While not necessarily a huge fan of his music, I have been reading with great interest the different interpretations that publications like Rolling Stone and the New York Times have been giving the "Modern Times", the new CD by iconic blues-rocker Bob Dylan, which dropped in stores this week. It seems no one can miss the dark apocalyptic tone of "Times" and the way it marks a return by Dylan to overtly spiritual musings about the meaning of life. But while God does make an appearance in a few of the songs, anyone looking for an answer to the years of speculation over Dylan's much publicized conversion to Christianity in the late 1970s--and the subsequent debate as to whether he has held to that faith, returned to his Jewish roots, or abandoned all of the above--will not find the answer here.
On listening to "Modern Times" the first time through, I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed. I didn't feel the urgency and vibrancy of some of Dylan's early music, and several of the songs seem to center around his love-hate relationship with women. But on a second listen, the real depth of Dylan's lyrics started to sink in, and I realized anew that Dylan is not someone you can appreciate on the surface level; he requires you to dig deeper.
In the song "When The Deal Goes Down," lines like "We all wear the same thorny crown / Soul to soul, our shadows roll / And I'll be with you when the deal goes down" could be referring to a a human relationship or a relationship with God. Similarly, in the song "Beyond the Horizon," Dylan seems like he is talking about a human relationship until the end of the song, when he states, "I'm wounded, I'm weary / My repentance is plain / Beyond the horizon o'r the treacherous sea / I still can't believe that you have set aside your love for me." At that moment , these poetic images turn the meaning of the song around and indicate this is really a love song to God.
When Dylan is not preocupied with love in some shape or form, he certainly is fixated on how our world is coming to an end, and if this CD is any indication, Dylan believes the world's demise is soon. The prophetic "The Levee's Gonna Break" is the CD's shining moment, song not only about what happened in New Orleans a year ago, but which also serves as Dylan's warning that worse times are ahead. He laments: "If it keeps on rainin', the levee's gonna break / Some people still sleepin', some people are wide awake."
Overall, the thoughts and images that Dylan creates through his songs on "Modern Times" are subtle and mesmerizing. While Dylan doesn't answer the question of exactly where his spiritual sensibilities are these days, he does make a statement to all of those who are wondering. In his last song, "Ain't Talkin', Just Walkin,'" Dylan quietly croons, "I am a-tryin' to love my neighbor and do good unto others / But oh, mother, things ain't going well / Ain't talkin', just walkin' / through the world mysterious and vague."
There's something about the word fluid, and it's not something good. It conjures up Ben Stiller and untraditional "hair gel"; or Bill Clinton and a Navy Gap dress; or in its least offensive incarnation, "lighter fluid." But when you add the word "Madonna" to the word "fluid," you know it's gonna be trouble.
But since mentions of Madonna these days are usually tempered by the word "Kabbalah," the newest result to this equation is:
The singer and her hubby, director Guy Ritchie, have been "lobbying the government and nuclear industry over a scheme to clean up radioactive waste with a supposedly magic Kabbalah fluid," according to London's Sunday Times. The power couple has approached various British government agencies, urging the detoxing powers of a "mystical" liquid developed by the mystical offshoot of Judaism, which is currently trendy among some celebs.
One London official called the Material Girl's scientific methodology "bollocks." Frankly, I'm no scientist, but I think that pronouncement errs on the side of being overly kind and respectful. I was just in Safed, Israel--the home of real Kabbalah--less than two weeks before Katyusha rockets fell on the region, and there was no evidence of a science research facility producing a magical liquid that cleans up radioactive waste. Maybe it was hidden between the candle factory and the handmade-jewelry vendors. However, I remember hearing that Kabbalah mystics were in the midst of working on a product called Shimmer, which is both a floor wax and a dessert topping.
Perhaps because this "fluid" story is so out there, more Madge news--with this item far less controversial or wacky--also recently hit the media. Now that she has her kids Lola and Rocco, she says, she understands how important it is to help the orphans of the world, and she's starting in Malawi:
Madonna plans to raise at least $3 million for programs to support orphans in Malawi, and is giving $1 million to fund a documentary about the plight of children there. She has also teamed up with developing-world economic leader Jeffrey Sachs on programs to improve the health, agriculture and economy of a village in Malawi, and she’s met with former President Clinton about bringing low-cost medicines to the area.
Good. Help the children. Bring Bill Clinton (but keep him away from Gap dresses). And definitely bring in the low-cost medicines. As long as they're not in fluid form.
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 4:32 PM | Permalink |
The only thing America loves more than a winner is an underdog. Andre Agassi has been the former AND the latter... twice.
Monday night, I had to stay up past midnight to watch him win a 4-set match in the opening round of the U.S Open tennis tournament. Years ago, I sat on a hill and watched him--at the time an ex-pro--play a Tier 3 qualifying match at McCambridge Rec Center in Burbank. This would be like Michael Jordan showing up at the local YMCA looking for a game. But Andre was there because the rules of tennis insist that a player win his way back to the pro tour. Michael just showed up back in Chicago. Andre had to earn it.
He's played a tournament career spanning two hairstyles and then no hair. He's been an underdog, then champion, then underdog, then champion... and again he's now an underdog. Everyone (at least in America) wants him to win. Most of us think he'll lose anytime.
I wonder what it is that causes us to root for someone who's made more money than us, is more secure than we are, and who's legacy will last longer than most of ours. Perhaps it goes back to the Garden. Perhaps it goes back to the Incarnation. Most everyone I know--including the networks, the United States Tennis Associatuon, and my friends who've flown to New York--just want him to go forward a little while longer.
The news that Tom Cruise has signed a deal to finance future movies with the owner of the Washington Redskins football team, Daniel Snyder, and his investment partners restores hope that we'll live to see "Mission Impossible 13." But what does it mean for the cause of religion in Hollywood? The key may be the Cruise-Gibson connection.
