June 2006 Archives

Editing a faith-focused website like Beliefnet, it's hard not to dream of the star writers I wish we could get to write for us. And who is bigger than Jesus Christ himself? Alas, he hasn't been on the freelance market for a while--or so I thought. Somehow the humor magazine The Onion got him to contribute an opinion piece in the current issue.

In "No Way I'm Saving That Guy," the Man From Nazareth tells us he's finally reached the limit of his heretofore-unlimited forgiving nature. Acknowledging that he is "supposed to be all-merciful, universally loving, the Light and the Way and everything," Mr. Christ goes on to blast the owner of a local automative shop (though he refrains from saying what locality that is), listing his many faults. He continues:

Don't get Me wrong. I'm extremely forgiving--to a fault, maybe. I've absolved some of the worst people you can imagine. We've got thieves, adulterers, murderers, even Romans sent to persecute my followers out the wazoo up here. In fact, if you ask Biblical scholars or learned clergy, they'll go so far as to tell you My capacity for forgiveness is infinite. Well, that's usually true. But not with this a----e.

A word to Jesus: It's true that The Onion has some of the most biting religious satire out there and can always be counted on for some laugh-out-loud reading. But, please. Beliefnet is the biggest spiritual website around, and I'm sure we can fit you into our roster of columnists. Gimme a call, and we can discuss terms.

Earlier this week, Oprah held a Dr. Phil-like parental advice-giving session, yet not with Dr. Phil himself--her show about on-camera counseling for families in crisis was hosted by none other than the ubiquitous Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of many popular books, including his most recent, "10 Conversations You Need to Have with Your Children." Rabbi Shmuley is no stranger to television, either--he hosts his own show, called "Shalom in the Home," airs on TLC, Monday nights at 10 p.m.

His appearance on Oprah's show included no shortage of "Shmuleyisms"--bits of wisdom that this celebrity rabbi offers to parents and kids unhappy at home, quite like the popular TV nannies that many of my friends with children watch religiously every week. "Shmuleyisms" are generally straightforward and certainly not earth-shattering, and include simple views like the following:

"Many parents believe they can take a hammer and chisel and sculpt their children into an image of what they want them to be. Instead, it's much more effective to get [your children] to hear their own inner voice of what they want to be."

Also:

"Parenting is done with two hands--the right hand is unconditional love, and the left hand is establishing boundaries amidst that unconditional love. That is the role of a parent--love and discipline."

On Oprah, Rabbi Shmuley packed the salvation of four families into one hour, departing from his regular "Shalom in the Home" formula, which focuses just on one family per hour-long episode. Each family story arc on Oprah included the requisite embarassing camera-in-the-home footage of parental incompetence and bratty childish behavior, followed by a Rabbi Shmuley miracle advice session, followed (in most cases) by happy-ending footage of a family excursion orchestrated by the rabbi himself, talking them through success all the way.

As I am one of those people who watches reality TV with my hands over my face, not able to suffer through the public humiliation of others, I can't say that after Rabbi Shmuley's Oprah debut I'll be canceling my Monday night plans to make it home in time for "Shalom in the Home," but it was interesting to see a "male nanny" taking control of the reality-parenting market for once--and a rabbi at that.

John Holland is the perfect psychic for the History Channel. He eschews the usual gimmicks of media mediums, the schmaltziness of John Edward or the histrionics of "Most Haunted" and "Ghost Town"'s Derek Acorah, and even goes so far as to say, with a slight roll of the eyes, that although he's able to take on personality traits of people who've passed, he's "not being possessed."

Holland, a Boston born-and-bred psychic medium, is apparently well-known on the lecture and book circuits, but is looking to break into the lucrative world that is cable television with "Psychic History."

