Idol Chatter

Sometimes sports television crosses over into the world of pop culture, and this year's July 4th weekend certainly marked such a time. Roger Federer won his historically best 15th Grand Slam tennis title, and Tiger Woods won the tournament he hosts--at a future U.S. Open site--later in the same day. They'll be highlighted on this week's debut of ESPN's "Sports Nation" and were covered by every major sports media outlet.

Their victories were related in the following ways. First, Tiger texted Roger in the few minutes between the former's win and the latter's tee off time. Second, included in almost all of the news today were stories were about Federer and Woods are among the greatest athletes of all time, rather than simply the actual action of the weekend. Third, both players won by a whisker thin margin.

Has the cult of celebrity worship gone too far?

Last week's news highlighted a few Michael Jackson fans around the world committing suicide after being devastated by the pop singer's death.

A UK media outlet Sky News quoted the president of MJJCommunity, one of the world's largest Michael Jackson fan sites based in the UK, saying a total of (at least) 12 suicides occurred, one involving a Briton. EOnline.com mentions a Michael Jackson impersonator in Russia who attempted suicide (but was not successful) and The Barcelona Reporter claims a young girl in Tunisia was the first fan to commit suicide.

The news of saddended fans are willing to die for/because of a celebrity they have never met is disturbing, but also a strangely warped Messianic gesture.  Though I'm not equating Michael to Jesus, it is curious to note that just as Jesus' followers are willing to die for him, Jackson's followers are also willing to die because of him.

When the number of suicides was originally reported as seven, Jesse Jackson also gave a brief message encouraging Michael Jackson fans to "celebrate Michael's life by creating futures not funerals."  He goes on to say, "To make Michael happy...don't accept the struggle, don't give up and surrender...That's the right thing to do.  Just live together...and not die apart.  Through all of this, keep hope alive."

Watch Jesse Jackson's full message below.

 

What do you think about the Michael Jackson fan suicides? Do you think it's a disturbing trend of over-worshipping celebrities? Also, does fame trump faith when it comes to celebrity deaths?

Christian church groups and all types of faith-based organizations and communities that have jumped on the Twitter and Facebook bandwagons as an albeit abbreviated online forum for everything from evangelization to basic connection have been in the news a lot this past year. But now, apparently, these same groups that stage everything from Passion plays (including one that got a little randy) to worship services via Twitter and Facebook are struggling with online etiquette.

In "Lead Us to Tweet, and Forgive the Trespassers," New York Times reporter Paul Vitello explains:

"If total control is what you want, social media will frustrate you," [Rev. Bill Reichart] said, reprising his advice to the clergy. "But the trade-off is the ability to hear and learn, reach out in new directions." Many clerics, desperate to connect with young people, have been like radio dispatchers using the wrong bandwidth, he said. "The young don't do e-mail anymore," he said. "They do Facebook."...Lisa Colton, president of Darim Online, a consultancy that works with Jewish congregations, said some rabbis worry that a Facebook page might attract anti-Semitic graffiti. The anxieties are different for every group. Some Muslim clerics have told followers to avoid making statements on social networking sites that antiterrorist investigators might misinterpret as suspicious...At Trinity Church, an Episcopal congregation with an adventurous approach geared to the culture of Wall Street, where it is located, the Passion play experiment was considered a success despite the interloping characters. "If someone chooses to interact with us mischievously, that's fine," said the Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, the church vicar. "The opposite of engagement is not mischief, but apathy."

And some worshipers would say that the Reverend has exactly the right idea:

"I'm a sporadic worshiper," said Anne Libby, a management consultant in Manhattan who often follows the services on Twitter between occasional visits to Trinity. The connection, however slender, has drawn her closer to the church community, she said. She has never tweeted back during a service. She does not always follow every word. But she has noticed that her favorite Bible quotation fits nicely within the 140-character Twitter limit: "Love your neighbor as yourself," she said."

As they have for hundreds of years, a Buddhist monk goes on a journey in search of the "unmistaken child" who is the reincarnation of his master. The quest is unchanged in its goal and its procedures. But this time the monk is sporting a very modern backpack, traveling in part by helicopter, and the journey is being filmed by an Israeli documentary film-maker.

I spoke to that film-maker, Nati Baratz, as he was traveling through the United States to talk about the film, "Unmistaken Child."

Tell me how this project came about.

Back in 93 I fell in love with Tibetans, especially the people, and I felt a moral responsibility about the suppression by the Chinese. I went home to study cinema and I wanted for a long time to make a film abut Tibet, to bring to the audience the experience of the culture and the qualities. The Tibetans have this happy nature, they are calm and non-violent and they have developed a lot of wisdom over thousands of years. Most of all, they have this endless commitment to benefit others. You can read about it but to experience it is different. The Buddhist culture is the best thing I have found in my life until today. It is not formal but I am connected to it, more Buddhist than anything else, more than my Jewish background.

And how did you decide on this particular story?

I wanted to make a film about a hidden Tibetan tribe. In the course of this I went to Nepal and joined the meditation to deepen my understanding of Tibetan Buddhism. There I heard this talk about the life of the master who had just died. The lama Tenzin Zopa touched me with his huge heart when he asked us all to pray for the swift and unmistaken return of his master. I knew this is the movie I have to make.

I've been watching "Saving Grace" since the pilot aired, and the show is so well-written, well-acted, and edgy that it converted me to become a Holly Hunter fan. Though the show's angel-spirituality side can get a bit syrupy at times for my taste, overall the characters and episode plots are so engaging, I overlook those times when the show crosses the line (in my opinion) into the realm of cheesiness.

Aside from Earl the angel (Leon Rippy), who I can take or leave depending on the moment, one of my favorite parts of the show is how the writers have developed Grace's large and complicated, blue collar Catholic family. This serves as the show's best vehicle in teasing out Grace's relationship to the faith she grew up with and her waffling between ambivalence and awe in her life now (I think).

In particular, Grace's brother Father Johnny stands out as a wonderfully- layered portrait of a priest who is both good but flawed, though he always meaning well. The latest episode, "Watch Siggybaby Burn," features Father Johnny and other members of Grace's family. To watch Grace, her brothers, and her nephew navigate an attack on their family is intense and moving and not to be missed. My only wish for the show is that they'd spend more time on family and faith--and a little less on Earl.

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With so much of the world grotesquely fixated on every detail surrounding Michael Jackson's death, the news of yet another Hollywood legend's death was announced yesterday with little fanfare. Actor Karl Malden, known, to some, for being the voice heard...