the leaves. The narrator ties this into baptism, and how water is for blessing before it is for gardening or washing clothes. He muses about a facial expression that his son makes, or some activity that they share, and he's able to find the joy and mystery of those types of things and give thanks for them. I really like that.

We watched Ghost Hunters, as we usually do, and this week found them at a resort in New Hampshire to investigate employees' accounts of noises and sightings. In particular, they investigated the "queen's room," which is supposedly still occupied by "the queen" (I may have that term wrong...maybe it's princess...I dunno). When rooting through their collected recordings, the team catches footsteps and a woman's voice ("the queen?") actually responding to the investigators' questions. This was a good one. They aren't all good. But this one was good.

The past two nights I got to first watch the Tigers smack down the Indians, and then the Indians smack down the Tigers. It was a little ridiculous. In his past starts, it could be argued that Verlander wasn't getting run support to complement his decent to good pitching. Last night, however, it was pretty clear that he didn't know where the strike zone was. And as if that wasn't enough, he beaned Jason Michaels after giving up a Ryan Garko home run, which seemed to be intentional. So of course Carmona gets up there and hits both Santiago and Sheffield (Sheffield, by the way, gave him a look afterwards that seemed to say, "I could very well destroy your face right now, but I choose not to...here's your ball back"). So in the Unwritten Code of Ballplayers, everything is square now, right? Apparently Bobby Seay didn't think so, as he comes in and beans another Cleveland player. This is gonna be a long year between these two teams.

Around the web, check out Stuff White People Like. This is a satirical look at "white culture," although one may find that in particular it tends to satirize the young middle class proto-liberal hipster wing of "white culture." It took me a bit to make up my mind about this, but after scrolling down and reading the entry on dinner parties, I was convinced. A fun read if you "get it."

Pop Culture Roundup

I finished Jesus for President this past week, and I don't have much to add from last week. I will mention that people wanting to lump Shane Claiborne in with the emerging church movement are greatly mistaken. This book makes the case for Christianity functioning best as a radical counter-cultural movement. He tells multiple stories about what loving your enemies really looks like, including a few about his and others' experiences in inner-city Philadelphia with muggers and bullies. He makes frequent references to people who want to make Christianity relevant (a hallmark of emerging/emergent philosophy) and argues that they have it all wrong; that instead, when Christians move on the margins and live out among the poor, the outcast, and serve them as disciples, they are truly being what Jesus wants them to be. Claiborne isn't interested in relevance in the sense that he wants to make church forms and theology credible for postmoderns. He's interested in relevance between Jesus' preaching of God's kingdom and what living it out really looks like.

Non-wrestling fans, skip. We ordered Wrestlemania XXIV this past Sunday, and for costing an extra $15, it was worth it. I was a little surprised and miffed that Orton kept the WWE Title (I wanted HHH to win), but plenty of the other stuff made up for it. Shawn Michaels retired Ric Flair in a match that communicated a lot of emotion and saw Michaels moonsault himself through a table. We thought he was legitimately hurt, as it looked like he landed on the corner with his ribs. The Money in the Bank ladder match also featured plenty of "holy crap, is he dead?" kinds of moments. Undertaker and Edge closed out the show with a great match, with Taker keeping his WM perfect win streak intact. The Floyd Mayweather/Big Show match definitely wasn't great. I didn't really care much about it beforehand, and I didn't care during or after either. But all in all, a solid show.

I caught a movie on HBO this week called Idiocracy, starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph as two subjects of an Army sleep experiment who end up sleeping for 500 years. When they wake up, they find that somehow the world is completely populated by morons. Crowds are easily riled up and manipulated by someone yelling or by explosions, a Gatorade-type corporation has taken over the FDA and heavily influenced what people eat, Wilson's character takes an aptitude test that includes questions such as, "If you have one bucket that holds two gallons, and another bucket that holds five gallons, how many buckets do you have?" We also find that Costco has become as big as a city and that most chain restaurants now feature prostitution. Anyway, because of Wilson's high score on the aptitude test (he becomes known as the smartest person in the world), he's whisked off to serve on the President's Cabinet to help them solve the country's problems, among them being a lack of crops due to them being irrigated with the Gatorade-type stuff. This future world is excessive, violent, overtaken by a handful of corporations, and the population has become so incredibly lazy that they're unable to consider what's really happening. I'm still trying to figure out whether this movie was stupid or brilliant. Or maybe it had to be stupid to be brilliant.