In the pilot episode John is taken to Waco, Texas, to the former site of the Branch Davidian compound, Mount Carmel. Currently, nothing occupies the site other than a small non-descript church. All signs and identifying markers were either removed or covered. Holland is not told where he's going and arrives blindfolded. He is able to relive the events and answer some of the mysteries surrounding the 1993 siege: Yes, the Branch Davidians shot first, and yes, some of the Davidians were being held against their will. What may be most remarkable is that Holland is able to get readings off of a house in L.A. that once housed weapons used in the siege. Apparently, this information was only known by police. (The pilot episode is being re-aired July 8 at 5 p.m.)

My only quibble with the show is an incredible credulity-stretching moment when John is taken to the garage where Lee Harvey Oswald was assassinated, as a sort of warm-up to Waco. In this very non-descript parking garage, accompanied by the law enforcement officer handcuffed to Oswald that day, Holland is able to determine that they are at the site of the shooting, but then seems to say that Oswald was a generous person. While the former officer completely disagrees with this assessment, the narrator chimes in with a line about how "John may have been right after all," as his assassin Jack Ruby was known to be a very giving man. If that isn't trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, then what is?

The show is typical History Channel treatment, featuring one-on-ones with experts and participants, for the most part properly couching language so as to not present Holland's readings as absolute fact and leaving room for differing viewpoints. Plus, an investigative reporter from the Dallas Morning News accompanies Holland in order to verify what he's saying.

Whether you believe in psychic abilities or not, "Psychic History" is an interesting, remarkably balanced show for the genre.

The devil I await is the one wearing Prada, of course.

Though the idea of embodying the devil in female form is not terribly original, I tore through Lauren Weisberger's payback of a novel, "The Devil Wears Prada"--a thinly veiled "fictionalized" account of Weisberger's stint as the tortured assistant of none other than the Queen of Fashion herself: Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue. The story is a deliciously hellish portrayal of the underside of the glitter and glamour of the runway and its fashionista critics and connoisseurs. I am excited to see it portrayed on the big screen when the movie version of "The Devil Wears Prada" opens tomorrow, and despite the fact that the famously fashionable are bemoaning the film's "lack of chic" according to Ruth La Ferla's article in today's New York Times, "The Duds of 'The Devil Wears Prada.'"

Though the film's director, David Frankel, apparently aimed to create a "magical kingdom of fashion" for movie-goers, he missed the mark, La Ferla reports. Rather, the film portrays "a caricature of what people who don't work in fashion think fashion people look like."

Regardless of the pan--at least from the runway angle--I'm excited to see Meryl Streep's stint as the devil in couture clothing as she plays the role of Miranda Priestly, the Anna Wintour-like character.

Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of watching the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Mets 9-4 at Fenway Park. But as much as Boston baseball can feel like a religion, I'd never personally witnessed any warm-fuzzies at the ballpark...until last night.

Before the game, the 1986 Red Sox were honored on the 20th anniversary of the team's storied pennant- and division-winning season. I don't have to tell any baseball fans out there that this is also the 20th anniversary of the team's storied collapse and stunning World Series loss...to the New York Mets. That was the year they wheeled champagne into the Red Sox locker room only to roll it right back out. That was the year a ball slipped through Bill Buckner's hands, and rolled tragically between his legs.

But as each retired player (of the '86 Red Sox, only Roger Clemens is still playing professional baseball) jogged out onto the field to stand in their old field positions, there was nothing but love from the stands. The announcer made a specific point when he announced Buckner (who did not attend because he was taking his child to look at colleges) to say that the great player will always be welcome at Fenway Park. Everyone cheered.

To add to the positive mo-jo, former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, who now plays for the Mets, was also given an official warm Fenway Park welcome, and when he came out to wave to the crowd, everyone at Fenway was on their feet.

Listening to sports radio on the way home from the game, the host told a caller who called the ovations "bittersweet," that those feelings weren't fair. It was time to move on from the painful past, to "let it go" and celebrate 1986 for the victory that it was. It was time to let that year's later defeat fade into safely distant history.

But then host pointed out that the warm welcome, the happy nostalgia, would probably not have been possible prior to the 2004 Red Sox's World Series victory, the team's first since 1918.