Since Tom's "firing" by Viacom chief Sumner Redstone, the press has paired Tom and Mel: two megastars whose faith--Scientology and Tridentine Catholicism, respectively--has ruined their careers. After Redstone told the Wall St. Journal last week that Cruise had committed "creative suicide" by behaving erratically over the past few months, word crept out that the real issue was Cruise's Scientology-based criticism of Brooke Shields's post-partum pill-popping on the "Today" show. Others said Cruise had done himself in when he riled the all-powerful Steven Spielberg. "It was well-known that Spielberg was not happy about the fact that Cruise used his junkets from 'War of the Worlds' to promote his religious beliefs," a source told AFP News.
Bolstering the Cruise-Gibson tie was director Rob Reiner's comment last week that Mel's apology for an anti-Semitic tirade wasn't enough; he had to apologize for anti-Semitism in his "The Passion."
Cruise's new deal with Snyder shows that there is Tom-Mel synergy going on, but it has more to do with moola than martyrdom. Like Mel, Cruise has signed with investors who look only at the bottom line, not at behavior or beliefs that might embarrass them at Hollywood happenings. Far from dousing Tom or Mel's faith-based fire, these outsiders may give the stars more room to express their religion in their films.
In the gospels, Jesus foretells of nations rising against nations, of famines and earthquakes, pestilence and other troubles--a millennial moment ABC cites in its special two-hour edition of tonight's "20/20," titled "Last Days on Earth." Lucky for Jesus, Stephen Hawking wasn't hanging around the banks of the Jordan, lowballing the odds of an earthquake strong enough to do us all in. That's precisely the problem with "Last Days on Earth," structured as a countdown of the eight most likely ways civilization as we know it will end. None of them, it turns out, are too likely. A beta-ray bloom caused by a collapsing star, or a supervolcanic eruption could scorch us all to death or blanket the Earth in sulfuric clouds. But as Hawking points out, neither has happened in 400 million years, so why sweat it?
Besides, if we're all toast, no one's going to be around to miss us, will they?
ABC doesn't address these existential questions to any satisfying degree. A Rapid City, South Dakota, preacher recalls Christ's warning to the disciples (see above) and in a few man-in-the-street montages, common folk say what they'd do given a few weeks or hours to live. We're left wanting to hear--and think--more about what we might do spiritually when all hope is lost.
The room where I screened the show did get a little quiet, however, when a NASA scientist expained that an asteroid is expected to pass within a 24,000 miles of Earth in 2029, and could return seven years later in line to wallop our favorite planet. If we fail to redirect this bit of cosmic mischief, we'd know the date of impact--and a rough idea of our death--to the hour. This scenario also yields the one bit of good news in ABC's show: a trauma psychologist predicts that the human race's response to a death-date certain will be to reach out to find love. Now that's a prediction Jesus would be down with.
The "Law" side of "Law & Order" meets "CSI" and "Boston Legal" in Jerry Bruckheimer's new TV series "Justice," debuting tonight on FOX. While Bruckheimer's countless action movies have became more intelligent over time, this show seems to be more of a reversion to the days of "Armageddon" and "Con Air" than a mimic of his recent TV successes.
Interesting and slick, fast and simple, the more accurate title would have been "Spin" or "Trial by Camera," since that's what it's really about. The show doesn't dive deep enough to land the satisfying graces and societal healings that come when true justice is achieved. Or served. So if you're looking for inspiration for--and connection to--that spiritual part of each of us that longs for justice in the world, keep surfing. If you're looking for some entertainment before dozing, though, "Justice" may not be all bad.
The show's premise rests on the efforts of "Trott, Nicholson, Tuller & Graves" (TNT&G), a legal firm that serves the celebrities and wealthy elite of Southern California. In the pilot episode, the firm defends a rich guy accused of killing his wife. "Defense" takes on the kind of sophistication and meticulous detail that's meant to (as the show's website says) do for lawyers what "CSI" and "First Watch" have done for their fields. At least in the pilot, it was a surface scan at best.
The ensemble cast is not exactly "Crane, Poole and Schmidt" of "Boston Legal"--in either size or sizzle--but who knows, maybe more characters will be added soon. Victor Garber's Ron Trott is a media-saavy white version of Johnnie Cochrane; Kerr Smith is young Tom Nicholson, the lead dog in court; Eamonn Walker's Luther Graves is an African-American ex-prosecutor who is more wisdom than winsome; Rebecca Mader's Alden Tuller is sort of on the border between "token woman" and "forensic expert."
The dialogue here isn't exactly "The Paper Chase," or even "The Paper," what with such trifles as:
"The D.A. is playing hardball."
"This is trial by TV."
"The D.A. doesn't want to try him on the facts; they want to lynch him in the media."
"If you miss anything, it costs our client everything."
As with any TV show, its success will lie with our connection to the characters, interest in the plots, and intrigue from the premise. Unfortunately, after all of the legal representation issues, media comment, state-of-the-art forensic interpretation, jury consultants, mock juries, and legal experts, we're left with a show that is more about the interaction between clients, law firms, and the media rather than a deep look into the real desires in each of our hearts for authentic justice.
The show does feature a nice little ending touch: a flashback to the actual crime scene. For anyone who's ever really, really wanted to know what happened with O.J. and Nicole or any other high profile case, these last few moments are for you. Of course, you've gotta spend an hour for the final minute's pay-off. Perhaps future episodes will be more worth it.
In reading several articles and blog pieces--including Idol Chatter's reliable Kris Rasumussen's--I think almost everyone has missed the real point. Tom's exit from Paramount wasn't due as much to his behavior or their greed as much as it was due to our behavior and our greed.
Our behavior was to watch a young actor come out of his choreographed shell and reveal more of his actual character and personality--and then decide not to go to his movies as much. It's not as if he was some sort balanced character leader or upstanding citizen before he jumped up on Oprah's couch or shared his pseudoreligious beliefs; we just didn't know any better. As he got more authentic, we stayed away from his recent releases.
The result? The business entity charged with making a profit (Paramount Studios) made an assessment based on data that he wasn't the market force he used to be. Correct? Yes. But it didn't have to be.
What if throngs of citizens had shown up in greater droves, as if to say, "We truly value authenticity off screen while loving great entertainment on screen." The problem, of course, is that many of us can't separate the two, and we want too much to believe in (and vicariously connect with) the on-screen personas of celebrities, who lose value for us when they stray from what we want to conceive them as.