I recently picked up From the Corner to the Block by Galactic, which illustrates a slight shift in their musical philosophy. Lead singer Theryl deClouet has departed, and the band draws in quite a number of guest vocalists and musicians, most of whom are rappers, to create what I've read elsewhere is close to a classic hip-hop sound. The only guest rapper I recognize is Chali 2na from Jurassic 5, but familiarity doesn't really matter as the entire album delivers. The band retains its New Orleans funk sound, and the rap vocals provide a nice compliment for their style.

Around the web, a blog called Emergingrural found the article that I wrote called The Emerging Church in Rural Ohio. Why there seems to have never been a blog dedicated to this part of the "conversation" until five days ago is beyond me, but a quick trip through some other blogs shows that it seems to have started something. I have to say that I'm glad to have been a part of that.

Pop Culture Roundup

I've been reading Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. People may be less familiar with Haw than Claiborne, the author of The Irresistible Revolution and advocate for a radical return to the roots of the Christian message and life. This new book is basically a timeline of sorts chronicling the various ways in which people of faith, from Moses through the present day, have conceptualized the interaction between God and secular government. So we get the transition from a more decentralized Israel to the monarchy, to Jesus' preaching of the kingdom of God over and against Caesar, to Constantine and Theodosis becoming much more friendly to Christianity, and so on. It's an excellent summation, if not for me somewhat of a repeat of most mainline Biblical and historical scholarship. Claiborne and Co. add their own editorial license to the proceedings as well, frequently mentioning more current problems such as Iraq and sweatshops, as well as digs at some current church trends (not that there's anything wrong with that). The layout is creative, if somewhat irritating: pages are made to look as if the book is written on compiled pieces of scrap paper; one page has a "mustard stain" on it (when they analyze the mustard seed parable); others have "typewritten" sidebars that even have crossed-out words; one page will be against a white or grey background, and then the next will be black words against a dark brown background. I get what they're going for, but trying to read parts of it can be quite a workout for the eyes. Anyway, the best way to describe Claiborne and Shaw's overarching point is to quote from page 165: "Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and it is at its worst when it is popular, credible, triumphal, and powerful." That should surprise no one familiar with Claiborne. It's a good point besides.

I watched Brooklyn Rules this past week, a mob movie in the spirit of Goodfellas. It centers around three guys played by Freddie Prinze, Jr., Scott Caan, and Jerry Ferrara, and the friendship they enjoy while growing up in a rough New York neighborhood. Prinze's character has aspirations of becoming a lawyer and also provides the voiceover for the film (which is what gives it its strong Goodfellas feel), while Caan's character is trying to break into the Gambino crime family. The film is set in the mid 80s against the backdrop of actual mob-related events, including the murder of boss Paul Castellano, which sets off a huge war for control and eventually affects the three of them. It's not the greatest of its genre, but it contains a lot more subtlety and development than most.

We also watched The Illusionist this week. However I'd come to believe that this movie was similar to The Prestige beyond the fact that they're both about magicians is beyond me. There is, in fact, only one magician in The Illusionist, played by Edward Norton. There is no rivalry between magicians, as I'd somehow come to believe. Instead, Norton's character is at odds with the crown prince of Austria circa 1900 after finding that the woman betrothed to him is a childhood love whom he never really got over. The two rekindle their romance, which makes the prince (a borish power-hungry troll of a human being) angry. The plot twist is much more telegraphed than in The Prestige, but since this isn't really that much like The Prestige, it isn't really a fair comparison. It was a good movie, but I did like the "other magician movie" better.