As much pride and excitement surrounds Red Sox baseball, there also remains a lot of pent-up frustration and disappointment with roots in that ballpark. Seems one World Series win wasn't enough to take the "bitter" out of "bittersweet" for that caller. But for the rest of the fans who stood and clapped as those Red Sox legends took the field, it was a brand new day.

Of the two time-travel related movies available this July 4th weekend--and sans the existence of a wonderful July 4-ish movie like "National Treasure" or "Independence Day"--here's why I highly recommend "Click" over its play-with-temporal-reality competition, "The Lake House."First, I'm a...

This week's US Weekly features a headline that one might expect to find on an issue of the magazine Guideposts rather than on one of the nation's top gossip magazines: "Kevin's Last Chance: A Christian life coach helps Britney forgive...

"I’m sick to death of Jesus. I feel that Jesus and Paris Hilton are both overexposed." Loud and obnoxious statements like that should offend my Midwestern evangelical sensibilities just enough to make me want to rant about Kathy Griffin, the...

Superman is back, and not a moment too soon. The world is falling apart, and now even Lex Luthor is being let out of jail. Does the world need a savior? That's a question pondered by the characters of the...

So how was Nicole Kidman able to wed Keith Urban in a Catholic church?Kidman, baptized and raised Catholic, is one of the most famous divorcees in filmdom these days, her 1990 marriage to fellow actor and former Catholic Tom Cruise...

One of the many reasons summer is my favorite time of year is the fact that while enjoying the view of Lake Michigan, I can also catch up on my reading. Yes, with re-runs on TV and little at the...

Were your weekend’s activities planned around exciting (and some ho-hum) World Cup soccer elimination matches? Mine were, and happily, here in the U.S. I had the benefit of daytime broadcasts from Germany. And though my biggest problem was fighting for...

With the amount of TV that most of us watch, it's inevitable--much as we try to resist or deny it--that the small screen shapes our worldview and our national conversation. To that end, a significant cultural leader passed away this...

And so the dream has died, with the United States’ loss to Ghana yesterday (2-1) in the World Cup competition. Even though Italy did its part by beating Czechoslovakia (2-0), the U.S.’s loss cemented its shameful exit from the first...

A British singer borrows an American president's phrase when painting graffiti on Israeli property that is characterized by Palestinians as a land grab. I'm not sure what I am more struck by: the scope of history, politics, music, and culture...

As far as saints go, free-standing statues, mass cards, portraits on the walls, ceramic figurines, and tiny iconic pendants that you can dangle from a chain are par for the course for anyone who grows up an Italian Catholic--namely, me--or,...

Steve Skelton--an author and minister--has been going around telling anyone who'll listen that Superman is a Christ figure. He's got a good point, what with the whole "only son sent to earth as a savior" angle. Now The Advocate tells...

Tyler Perry--and his large black-woman alter-ego, Madea--have conquered stage, screen, and more recently, page, with the best-selling "Dont Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings." Now, to coincide with the DVD release of his "Madea's Family Reunion," the Hollywood...

It's not often I get to (a) see a movie star up close and (b) see a Broadway show. But on my first --and hopefully not last--whirlwind trip to New York, I was able to do both in one afternoon....

No need to wake early and drink warm beer to enjoy the World-Cup-time flap over English soccer star Wayne Rooney's new billboard for Nike, left, which has scandalized churchmen in the Sceptred Isle because it recalls the Crucifixion. "'The trivialization...

It seems that Madonna’s Kabbalah connection with Lindsay Lohan may be reaching new heights of mystical ecstacy.Perezhilton.com is featuring pictures of Lohan with a Jewish “chai” charm necklace. It is not clear whether wearing the Hebrew word for “life” around...

I'm a sucker for unique music combinations (think: Metallica's "S&M" collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony). So when I listened to the first track off Celtic punk band Flatfoot 56's soon-to-be re-released album, "Knuckles Up," I was immediately drawn in...

Tonight will mark the return of perhaps the one and only positive representation of American Muslims currently on primetime television. Unfortunately, instead of being on a show that is substantial and thought-provoking, it will be on something shallow and salacious--a...