And this isn't new. Humphrey Bogart tried to be the tragic hero in "The Caine Mutiny." John Wayne got old in "Rooster Cogburn." Robert Redford got vulnerable (finally) in "Indecent Proposal" and later "The Clearing." Harrison Ford moved from the trilogies ("Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones") to artsy stuff like "Mosquito Coast" and later tried to play a Russian in "K-19: The Widowmaker." Cruise is the latest in a line of famous male actors who've tried to climb out of the box that made them famous--whether on-screen or off. It's not that it's bad, or wrong. It's just that we (the public) don't tend to respond well to it and thus the studios don't want to pay them for it.
It's just business, really. But deeper than that, it's spiritual: We say we long for authenticity and honesty, but we don't like it when we see it.
And that's when every actor realizes he or she is really just another commodity.
Last night's Primetime ran a segment called "The Outsiders" that focused on what most Americans consider to be religious groups with "outsider" status: the Amish, fundamentalist Mormons, and the Children of God.
Three stories were documented by ABC: (1) Mary Byler, an Amish woman who defied Amish law by calling police to arrest her brothers, who'd raped her repeatedly; (2) Warren Jeffs, the recently arrested fundamentalist Mormon leader who advocated underage polygamist marriage; and (3) Ricky Rodriguez, a defector from the Children of God whose sexual abuse drove him to kill one of his former predators, and eventually himself.
Even though I've never read "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, the coming-of-age themes of heartache, violence (including sexual), loss of innocence, tragedy, and conflicts with authority were prevalent in the featured profiles. What's fascinating is how most mainstream Americans already see these and many other sects as fringe societies who live in bubbles that espouse "strange" religious ideals. I myself have been guilty of traveling to Pennsylvania to gawk at the Amish, in their long, old-world garments and somber horse-drawn buggies. Even while the Mormon majority have disavowed polygamy, it's still a matter of widespread curiosity; see HBO's "Big Love." Plus, while most people probably haven't heard of the Children of God, the founding philosophy of free love is rooted in the hippie past of the 1960s.
By being part of "outsider" groups, Mary, Warren, and Ricky are once-removed from mainstream society, but by defying basic tenets of their own faiths and wandering outside of their own faith communities, they are twice-removed from even that outsider status; they are outsiders in their own outsider cultures. Yet, strangely enough, despite being outsiders, the crimes and passions that drove them into being outsiders are the very same crimes and passions prevalent in most mainstream religious groups and secular societies today.
By now, the football as religion analogy is about as played out as steroid scandals in competitive cycling. But folks in Hoover, Alabama, take the phrase God on the Gridiron to a whole new level and MTV is there to document it in the new reality series "Two-A-Days," named for the two grueling practices the boys go through each day.
Sure, the fans are absolute zealots in their support of the Buccaneers, who have won four state championships out of the last five years, and fervently evangelical about the team: As those who have family and friends in the area know, Hoover can simply do no wrong. But what's so interesting is that "Two-A-Days" embraces the sports spirituality stereotype and takes it to an nth degree. In fact, in the premiere episode, the very first words out of Alex, a senior player and the episode's narrator, are "At Hoover, football is like a religion, and the players on the team are celebrities."
Sound familiar? Sure it does. We've seen it a million times in the movies and on tv. In fact, MTV has tackled the subject matter before, in 1999's "Varsity Blues"--boys elevated to gods and the pressures they face from the parents, themselves and the fans. Interestly enough, that film also features a character on a humorous and heartfelt spiritual quest, trying to discern what religion is right for himself. He tries everything from Nation of Islam to Zen Buddhism to tying himself to a cross at the breakfast table.
But there's nothing humorous in the very real religion found in "Two-A-Days." The morning before a nationally televised game that will determine who the number one high school team in the nation is, the boys meet with team chaplain, Terry Slay.
"Everyone is born with a gameplan. The reason I stand here today, the reason I have the faith and the fortidtude, or whatever I do, is all because of one thing... it's because I've got God's gameplan in my life. And I want you as players to understand, to have something to hang on to and the Lord's that person," Slay says.
Niceties out of the way, Slay continues preaching about how the people from the opposing school expect Hoover to fail. "Don't you dare embarrass this program by the way you play. Let them know they have come to the state of Alabama where football is king where football is football wehere we play like it's supposed to be played... and make sure that if you play in this game that you can't walk off, that you crawl off... give it all up."
Pressure much?
"Two-A-Day" is engaging television. Sure, it's full of teen drama (who's so and so cheating with?) and shenanigans (padlocking a backpack to a chair), but these Hoover players endure two grueling practices a day in temperatures that often sore about 100 degrees, they withstand the verbal, some might say abusive, barbs of the coaches, and they put up with parents and community members' critiques. So why do the boys do it? It seems to go beyond the instant celebrity status they achieve. The show is a compelling portrait of absolute devotion: Devotion to a game, devotion to the ideal of perfection.
Indie film star Catherine Keener--known for her character acting in such cinema favorites as "Capote," "Being John Malkovich," and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"--was just interviewed for the New York Times Fall Fashion issue. In "Being Catherine Keener," Keener spills all to interviewer Lynn Hirschberg about how Catholicism has influenced her film career, including her thoughts on how being an actor is like being a priest: "Playing so many characters in so many films is a way to be in the moment. That was, to me, growing up Catholic, the appeal of the clergy--they address the moment. So, short of being a priest, I am an actor."
Other interesting tidbits from the piece:
I still love anything connected to nuns. That’s why I love all of Yohji Yamamoto’s designs--they look like a nun’s habit, and if I had my way, I’d always dress like a nun. As a girl, I saw every movie with nuns: “The Trouble With Angels,” “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima.” I saw them all. I love the nun’s lifestyle: the quiet, the solitude. But then I realized they were subservient to priests, and I decided I wanted to be a priest. That’s when the trouble began. I desperately wanted to be an altar boy, and I stole a bag of unconsecrated wafers. They weren’t yet the body of Christ, but they were delicious. That was the first of my many run-ins with Catholic law.