I've dug out some of my Five Iron Frenzy CDs this past week, particularly Quantity is Job 1, which I think I can call my favorite. FIF was one of the Big Three Christian ska bands of the late 90s (the others being The Supertones and The Insyderz), and I think the one that stood out as having the deepest lyrics and the most creativity. They weren't a band who felt the need to mention God in every song in overt, forced ways, and they weren't your garden-variety three-chords-and-a-pretty-face outfit that the CCM industry tries to pass off as worth your time and money. This was a band that at times got very political, at other times criticized its own industry, and always exuded a certain integrity in its image, songwriting, and musical quality that is otherwise vastly lacking in the CCM world. Sadly, FIF broke up in 2004. They were one of the few remaining Christian artists that I made a point to keep up with. But I still greatly enjoy their catalogue and am thankful for how they've contributed to my faith journey.

Around the web, I was so thankful for the conversation that I had this week with John from Verum Serum that I added the blog to my list (Edit: I noticed that he returned the gesture...rock on). I find that having blogs with differing opinions helps keep me honest, and I've been looking for a more "conservative" voice ever since Wesley Blog called it quits. There's a full post about blogs with differing opinions that I've been meaning to write, so look for it before too much longer.

Pop Culture Roundup

This past week I finished The Buzzard which, as mentioned last Friday, is an account from former production manager Jim Gorman about the heyday of Cleveland radio station WMMS. Basically, it chronicles its rise and most successful years of cutting-edge programming, attention to personality as well as current musical trends, and constant re-invention to keep up with the times, and then the beginning of its descent into mediocrity and staleness ("just another FM rock station") through inter-office politics, corporate paranoia, and character assassination of former employees who had contributed to its success. Gorman is very restrained while describing these later events, and should be given credit for that. Actually, the included pictures of a few of the corporate guys responsible for the politicking say it all. They turn out to be your basic "guys who don't know or care about music running a piece of the music industry" people. It's pretty sad to read Gorman's account of manufactured division destroying something that, up until that point, had been doing just fine.

On a related note about WMMS, the book repeatedly mentions how the local Cleveland pop culture rag The Scene (owned by the New Times...a lot of major metropolises have some version of this thing) always tended to dog the station for some reason or another. Keep in mind that Gorman was writing about a time period from the mid 70s to the mid 80s. Well, just this week I was listening to The Maxwell Show, and at one point Maxwell made a comment about how The Scene still dogs the station. This has been going on for 30 years! I just thought that was interesting.

We watched The Prestige this week, which is the Hugh Jackman/Christian Bale movie about rival magicians, as opposed to the Paul Giamatti/Edward Norton movie about rival magicians. We were told that The Prestige was the better of the two, so we decided to watch it first. Jackman and Bale's rivalry begins in a sporting way, until an act of hubris on Bale's part causes tragedy for Jackman, which sets off much more fiery back-and-forth attempts to outdo and ruin the other. There are numerous plot twists, which continue to quite literally the very last second of the film, at least as I interpret it. And each twist is at least marginally foreshadowed at some point. There is a strong theme of what revenge and obsession can do to people.

I also finally got around to watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie...the new computer animated one, not the animatronic one from 1990. I guess it's just called TMNT to differentiate it from those earlier movies. This movie takes place after the Turtles have already defeated Shredder, and they've hit kind of a low point in their crimefighting careers: Leonardo is off on sabbatical, and the other three are just kind of piddling around back home. Meanwhile, Laurence Fishburne tells us about an ancient warrior who became immortal after some stars lined up just right, but the downside was that he turned his whole army to stone and the spell produced some monsters. So now the immortal guy, sounding suspiciously like Patrick Stewart, is trying to reverse everything. Eventually, the Turtles and April O'Neil, sounding suspiciously like Sarah Michelle Gellar, leap around and kick bad guys and stuff. The animation is well done, and they go for kind of a noir thing with it. I wasn't really feeling the plot, though. But if there's a sequel, they dropped some strong hints that Shredder would be back for it. Sweet.