There comes a time in every musical artist or band's life when he, she, or they recognize the superior majesty of another being and succumb to his control. I refer, of course, to the superiority of sound engineer Brian Eno,...

For those who last watched Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the thriller "Speed," re-imagining their relationship at a much slower pace and across different times in "The Lake House" might be challenging at first, but it's worth the effort.The...

Dr. Judith Dushku is best known--in some circles, at least--for being a professor of government at Suffolk University in Boston. She also spent time as the dean of their satellite campus in Senegal, where she became involved with various African...

While an avalanche of “reality TV” shows fill our airwaves, I’m still glad for seasons like this, when the truest reality TV—sports television—has a large presence. Rarely is that presence greater than the once-every-four-years season of World Cup soccer, the...

Who's the biggest sinner in Hollywood? The E! Channel promises to answer that question in its new seven-week series, "The Seven Deadly Hollywood Sins." Starting tonight, the series will provide a cheesy and cheeky look at how Hollywood celebs indulge...

Idol Chatter is humbled and just a little bit giddy at being named among Entertainment Weekly's top 100 entertainment websites. In a feature titled, appropriately, "Bookmark This Page!" the magazine's editors listed their favorite 25 sites, and asked the editors...

If you took the Ben Stiller comedy "Meet the Parents," rewrote it in Spanish, and added in a dash of the Israel-Palestinian conflict and a pinch of religious conversion experiences, you'd end up with "Only Human," which opens tonight in...

The price of saying seven words you can't say on television just went up: Thanks to legislation pushed by the Christian Coalition and signed into law by President Bush today, fines for broadcasting what the Federal Communications Commission deems indecent...

As the spring television seasons wound to a close in May, I finally took the advice of many friends and joined Netflix, the super-fast DVD service that gets film and television favorites to your door in the blink of an...

Last week, we blogged about Britney Spears' spiritual journey, capped by her proclamation that her baby is her religion. Turns out that Britney's announcement did more than make headlines-- it also cost her the close friendship of Madonna, an ardent...

Like Earth in the End Times, Christian rock's days are numbered, but the industry has to undergo a few transitional stages. The current stage might be called "The Revolving Door." Take Flyleaf, for example. The hard-rock foursome is often described...

A friend who knows my affinity for all things Buffy and Buffy-related recently alerted me to a giant subway advertisement for a new TV series with my name written all over it: "Hex." "Hex" premiered last Thursday at 10 on...

Mix "Grey's Anatomy" with "Rescue Me" and you get TNT's lastest summer drama, "Saved." There is the requisite flawed hero who can only save others but can never save himself. There are also the obligatory dysfunctional family relationships and the...

To evangelicals bent on conquering Hollywood, it was this month's sign of the apocalypse. Last week, the Motion Picture Association of America—invented by Hollywood executives in the 1930s at the behest of Christians to monitor morals in the movies—warned parents...

She was the Simon Cowell of "America's Next Top Model"--the judge who everyone hated but whose acerbic, insensitive responses were a central reason for high ratings. Then on "The Surreal Life," she clashed with "The Apprentice's" Omarosa, to the glee...

Oscar winner and director Robert Altman has long been known for making movies filled with unusual characters and rambling, improvisational dialogue which viscerally dissect a certain segment of society--country singers in "Nashville," Hollywood execs in "The Player," hired help in...

Casinos apparently are big venues for musicians, and I've spent my share of time these last few days watching people play slots while waiting for Toby Lightman, Jewel, and Rob Thomas to take the stage. My husband is on this...

In my recent Beliefnet interview with Ralph Winter, he said that if Hollywood could make a sequel to "The Passion of the Christ," they would. Well, Winter was right as usual: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems studio is...

Entertainment Weekly magazine has announced its list of the 25 most controversial movies of all time, and at the top is Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," chosen for "igniting a culture-war firestorm unrivaled in Hollywood history." Other films...