And:
How does Catholicism relate to show business?
Well, there is something about Catholicism that is both theatrical and pure, and movies can have that quality. There are other benefits to Catholicism: you grow up with a great sense of shame and hope and faith and naïveté.
And apparently, at least if you happen to be a girl, you grow up with creative ideas about how to be priestly without actually having to be a boy or an actual Catholic priest.
For 26 years, the ultra-luxe Cartier has been selling the "Love bracelet"--a gold bracelet that must be secured onto a lover's wrist with a screwdriver. How romantic! Cartier's Love bracelet was originally "inspired by medieval chastity belts," explains New York Times reporter Sandra Ballentine in her article "Prisoner of Love" in the Women's Fashion Fall 2006 magazine.
The signature bracelet, selling for a mere $2,975, has apparently been flying off shelves for decades now, and currently adorns the slight wrists of Hollywood starlets like Lindsay Lohan and Sofia Coppola. (Though who knows who holds the key--or screwdriver?--to their hearts?)
Ballentine reports of Cartier's new plans for the contemporary chastity bracelet: "This October, in a nod to more conspicuous commitment, a $28,000 diamond-encrusted bangle version will be introduced."
I suppose the idea is that the more you spend, the greater the likelihood of fidelity.
Though technically, the "chastity bracelet" does not discriminate according to gender, it still seems to be a gift mostly for the girl, of course. Perhaps it's the upscale, celeb-style version of the ever-more-popular promise ring worn by so many Christian teen girls.
In eschewing the usual "thank you to everyone I've ever come into contact with" speech at the Emmy's last night, "My Name Is Earl" writer Greg Garcia decided to enumerate those for whom he did not feel any gratitude. Among them: an eighth-grade teacher and an old boss. And he saved the funniest for last:
And finally God. I am sure you are responsible in some way, but you took my hair and that's not cool, man.
Hopefully, Garcia's success will offer him the resources to seek a man-made solution for what God took away.
How Jewish is Jackie Mason? "As a matzo ball," says the comedian. "Or kosher salami." So Jewish, that when Jews for Jesus published a pamphlet suggesting that Mason had accepted Jesus, he let loose with a $2 million lawsuit.
The pamphlet, also known as a broadside, which is still available (but hurry) on this website, features a cartoon image of Mason on the front, and asks, "Jackie Mason... A Jew for Jesus?" Inside, a lesson is built around Jackie Mason's famously politically incorrect shtik about the differences between Gentiles and Jews, punning egregiously on the titles of the comedians Broadway shows. "There's one thing [the commission of sin] where there's no difference between Jews and Gentiles," the copy reads, causing the cartoon Mason to exclaim, "No difference! There goes my whole show!"
Two million bucks seems a little bit of an overreaction to what appears to be, in the words of Jews for Jesus spokesperson Susan Perlman, "good-natured," if not to well-written, fun. But anyone walking around Manhattan this summer knows Jews for Jesus proselytizers have been out in force, and it's difficult to imagine a person more dependent on his Jewish identity for his livelihood than Jackie Mason, unless it's Ehud Olmert, or a rabbi--which, for the record, Mason is. Ordained at 25 following four generations of tradition in his family, he also became a comedian, his website says, because "somebody in the family had to make a living."
The USA Network's series "The 4400"--about a group of 4,400 people, all of whom went missing at different points in the 20th century and return together bearing special powers, not having aged a day--is about to conclude its third season this Sunday at 9pm.
What makes it worth watching? The last several episodes have seen an interesting twist--Jordan Collier, a 4400 who was essentially the leader of the group worldwide and was assassinated at the end of the second season, is back from the dead! And not only is he back, he has long flowing hair, a beard, and, apparently, was roaming around for the year he was gone prophesying in such a way that he became known to followers as "The Preacher." And if that isn't enough Jesus-imagery for you, during last week's episode, the talk of the town was "Jordan Colllier's resurrection from the dead." Oh, and not to forget the prophesy itself: "The war for the future will be fought in the past," which he tells anyone who will listen.
The 4400 is a gripping show in general, but I have to admit, while the Jordan Collier return is interesting for the narrative arc of the show, the Jesus business they have going on is a bit much.
Interested enough to tune in? For your viewing benefit, the USA network is airing a 4400 Season Three marathon to catch viewers up, beginning at 11 a.m. and running until 9 p.m. Sunday, when they show the finale. It has already been picked up for a fourth season, so no worries about being left hanging.
"Blacks to the right. Whites--you go over there. Asians, step to the left. Latinos, stay where you are. Remember to stay within your groups. We're going to drop you off in the middle of nowhere, with limited supplies, and want you to fight for your lives."
Sounds like a sadistic case study in Social Darwinism, no? Well it might be, depending on how you look at it, but it's also the format for the new season of CBS's "Survivor." In what's being called a "social experiment," this season's teams, called "tribes" on the show, are based solely on ethnicity--whites vs. blacks vs. Asians vs. Latinos. In an interview with The New York Times, series producer Mark Burnett acknowledges that the new setup is "going to be controversial," adding, "I'm not an idiot." Burnett also says that the idea actually came from criticism about the show's lack of diversity. He says approximately 80 percent of the show's applicants are white. For this season's crop, host Jeff Probst says blacks, Asians and Latinos were actively recruited to participate.
This isn't the first time Burnett, who is also the producer of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," wanted to pit ethnic groups against each other. Last year, Burnett tried to do a race-war edition of the hit business competition show, after "The Donald" suggested it during an interview. However, NBC heads--who obviously have a bit more sensitivity than those at CBS--scrapped that idea.
Although many are sure to find the show's new format in bad taste, as I do, others will undoubtedly be curious as to how the competition is played out. Will fans of the show start rooting for tribes and contestants on the basis of their skin tone? And, if say, a Latino decides to root for the white tribe, will he or she be looked at as a traitor by other Latino fans?
In the end, the winner isn't a team--it's an individual (who wins $1 million)--but this format can only bring out the worst in America's racial stereotypes and prejudices, conscious and subconscious. If a black person wins, will people say it was a set-up designed to finally let a minority win? If an Asian wins, will people say it's because he or she was way smarter then everyone else and therefore, at an advantage?