So #1 high school QB recruit Terrelle Pryor finally decided to sign with Ohio State (or "the University of Ohio State," according to him). So he waited an extra six weeks to do what pretty much everyone figured he was going to do anyway. Sure, dude. Thanks for nothing. Of course, by the time you're ready to start, Michigan's defenders (that's The University of Michigan, not Michigan University) will have worked out the kinks on how to properly defend guys like you. Enjoy that.

Around the web, go to Barack Obama's campaign website and watch his "More Perfect Union" speech. No, seriously. Go watch it. Go. Watch. It. Now. NO. SERIOUSLY. GO WATCH IT.

Pop Culture Roundup

I've been reading The New Christians by Tony Jones, which is part history, part explanation of the emergent church movement. I use "emergent" as opposed to "emerging" purposefully, because he does. One would think that I'd be sick of books that explain this movement by now, that maybe I'd move on to books more about how to read the local culture or exploring new church forms. No, let's read another "definition"-type book instead. It might help if there were more non-"definition"-type emergent books out there, but my picking up this book is my own fault. And if I'm being completely honest, I mainly did so because I'd read on another blog that this book contains a little history on why Mark Driscoll hates these guys so much nowadays, and I was curious. And it does. The book itself is as good as any other emergent/emerging "definition" book. What makes this one a little different is it has more of a history of the movement, which I have enjoyed reading. Jones also includes plenty of critique of both evangelical and mainline churches. He even has several specific mentions of the UCC: their "silly commercials" and a quote from Lillian Daniel.

So I finished that, and now have started The Buzzard, which is a history of the "glory days" of WMMS, a rock radio station in Cleveland that helped redefine the industry and rejuvenate the city. It's written by John Gorman, who came in as the station's production manager and was very instrumental in its reinvention process. The "glory days" are listed as happening from 1973-1986. I haven't read far enough to know why Gorman thinks it went downhill after that. I just finished reading about how he came up with The Buzzard nickname and mascot: he saw a cartoon of two buzzards sitting in a tree, where one says to the other, "Patience, my ass. I'm gonna kill something." He thought this reflected the spirit of the times and what he wanted the station's image to be, so they adopted it. Interesting stuff. At times, the book is a little heavy on the technical side of running a station, but it's been a decent read.

Speaking of WMMS, a lot of afternoons I listen to The Maxwell Show. It amounts to a "shock jock" show at times, but I think they hit on some good topics. You have Maxwell, Stansbury, and Chunk, who mainly talk about their lives or something in the news and get people to call and chime in on whatever they're discussing. I even worked them into a sermon a few weeks ago: Maxwell is on a diet, and I was able to mention what he said back when the Gospel Lesson was Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. They're funny, irreverent and entertaining, albeit with a strong dose of crude humor thrown in as well. I've already had to assure Coffeewife that I will not have this show on if Coffeeson is in the car with me. I got no problem with that. In fact, Maxwell and Stansbury got into an argument a few weeks ago over Maxwell's stated decision to "shelter" his newborn daughter. See, that's the kind of stuff they discuss, rather than trying to contrive "shocking" radio. Whatever comes up, they go with it.

Around the web, Street Prophets has been added to the blogroll. It's my new go-to blog to read about the intersection between faith and politics, admittedly with a certain sympathy toward more "liberal" or Democratic causes.

Also around the web, I think we should sing this hymn on Sunday.

Pop Culture Roundup

I've been reading, well, leafing through, Places of Promise by Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce. The tagline for this book reads, "finding strength in your congregation's location." So I'm expecting a book detailing ways to maximize potential wherever your church is located physically, or maybe some stories by churches who have done this, or whatever. Instead, this book is the result of an extensive survey of congregations and what factors contribute to their vitality, and for the purposes of this book the bottom line is that location is not a factor. The authors use chapter after chapter to break down how it's not a regional thing, or a red state/blue state thing, or even a denominational thing. Finally they share that it IS a methodological thing: churches that are intentional about being welcoming, who incorporate new members well, who offer "meaningful" worship, provide strong programming for youth, offer opportunities for "spiritual growth," and excel at a few other methodological factors are the ones considered "vital." Hey, look, no mention of "right theology." There it is in black and white, UCC critics. No "Do They Hold to the One True Faith" category to be found. But with guys like Joel Osteen around, you and I both already knew that. Due to the large amount and dissection of data, this is not the most riveting read. That's why I skimmed it. And I think that they could have packaged the information differently than just trying to disprove that location makes a difference. Still, very informative.

