Archive for the ‘Pop Culture’ Category
“Twilight,” the Book: A Review
So I finally read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, the vampire mega-hit that is so popular today with early adolescent girls. I give it a B-.
Until about the last twenty pages, the plot remained strong and engaging. I appreciate the unique remote Northwest setting, with its rain-drenched gloomy atmosphere. Vampires, it seems, do [...]
Leap Like Calves
Below is the homily I preached this morning in Kramer Chapel at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN. I think I overdid it a bit with the references, quotes and illustrations. As the dean said afterward, “well that was a post-modern romp.”
Text: Malachi 4: 1-6
This is the way the world ends
This is the [...]
Midnighters Coming to Television
Haven’t you ever wished you had one more hour in your day? Many of us have fantasized about having more time, when in fact, we already have all the time there is.
Not so in the Midnighters universe, an inventive trilogy of speculative YA fiction by Scott Westerfeld. I just finished reading book one, The Secret [...]
Paranormal Activity: Newest Nail-Biting Frightfest You Won’t Soon Forget
There is a new film called Paranormal Activity that some people are calling one of the scariest movies ever made. Produced in 2007 by unknowns with just $11,000 and shot in seven days, it’s being compared to The Blair Witch Project from ten years ago. It too was made by amateur filmmakers for a pittance [...]
Wassup with this Latest Vampire Craze?
You’d have to try pretty hard not to notice that vampires have invaded our popular culture to an astounding degree in recent years. What’s up with that? Vampire legends have existed in many cultures for many centuries and there have been quite a few variations along the way. Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, came out in [...]
Movie Review: District 9
District 9 is proof that you don’t need a ginormous budget or famous faces to put together a terrific movie. The special effects were stunning. The unknown main actor deserves to win awards. And the documentary style utilized by The Blair Witch Project (one of the scariest movies I have ever seen), Cloverfield, and Quarantine [...]
Book Review: “The Solace of Leaving Early”
I was vacationing along Lake Michigan at the historic Lakeside Inn with my family when my wife and I both finished the novels we were reading at the same time. Mine was a pulpy thriller by Robert Bloch (The Scarf) that Julie naturally had no interest in. But as she told me about the story [...]
Movie Review: “Knowing”
I’ve always liked Nicolas Cage. He’s very talented but I must say that his career has many highs and lows. Our family really liked the National Treasure pics. 2007’s Ghost Rider was really low. But his latest film, Knowing, is thankfully on the higher end of the spectrum. Not that it’s incredibly original. Just another [...]
“What Goes Up…
…must come down.” There is a movie, new to DVD, that you may be interested in checking out called What Goes Up. Admittedly, most critics gave it a poor review. But what do they know?
Like all good stories, this movie asks some intriguing questions.
The film is about heroism. Why do we need heroes? And what [...]
“Don’t Come Knocking” from Wim Wenders
What if someone told the story of the Prodigal Son with an inventive twist? The story of the Prodigal Father. What would that look like?
In 2005, the masterful German director Wim Wenders, well known for the fabulous Wings of Desire, gave us Don’t Come Knocking starring Sam Shepard. The story was, in [...]