As in all competitions, there are winners and losers. How "Survivor" presents each of them will make or break the show, and, perhaps, destroy any improvement in race relations this country has achieved during the past 60 years. Well, maybe our race relations are safe. But the show's plan still doesn't seem like a good idea.
The new season begins September 14th. Will you be watching?
This week the History Channel is celebrating Ancient Week (kind of like Shark Week at the Discovery Channel, but with no sharks). In honor of Ancient Week, they premiered a hokey, but ultimately interesting, TV documentary called "The Exodus Decoded," produced by none other than James Cameron.
The show aims to prove scientifically the cause behind the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea; provide a new historical estimate for when the Israelites were lead out of Egypt by Moses; and archaeologically trace the route of the Exodus and location of Mount Sinai, challenging all previous speculation on these subjects.
The use of special effects is distracting and, at times, disorienting (no surprise there, though, given the fact that James Cameron is behind the production) and the narrator, Simcha Jacobovici, is rather corny in his attempts to build suspense. But the contentions and new explanations the team of researchers and scholars provides about the Exodus is fascinating--perfect for viewers who love all things "Bible: Decoded."
Our time together at the Geneva Convention was nothing short of magical... the way we "released international tension together".. back when you were just a little nameless country called "Jewlandia," and I a poor naïve Palestine, when the U.N. threw us together in the same convention booth. How did it all go so wrong? When did our Middle East passion become so muddled, all over "that stupid thing with your country being declared at the expense of my country's autonomy"?
"If only we'd sat down in a Starbucks and written a statement of mutual agreement," if only we had made a pact that day to never let anything come between us, so much fighting could have been averted. I don't regret our time together that night, but have regretted every warring moment since, and thought you should know.
Passionately yours, Suha
The above letter, while a fabrication by this blogger, could easily have been part of the play "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Romantic Comedy," an official selection of the New York Fringe Festival. As the play's title and the above letter indicate (quotation marks indicate direct quotes from the script), the show imagines Israel and Palestine as a man and woman, respectively, who meet and fall in love at the Geneva Convention, only to have their brief union destroyed by the declaration of the State of Israel. As is the case when countries mate, there is post-affair awkwardness, which manifests as regional turmoil and violence. And of course, there are musical numbers.
The play's fearlessly "out-there" concept--typical of the annual Fringe Festival (which this year also included shows with titles like "Corleone: The Shakespearean Godfather" and "Reservoir Bitches")--comes courtesy of its Iranian-American birth mother, Negin Farsad, and her partners in writing, Alexander Zalben, and in acting, John Flynn. The show has a madcap, high-energy feel and, if just for a moment, makes us wonder, "Why can't those two wacky kids work things out?"
When the wacky kids in question are Israel/Daniel and Palestine/Suha, we all know it's not that simple. But the tropes of relationships gone haywire are surprisingly appropriate. When Suha complains that Daniel "can't balance a healthy relationship with nation-building," she needs to find an outlet for her anger. Her epiphany: "I'll take all the hatred and anger I have and use it constructively to destroy Israel!"
Over the course of the play, the actors get to play with different styles and characters. While some seem a little random (Israel and Palestine do a rap battle! Or a tango! Suha goes on reality show "Blind Date"!) others serve analogies straight up and nuclear.
Farsad plays the petulant student who is also, in the show's conceit, Iran. She wears a baseball cap and a teenager's surly and disobedient grimace. She's called into the principal's office because he's found enriched uranium in her locker. "Iran" whines and blame-shifts. "I totally saw Pakistan and India making nuclear warheads under the bleachers during recess..." The principal (playing the role of U.N.) cautions her to wait before launching an attack, reasoning that "waging war is so much better with a standing army that you love."
Love and war, two areas in which all has been deemed fair. And the line between love and hate is often hard to discern. It takes a rare and inventive imagination to set a region plagued by strife as a romantic musical comedy. If only political unrest and centuries of violence could be erased by a come
dy from the fringe.
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 2:50 PM | Permalink |
Has all of the couch jumping and Suri speculation finally caught up with Tom Cruise? In a surprise announcement yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Viacom exec Sumner Redstone claimed that Paramount--Viacom's movie arm--is terminating its 14-year business relationship with Cruise's film development company.
Seems Redstone believes mega pics like "Mission Impossible III" would have done much better at the box office if Cruise hadn't scolded Matt Lauer for being glib about Scientology or chastised Brooke Shields for taking pills for her post-partum depression. "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone has been widely quoted as saying. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."
Hollywood--not to mention the media--is all-too eager to lap up this party line. But as in all juicy Hollywood break-ups, there are two sides to the story. Cruise's partner, Paula Wagner claims that negotiations to renew a development deal between Cruise and Paramount had stalled in recent weeks anyway, so Cruise has decided to solicit funding to head up his own independent film production company. Wagner claims Cruise has made more money for Paramount than any other movie star, and that Redstone's comments are unprofessional and unnecessary.
We've all had fun watching Cruise spin out-of-control for a long time now, but I am not convinced that Paramount's unceremonious dumping of Cruise is motivated by religion as much as it is by greed. With Cruise commanding an exorbitant salary of $20 million and other incentives per film, plus a reported $10 million a year overhead, Cruise's Scientology craziness gave Paramount the easy "out" they needed to cut costs. The move comes on the heels of a New York Times report that major movie studios are increasingly concerned about slumping box office and "have waged war on actor salaries."
On the other hand, Cruise might want to give Mel Gibson a call. I am sure there would be a lot for them to talk about as they are standing in the unemployment line.
Tragedy awakens the need for something to grasp, something sturdy, reliable, and familiar. We saw this need after 9/11, with congregations growing within churches and other places of worship. We see this in times of war, especially in soldiers'--and their families'--reliance on prayer. Similarly, the second half of Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary, "When The Levees Broke," revealed just how much many New Orleanians depended on their religious faith to get them through this particular tragedy.