We watched Meet the Robinsons this past week. This is a silly movie about a kid named Lewis, who is left at an orphanage as a baby. He attempts to invent things in order to endear himself to potential parents, but they usually end up going very very wrong. He takes one invention with him to the science fair, where he meets a kid from the future named Wilbur as well as a mysterious evil guy in a bowler hat. The two kids zoom off to the future, and wacky hijinks ensue. We meet the Robinson family, all of whom have some crazy quirk. We learn more about Bowler Hat Guy (and it's easy to figure out his connection after a while), and hey! Adam West is one of the voices! We laughed pretty much through the whole thing: it's silly, it's touching, it's silly some more. Good stuff.

We went to Applebee's to use a gift card this past week, and I almost wept for joy when I glanced at the TV to see ESPN broadcasting a spring training game. Finally, the four-month drought is over and all is right with the world. Of course, since it was ESPN, one of the two teams were the Yankees. But when I got home, I found that SportsTimeOhio was broadcasting the Indians' game, so I watched that instead while I typed my sermon. Ah, sweet relief.

I highly enjoy my Over the Rhine CD.

Around the web, Lutheran Husker just welcomed his new daughter into the world. Go say congrats.

Pop Culture Roundup

I started Losers, Loners, and Rebels, which is about pastoral care with adolescent boys. I don't totally know the reason I picked this up...I guess it's because I'm having a son and it caught my eye. Anyway, I'm not very far into it and I don't really know how far I'll really read. The initial interest has waned.

We watched Evan Almighty this past weekend, which was...fine. It can only be considered a sequel to Bruce Almighty due to the first scene and the fact that Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman are both in it. Otherwise, this is an entirely separate film. Leading up to its release in theaters, I'd become aware of a major campaign to introduce a study series based on the film, and the movie does lend itself to discussion on faith, perserverance, togetherness, and caring for creation among other things. Carell returns as Evan Baxter, Bruce's jerk of a rival from the first movie, who has magically transformed into a generous family man and has just been elected to Congress. Can news anchors run for office? I thought Stephen Colbert got in trouble for that. Anyway, Evan prays one night to be able to change the world, and is then given his new mission by God to build an ark. As the movie goes on, we learn that this is to help oppose Evan's political superior from passing a bill to destroy outlying areas of national parks so his business ties can build developments. So the movie is very environmental AND anti-government/business collusion. And hey, get this: Evan's wife is named Joan. Get it? I would've awarded full points if her name never happened to be mentioned. Oh well. All in all, it's a pretty fluffy, feel-good family comedy. It was...fine.

We also watched Poltergeist, which I had never seen before. I knew all the classic scenes and lines, but had never watched the whole thing. I didn't even know that Craig T. Nelson starred in it. Anyway, the movie itself was kind of...what's the word...stupid. Okay, so the daughter gets sucked into the closet and the TV is all snowy and creepy and she's stuck inside or whatever. Great, got it. Then out of nowhere the ghostbusting team shows up and the one guy has a series of random trippy hallucinations and holy crap! Now there are ghosts on video! And now we'll rescue the girl with some other random "isn't this scary?" stuff thrown in before everyone is covered in strawberry jelly. So the weird psychic lady declares the house clear, but she's not a very good psychic because we get an entire second Scary Freakout Ending. Does this review make sense? Probably not unless you've seen it. I don't care. Fail.