While most recently associated with a certain couch-jumping movie star, Scientology has had a long history of recruiting celebrities. But now the L.A.-based religion is turning its sights to the massive demographics of NASCAR, which has, as of a 2004...

Are you salivating in anticipation of watching the great Ronaldinho of Brazil in action? Can’t wait to see Germany’s Michael Ballack use the home-turf advantage to chew up his opponents? Or perhaps it’s the thought of the Ivory Coast’s Didier...

My wife couldn’t believe I was interested in attending a screening of “The Omen.” Perhaps being invited to a June 5 screening (as opposed to the 6-6-06 opening date) made me feel better about it. But I think I’d do...

Boston millionaire Larry Baras, whose food services company makes, among other products, Unholey Bagels, has become the driving force behind the Israel Baseball League and is currently seeking out cities and stadiums in the Holy Land to host teams. Baras...

In a culture where quick wealth and instant fame are becoming more and more glamorized on television--think the recent hit game show “Deal or No Deal” and almost every reality show on the tube--it seems the time is right for...

The New York Times Book Review created a furor in the literary world last month when it chose Toni Morrison's "Beloved" as the best American work of fiction from the past 25 years. Though the book was chosen by a...

A boorish Jude Law was the stumbling block to Sienna Miller's domestic bliss. Now comes news that a boorish cult leader ruined the marriage of Miller's father, the American investment banker-turned-art dealer Ed Miller. In an interview in the British...

Thou shalt not covet thy Middle Eastern neighbor’s oil--but coveting his wife, not such a big problem. Thou shalt not use weapons of mass destruction. Thou shalt not lie--unless you are up for re-election. These are a few of the...

Riveting. Terrifying. Inspiring. Exasperating. Makes you want to grab people off the street as you exit and shove them in the door so they can see it too. Causes you to catalogue all the little things you could do, but...

A big Idol Chatter mazel-tov goes to Adam Mesh on his recent wedding! The charismatic, fan-favorite runner-up of NBC's original "Average Joe" and its follow-up "Average Joe: Adam Returns" tied the knot May 28 with his girlfriend, Jessica Malca. (I...

Amidst the coverage of this week's 25th anniversary of the identification of the disease that's come to be known as AIDS, Idol Chatter would like to take a moment to remember the pop-culture figures who've been lost to the disease....

What if a spiritual leader such as Deepak Chopra was channeled through the completely politically incorrect energy of a very famous comedian? You’d get a character named Guru Pitka, and Paramount Pictures would want to make a feature film about...

Intrigued is how I would describe myself the moment I learned that a "hip hop mass" would be held at St. Paul's Chapel, an Episcopal church in the heart of Manhattan's financial district. How can liturgical Protestantism and hip hop...

If you can sit through the 149-minute movie version of "The Da Vinci Code" directed by Ron Howard, you can certainly sit through "Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code," a 50-minute BBC documentary directed by Jeremy Jeffs, which aired...

The American Film Institute is conducting another one of its "ballots," this time searching for the Top 100 Inspirational Films of All Time. It's called "100 Years... 100 Cheers," and serves as an addition to prior efforts listing the best...

There are several supernaturally-themed horror movies coming to the cineplex this summer, but perhaps none is more anticipated by horror film buffs that the remake of the '70s cult classic "The Omen," which opens next week--on 6-06-06 to be exact....

Today's New York Times has a front page story about the widening phenomenon of Faith Night at the ballpark. Always on the lookout for ways to drum up business, minor-league sports teams are hosting religious-themed promotions, hoping to tap into...

Ricky Skaggs knows how the Dixie Chicks feel. So does Randy Travis. Both country singers spoke and sang about what they believed in—faith in Jesus—and both saw record sales and radio airtime plummet, despite the fact that half of country...

The "Dixie Chicks" moniker has always been fitting, perfectly personifying the sassy, dynamic, youthful tunes of Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, and Martie Maguire. But their latest album, "Taking The Long Way," shows that these girls ain't chicks anymore--they're wearier, wiser...