As the floods rose and the needed help didn't come, many New Orleanians were overcome with anger, the predominant emotion that lingers today. In Lee's documentary, interview after interview shows politician-bashing, government-cursing individuals who seem as if they'll never be whole or happy again. They curse and threaten and vent their rage. But at the end of every angry outburst, it is God's name that lingers on their tongues, and it is God who, in the words of one individual in the film, "gets all the glory."
It doesn't seem to matter that the hurricane came from nature, which most religious people presumably believe is controlled by God. These people do not curse God for their misfortune. Having lived nowhere but in New Orleans, most individuals in Lee's film accepted hurricanes as a normal part of their lives. In dealing with the grief of Katrina and its aftermath, these people were surprisingly rational. No one blamed or cursed God, no one asked "Why us?" or "How could God do this?" Instead, it was state and federal governments to whom they directed these questions, and who were on the receiving end of the wrath that so many other people might blindly throw at God.
A large part of the Acts III and IV of the four-part documentary dealt with the moving-forward stage, nearly a year after the storm. In the most poignant segments from Lee's four-hour film, citizens gathered in the streets and gave Hurricane Katrina a "jazz funeral." A New Orleans tradition, jazz funerals are given not to mourn loss but to celebrate life. To watch these New Orleanians marching down the street, singing, dancing, and praying, was a religious experience in itself. A coffin draped with a sign bearing the word "Katrina" symbolized the survival of scores of New Orleanians--people who survived Hurricane Katrina and continued to survive living day-to-day with the memories of their loss. It was faith to which many New Orleanians clung when it was clear their government had forsaken them.
Like any good Jew, Shawn Green had to wander the desert for a few years before coming to the Promised Land. The All-Star outfielder, who was traded to the New York Mets yesterday after playing his last seven seasons in Los Angeles and Arizona, will become the first Jewish player in New York, the U.S. city with the highest concentration of Jews, since Dave Roberts, who pitched briefly for the Mets in 1981 (though more locals likely remember pitcher Ken Holtzman of the late '70s Yankees).
The Green trade had been brewing for a while, and, in a time of relatively few Jewish ballplayers, Jewish New Yorkers have been relishing the possibility of a high profile player of their faith. "Mazel tov and zei gesund. I'll gladly have him over to break bread at my Shabbos table anytime," wrote "n8genius" on Metsblog.com earlier this month. "He can stay for the High Holy days here in Brooklyn, and I'll even put on Tefilin with him everday if he hits. Please, a Jew on the Mets would be a pleasure no words could express."
After the trade, Green himself, using athletes' practiced bland-speak, signaled similar feelings: "Had I played my whole career and never played in New York, I always would have wondered what it was like."
Before he could be traded, Green had to go through waivers--a sort of Purgatory in which a player can be claimed by any team in the league if a trade isn't made in three days. But Green has also cleared a higher form of waivers: Yom Kippur this year is the last day of the regular baseball season, and won't keep Green from playing in crucial playoff games.
A full list of Jewish baseball players is available here.
Despite fellow blogger Charlotte Allen's rather icy assessment of my recent posting in praise of Madonna's crucixifion act and my defense of a woman's right to image the divine on the cross, my NPR commentary on the same topic was controversial enough to catch the attention of one of the most famous gossip-columnists in America, Liz Smith. Yes, I've made the tabloids!
In her New York Post column on Monday, headlined "A Thorny Issue," the queen of celebrity (and, apparently, NPR) gossip writes:
"MADONNA IS doing Christians a favor. She is performing a woman's right to stand in Jesus's place... as a Christian, I know that one of the most important spiritual tasks asked of me is to see the crucified Jesus in each and every person I encounter... it offends only because our imaginations are so impoverished."
So says teacher/author Donna Freitas, about the controversy of Madonna on the cross in her latest concert. Freitas spoke on the NPR program "All Things Considered." (As the world knows by now, while suspended on the cross, wearing a twinkly crown of thorns, Madonna sings "Live to Tell." Images of AIDS-stricken African women and children flash on the giant screen above her.) La Ciccone has insisted, "I don't think Jesus would be mad at me."
Well, I don't try to fathom what Jesus would think. But maybe being named Madonna gives you special privilege.
I'm not sure the mainstream music industry has ever given Canadian folk-rocker Bruce Cockburn his due along side the likes of Paul Simon, James Taylor, or even Bob Dylan. And I know that the Christian music industry has never known what to think of his politically charged lyrics mixed with a faith in God that isn't easy to pigeonhole. And while I haven't listened to Cockburn since my college days, consider me a prodigal fan returning to rave--no, gush--about his recent release "Life Short Call Now." It is not only the best CD I have listened to this year, but also is a work of art to be reflected upon for a long time to come.
Cockburn's political musings--the songwriter has always been an ardent pacifist--are still at the forefront of some of his songs, such as "This is Baghdad" and "Tell The Universe." In these, he skillfully puts a human face on the devastation of war and on the destruction of our planet, and calls all of us to accountability. His prowess as a guitarist is displayed on instrumental tracks like "Jerusalem Poker" and "Peace March," while the prophetic nature of his songwriting is especially evident in the searing lament found in "Beautiful Creatures" and in the warnings of the urgent "Slow Down Fast." Woven together, all of these songs reveal a restless, questioning spirit searching for truth and beauty but discovering them harder and harder to find in a chaotic world unconcerned with the divine.
But it is the paradoxical yet whimsical portraits he paints of his faith in God that truly take my breath away. In "See You Tomorrow," Cockburn sees God in a beautiful woman's walk as well as in his own sin stalking him. In the song "Mystery," he joyfully comments that "infinity always gives me vertigo and fills me up with grace." And in "To Fit In My Heart," Cockburn sums up his assurance in the vastness and agelessness of God's nature as he quietly proclaims, "Spacetime strings bend, world without end / God's too big to fit in a book / But nothing's too big to fit in my heart."
There is so much more I could say about the layers and nuances of Cockburn's songs, but they need to be experienced individually to be appreciated. So don't waste any more time. Your life is short, and you'll definitely want to give Cockburn's "Life" a listen. Now.