And I also watched Four Brothers, starring Mark Wahlberg as one of...wait for it...four brothers. They're actually adoptive brothers, two white and two black, none of whom lead that comfortable or clean of a life. They're brought back together after their adoptive mother is murdered in a convenience store robbery that they're not convinced was a random thing. The movie sets out to give a vibe reminiscient of 70s "blaxploitation" films, which I think it does quite well. This is no better epitomized than in the gangleader, excellently played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative in Serenity). It was actually a fun movie that didn't take itself too seriously (contrasted with Poltergeist, which did seem to take itself seriously, and that's one of the many reasons why it sucked).

I got my hands on Over the Rhine's The Trumpet Child yesterday, which has a decidedly New Orleans-ish flavor to it. The title track is my favorite, but I also particularly like "I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time," "Let's Spend the Day In Bed," and the wacky "Don't Wait For Tom." Easily one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Around the web, here's a hilarious video where a guy signs the song "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia.

Pop Culture Roundup

I finished Becoming a Pastor, and the full review will be coming forthwith. In the meantime, I started The Lost Apostle by Rena Pederson this week, which focuses on the mention of Junia as being "outstanding among the apostles" in Romans 16. Pederson is on the hunt for more contextual information about her, as well as some historical background on the lack of emphasis placed on her. She drudges up some of the usual culprits, the chief of which being anti-egalitarianism in the church. In the very first chapter, Pederson explores what it meant to be an apostle and whether Junia could really be considered one. Some argue against her being considered an apostle, arguing that it may have been used as a more general term ("messenger") in her case. For my own part, the entire argument on either side assumes a special group of people known as The Apostles proper, which seems to be rooted more in church tradition. While we have the Twelve set aside, there are allusions in scripture to other apostles, all charged with the task of proclaiming "the message." So yes, Junia was as much an apostle as anyone else. So good for Pederson for sticking up for her and all that, for another revealing of the church's historical sexism (actually, some of the quotes from Big Important Historical Church Guys are pretty infuriating), and for some good analysis of the time period.

We watched 3:10 to Yuma this past weekend, which was just an excellent movie. Christian Bale plays an underachieving rancher who agrees to help transport a notorious criminal played by Russell Crowe. The two strike up an odd relationship along the way. Both characters are portrayed with a lot of depth. Bale's character is on a journey of redemption of sorts as he struggles to provide for his family and to earn his older son's respect. Crowe's, meanwhile, shows flashes of kindness and sympathy, particularly as he learns more and more of Bale's story. We also get a random Luke Wilson sighting, which I just thought was cool just because it's such a different role for him.

Non-wrestling fans can skip this paragraph. Coffeewife let me order WWE No Way Out this past Sunday, which was somewhat predictable, but I enjoyed the journey. Undertaker and Triple H won the two elimination chamber matches. There were maybe two others in the Smackdown match who would have been believable winners, and it just felt like Triple H was overdue to be back in the title hunt. The one surprise was Cena not winning back the title from Orton, and while Orton told a fun story as the chicken bad guy who kept trying to get the match stopped, I thought the ending (slapping the ref to get disqualified) was lame. That's not the kind of thing I want to pay $40 to see, know what I mean? Oh, and we got Floyd Mayweather breaking a returning Big Show's nose. So that must be this year's Wrestlemania celebrity tie-in/publicity stunt. It was a pretty solid event, even if I did see some of the finishes coming. I have to say that being able to watch the past two pay-per-views at home might quickly spoil me. But really, I bet I order Wrestlemania and then that's it for a while.

I watched probably 10 minutes of American Idol this week, the night the guys performed. During the recap of their performances, I was able to conclude that half of them have the same voice and dress style and that makes it easier to not give a crap. There was a certain "jump the shark" quality to last season, anyway.

Around the web, I'm going to let a little political bias through and channel Nelson Muntz: "Ha ha!"

Pop Culture Roundup

I'm still working my way through Becoming a Pastor, and again, I'm saving it for one of my "essays." Suffice it to say, it's very good.

I watched The Family Stone this week, featuring a very notable cast. Sarah Jessica Parker plays an uppity career woman who joins her boyfriend's family for Christmas, and has a lot of trouble finding acceptance. For the first half of the movie or so, I did feel bad for her. But there comes a point where sympathy for her evaporates and you begin seeing that the family is protective of their own, and for some good reasons. And apparently Diane Keaton contracts herself to have at least one over-the-top melodramatic moment per movie now. There also ends up being a love quadrangle or something, which was annoying after the one brother spends most of the movie sticking up for Parker's character and taking pains to get his family to give her a fair shot. All in all, an interesting exploration of family dynamics and how an outsider may or may not be accepted. But some of the characters and plot "twists" are beyond help.

My favorite song of the moment is OneRepublic's "Apologize." I downloaded the original version without Timbaland saying "hey" through the whole thing (he actually, like, sings or raps or something occasionally, doesn't he?) onto my Chocolate, and I actually like the original more...it uses more strings and electric guitar, and I just think it sounds better. Probably a week later, I picked up the entire album, Dreaming Out Loud. There's definitely a Timbaland influence throughout, but they're also a real band with real instruments in a kind of "Radiohead meets Coldplay" thing. And here's a fun fact: in the liner notes, all five of them thank either God or Jesus. After discovering that, some of their song titles and lyrics made more sense.

I also picked up Over the Rhine's Ohio this week. It was not my first choice (I was looking for Drunkard's Prayer or The Trumpet Child), but I wanted to experience more of their music so I basically settled for this. Having listened to it a few times, I sort of feel bad for saying "settled," but I don't think that I can completely abandon the word. This 2-CD set is still very good, utilizing a variety of musical influences such as folk, gospel, country, and blues. "Suitcase," "Changes Come," and "Bothered" are some of my favorites. It's interesting to read Detweiler's message in the liner notes where he talks about he and Karin both trying to move beyond their church-centered childhoods, yet their music is still "Christ-haunted." That's going in a sermon. I'm still on a quest to find those other albums. Seriously, go to their website and listen to the song "The Trumpet Child" and tell me it doesn't completely wash over you.

Around the web, you wanna know why lots of denominations require things like a seminary education and psychological testing for their pastors? This is why.

Pop Culture Roundup

Posted early. First "essay" comes tomorrow. Rock on.

I've been reading Becoming a Pastor by Jaco J. Hamman. I was sent a promotional poster for it in some UCC mailing or another and wanted to check it out. I'll treat this to a full review as one of my Big Serious Blogging Experiment "essays," so that's all I'll say about it for now.

I saw the movie Breach recently, which is based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, a rogue FBI agent eventually caught for betraying Bureau information to Russia. The underrated Chris Cooper plays Hanssen, a devout Opus Dei Catholic who feels vastly underappreciated in his position. Ryan Philippe plays Eric O'Neill, another agent taken on as Hanssen's clerk, secretly working with the investigation to catch Hanssen in the act. The movie is not for those expecting car chases and gunfights, who I imagine are the same people who complained about "slower" episodes of The Sopranos. This is much more of a character-driven movie, particularly of O'Neill as he wrestles with balancing his relationship with his wife and his work, and to a lesser extent Hanssen himself, who seems to undertake his betrayal mainly to prove a point about his own government's vulnerability. One of the subplots involves O'Neill and his wife and "marrying into the Bureau," to which I couldn't help but draw a parallel to clergy, but that's for another day.

We also watched the movie The Ten last night, which we both found pretty disappointing. The commercial for it was hilarious, but this was an instance where they showed all the best parts. This is a series of ten somewhat-related skits based on the Ten Commandments. I'm usually a fan of offbeat humor, but this was a little too offbeat for me, I guess. Coveting your neighbor's wife, for instance, takes place in a prison (get it?). "You shall not steal" features Winona Ryder falling in love with a ventriloquist's dummy. The concepts of each skit are highly original and even at times good social commentary. For instance, "no other gods" centers around a guy getting his 15 minutes of fame after a ridiculous accident, and a reporter's last line of the sketch is, "I used to love him, but now I hate him." But I didn't laugh a whole lot.