Last week marked the introduction of a new character on "Sesame Street": Abby Cadabby, a fairy-in-training. Abby, who hails from Fairyside Gardens, Queens, is young, eager to learn, and has been described as a feminist who also likes being a "real girly-girl." Looking different than your typical Muppet, Abby was conceived as a strong female character who is "someone from a different culture, without having consciously to introduce somebody from Indonesia or India." According to the Muppet Wiki, "Her design was originally very earthy."
Earthy? Could that be a code word for Pagan? Certain Earth-based sects hold a belief in fairies, or the Fae, as they are known. And, like Abby, they work magic, although Abby's repertoire is currently limited. Plus Abby embodies the strong feminist message often espoused by pagan groups.
While it's fun to speculate about Abby's religious affiliation, she seems to be more pink moppet than pagan Muppet. Besides, it's more likely that she'll raise eyeballs amongst the conservative Tinki-Winkie's-holding-a-purse set for being a feminist, pink Muppet from Fairyside Gardens, Queens. Is today's episode is being brought to you by the letter "L"?
One thing is certain, however, "Sesame Street" producers are praying that she can work some powerful magic--powerful enough to bring in Elmo-sized dollars.
The first half of "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts"--a documentary from Spike Lee that chronicles New Orleans' struggle before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina--is terribly disappointing in just one aspect: more people are not able to see it, since it airs on HBO. Luckily, in our multimedia age, it's likely that the film will be released on DVD in the near future. Not only does Lee present a compilation of raw footage of both human and meteorological emotion, but he also offers a pinpointed look at the people whom some blame for the high level of chaos that occurred in the city, and which, to some extent, still exists there.
Acts I and II (which aired last night) examine the days between the first reports of the storm's formation and the actions eventually taken by the federal government to aid stranded and dying citizens several days after the town was submerged. While a peppy jazz trumpet plays, chronological scenes from the destruction unfold--the people who refused to leave, those who did leave, those who took shelter in the Superdome, and those who stayed behind to help. Survivors tell their stories, one after another, unrelentless and strong, just like Katrina. After a while it becomes hard to watch, though Lee was right not to cut their testimonty down.
I assume that Acts III and IV (airing tonight) will examine Katrina's aftermath: the rescue and salvage efforts, the outrage of those victims who feel their situations were made worse not by any act of nature but by a lack of care from their own government, and the grassroots efforts during the past year from individuals and groups across the globe to aid those who were and are displaced.
Alarmingly unexpected is the story behind the politics of the situation, which Lee unravels for us. This includes conflicts between New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and the ineptness of the federal government's response, to name two examples. Few mainstream media outlets dared go into any in-depth exploration of the political reasons of why Katrina aid was handled as it was. Some did, and Lee, who has proved himself a reliable and relentless cultural commentator, grabs hold of their coverage and runs with it.
In "When the Levees Broke," the reality of Katrina's wrath becomes most real with the still shots of dead bodies floating on top of cars, on chairs under blankets in the middle of the street, and inside the Superdome. Lee offers these images while avoiding the shock factor and staying clear of any hint of tastelessness. Watching Lee's film (which will be rebroadcast in its entirety on Aug. 29.), I felt angry and perplexed. Acts III and IV are sure to invoke more of the same--along with a sharp sense of urgency, when we see that, unlike most stories, this one has yet to come to a happy ending.
Last night on The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert--in his phony pundit persona, of course-- mentioned that he'd visited Beliefnet.com (where he goes, he said, "after sinning on other sites") and found our Atheists in Foxholes article by Rebecca Phillips.
Upset by the phrase "there are no atheists in foxholes," Colbert argued that it is atheists who should be in foxholes, since they're "not afraid to go to hell and be tortured by Satan for all eternity (which is what's going to happen)," and so that good Christian boys can stay safe at home.
In my opinion, the best commentary so far on Madonna's crucifixion stunt in her "Confessions" tour comes from that important 21st-century theologian Manolo the Shoeblogger: "Ecce Ho!" Because, frankly, the image of Ms. Ciccone Penn Richie standing with her arms outstretched in slings on that glitter-ball cross isn't so much blasphemous as ridiculous. Or rather, if any blasphemy has been committed, it is blasphemy against standards of taste, creativity, and most of all, artistic inventiveness.
If Madonna had wanted to do something truly "subversive and outrageous"--I'm quoting my fellow Idol Chatter blogger Donna here--that would stand up for "the right for a woman to image Christ" (Donna's words again), why didn't she go the whole "Christa" hog: bare her breasts (or perhaps display them clad only in one of her famous nuclear-warhead cone brassieres), have her hands actually nailed to the cross instead of stuck in those dumb-looking braces, and assume the twisted, agonized posture of an actual victim of crucifixion, one of the most painful methods of execution ever invented?
Now, of course Madonna just celebrated her 48th birthday, she's a mother of two, and even though she's in great shape for a gal her age, she's still a gal her age, on whom a loincloth and nothing else is not the most flattering costume. So Madonna is fully clothed for her crucifixion, in silk blouse, dark skirt or gaucho pants, high-heeled pirate boots, and crown of thorns color-coordinated to match the boots. This is supposed to "image Christ"? It may all be in a good cause--the point of the crucifixion act is to highlight the plight of impoverished sub-Saharan Africans--but Madonna looks just plain silly. I know she's supposed to be the "Material Girl," but I don't think Jesus got nailed up there on Calvary just to show off his designer footwear. Madonna looks as though her next stop after the crucifixion isn't the tomb but martinis at the Royalton.
So if I'd been Pope Benedict XVI, I would have called off the Vatican denunciators, poured myself a stein of wheat beer, and ignored Madonna's entire cross-and-pony show. I would have also dropped strong hints for German authorities not even to think about prosecuting her. Still, the fact that many Christians have regarded Madonna's staged crucifixion as offensive, rather than simply laughed it off, suggests exactly what is wrong with it. It's not, contrary to what Donna suggests, that having Madonna, as a woman, "image the divine" undercuts our notion of what God is like and thus undermines our belief in Jesus' divinity. It's that such an image, whether it be Madonna or "Christa" or your favorite feminist theologian up there on the cross, undermines our belief in Jesus' humanity--our belief that Jesus was actually one of us.