This past Sunday Coffeewife and I joined my parents to watch the Super Bowl with maybe 12 senior high kids (my mom is a church youth director). I'll be honest...I was rooting for the Patriots. Brady is a Michigan Man, and I was interested in the possibility of 19-0 in the same way I was in interested in the final episode of Friends: I wasn't a true follower, but aware enough to realize its cultural significance. It turned out to be significant anyway, but not in the Patriots' favor. Anyway, I found the commercials to be at least a step or two above last years', with my three favorites being Pepsi Max at the Roxbury, the screaming squirrel, and the babbling shirt stain which had me crying from laughing so hard. Honorable mention goes to Charlie Brown getting the Coke for sentimental reasons. On Monday, I watched exactly one hour of ESPN (Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption, which I usually watch) and then shut it off because I knew they'd be rehashing the same six or seven Super Bowl-related stories.

Around the web, the poster in the entry below was made through Despair.com.

Pop Culture Roundup

I recently finished A Private History of Awe by Scott Russell Sanders, which is a memoir that largely takes place during the 1950s and 60s but occasionally jumps forward to the present day. The author shares his experiences of growing up first in Tennessee and then on a military base in Ohio. Later on, he shares his life while studying at Cambridge, and his reactions to some of the great events of that era including the assasinations of both Kennedys and King, Vietnam, and the civil rights movement. These events greatly shape the author's stances on equality and pacifism, on patriotism and religion, on how he views his home country. A particular point of interest for him is how this all relates to the stories of Jesus with which he grew up: he tries to reconcile what he's learned in the church with hearing white pastors denounce racial equality or reading about the ongoing conflict overseas. He strives to wrap his head around MLK's assasination in particular in light of what Jesus advocated and what he saw King advocate. This is not solely a book on spiritual awakening, but it emerges as a major theme. Another is the ongoing care for his mother in a nursing home, and how he strives to remember her as she once was: a vibrant, passionate, protective person rather than the whithered body suffering from dementia. This was a good and involved read which I enjoyed.

Since finishing Awe, I started If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, which is widely considered a classic on the art of writing. Those looking for a book on technique are going to be vastly disappointed, as this is no such book. Ueland is very encouraging of the amateur writer, stating in chapter after chapter that one shouldn't hinder themselves by worrying about technique and publishing so much, as those things cause people to write for others; to write solely on what one thinks others would like and would get them noticed. The book, in my opinion, is about 70% helpful, 20% fluff, and 10% crazy. Her statements about and examples of vivid imagery and unbound prose are helpful, but occasionally veer into sort of a new age-y "everyone is a great writer just by writing" sort of thing, and then sometimes she just seems to go off the reservation completely. When noting the importance of sitting for a while thinking rather than writing, she provides the hero from Crime and Punishment, who sat and planned out how to murder two people before doing it, as her model. Short on examples of writers who sit and think for that one? Maybe a sculptor who stares at a block of concrete or a painter who stares at a blank canvas? Nope, a guy planning to kill people was the best she had. Mmkay, then.

This past week we watched the movie Waitress, which stars Keri Russell as a "pie genius" working in a diner. She has a scumbag husband by whom she winds up pregnant after a weak night involving lots of alcohol. She has an affair with her doctor, played in a wonderfully awkward manner by Nathan Fillion. The dynamic between Russell and Fillion seems genuine and strong and made for some good laughs. Andy Griffith as the cranky diner owner and voice of wisdom was good, too. But the movie as a whole wasn't anything special.

Non-wrestling fans can go ahead and skip this paragraph. This past Sunday I ordered the WWE Royal Rumble on pay-per-view. It's my favorite event that they do all year because it features a big match where 30 guys enter 90 seconds apart and try to eliminate each other to earn a title shot at Wrestlemania. The other matches (or the "undercard" in wrestling jargon) weren't that great. They didn't go any longer or feature anything different than what one typically sees on RAW or Smackdown from week to week. The Rumble match itself wasn't outstanding either, until entrant #30 came in...a returning John Cena. I can count on one hand the number of times I've truly cheered for this guy, and his surprise entrance at this eve