Jesus came to earth in Christian belief not as an abstract symbol of humanity, a symbol that could be imagined as either male or female, or maybe even as sexless, but as a specific human being with a specific gender. He was a man. To depict him as a man, whether in a Greek icon or an African folk-art crucifix, is to recognize his incarnation--his taking on human flesh via his human mother--as the central event of Christian salvation history. God became a human being so that human beings could become like God. To depict Jesus as a woman, any woman, is to suggest that this event was no more than a vague metaphor for some other process that was vaguer still. It is not surprising, then, that many Christians have concluded that Madonna hasn't simply made a fool of herself by pretending to be Jesus but has belittled their very reason for believing in him as their savior.
At this late point in summer, the controversy about the crucifixion scene in Madonna's Confessions Tour--when Madonna sings "Live to Tell" while up on a cross, arms outstretched, with scenes of poverty in Africa flashing behind her--has escalated to a cacophony. (Watch the scene here.)
I feel quite alone in applauding Madonna's act. While I received many letters of thanks for my NPR commentary, "Madonna's Cross Raises Thorny Questions," I've also endured a good amount of venom for my argument: that Madonna is embodying a powerful and important ideal by asserting the right for a woman to image Christ.
Just about everyone--including both the Catholic Church and Church of England--has called Madonna's move "offensive," in much the same way Christian leaders have responded to past attempts to put a woman in Jesus' place. Perhaps most famous of all these attempts--prior to Madonna's, at least--is Edwina Sandys's four-foot, bronze statue, Christa (right), which depicts a bare-breasted, wide-hipped woman nailed to the cross. The sculpture was sent on a decades-long tour around the world that inspired outrage wherever it went (most notoriously at St. John's Cathedral in New York), until it found a final resting place at Yale Divinity School, where it can still be seen today.
Although Christ is often depicted artistically as being of virtually any race--African, Asian, Latino, Caucasian--the idea of seeing Christ on the cross as a woman sparks automatic and seemingly universal rejection. Perhaps this is not surprising, given the dominance of the male form and male language about God, which has been the norm throughout Western history. And, of course, there's that pesky fact that Christians are always mentioning about Jesus--that, of course, he was a man.
But feminist theologian Sandra Schneiders explains that when it comes to speaking about and imaging the divine, our society suffers from a "paralysis of the religious imagination." Even though most Christians believe that all portrayals of God, even those of Jesus, are metaphorical--and therefore portraying the divine as feminine is well within the boundaries of the tradition--Schneiders writes, with sadness, that "to imagine God or speak to God as feminine does not simply change the God image for these people; it destroys it."
Is this, then, the problem with Madonna climbing up onto the cross? Do people believe she is out to destroy for believing Christians the divine figure that is Jesus? Are we witnessing a society-wide paralysis of the religious imagination as Madonna's tour moves from city to city across the globe? If so, the controversy betrays the need for a long-overdue reflection among believers about why it is so utterly problematic, offensive, and even blasphemous to allow a woman's body to image the divine, and what that says about society's valuing--and devaluing--of women's bodies.
No doubt Madonna's crucifixion scene is subversive and outrageous--but it is in no way gratuitous. It's subversive only because our ability to imagine the divine is impoverished by the fact that we don't allow for these images to embody gender differences. And it's outrageous only because it is considered offensive and even blasphemo
us that a woman, regardless of who she is, should step up and take her rightful place on the cross.
Despite the seemingly-universal criticism she's getting, I applaud Madonna for her daring. She is accomplishing a task that I and many others have attempted: offering her own body on the cross. And she's doing it with a degree of success never before seen in Western culture, traveling the world before hundreds of thousands of people every night repeating her powerful example in city after city. And newspapers and magazines everywhere are reproducing this image, not realizing, I suppose, that they are bringing what has long been forbidden contraband to the eyes of people all over the world, most of whom have never had the opportunity or even the desire to view a woman on the cross.
So thank you, Madonna, for providing the world with this extraordinary, historic opportunity.
Forever 21--the homage to cheap and chic that's almost (but not quite) as ubiquitous on the streets of Manhattan as that other homage to cheap and chic, H&M--is apparently preaching the gospel with every sale. Deborah Kolben, a staff writer at The New York Sun, reports in her article, "Evangelism in Fashion" that:
Forever 21, a popular chain of cheap-chic clothes with stores throughout New York, is literally spreading the Gospel with every sale. When customers leave the shopping emporium with bags full of red cocktail dresses and panties emblazoned with phrases like "Y is for Yummy," few realize that they are also walking away with a bit of religion.
The owners of the company are devout Christians who print in small type on the bottom of the company's iconic yellow shopping bags the words: "John 3:16."
One of the most frequently referenced passages of the Bible, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Anyone who has ever stepped into Forever 21 knows that the clothing on the racks is not exactly the height of Christian modesty, and Kolben leads her article with what seems the burning question about Forever 21's Christian affinities: "What would Jesus say about that backless halter minidress?"
There are comics strips about babies, romance, the Army, sports, teenager, knights, Vikings and car mechanics. Ready for charitable Christians? King Features Syndicate, the purveyor of daily comics from "Apartment 3G" to "Zits" has introduced "Heaven's Love Thrift Shop," a strip by Kevin Frank, in which the shop's three employees, including a zany 20-something named Dag, subtly and not so subtly promote the Christian message.
Frank is certainly not the first Christian to work pious programming into comic strips. Charles Schultz acknowledged that "Peanuts" was grounded in his faith, a fact Robert L. Short developed in his 1965 book "The Gospel According to Peanuts." Al Hartley, who drew "Archie," composed special Christian versions of the famous carrot-top and his friends. "Heaven's Love Thrift Shop," however, is considered the first explicitly Christian strip offered by a mainstream syndicator. (And it will appear only on Sundays.)
It goes without saying that Frank says he doesn't consider his to be a "Christian" strip. "I like to think there’s an audience for it among all kinds of people," he recently told the Associated Baptist Press. And in a way he's right. Though the strip's eponymous shop is dedicated to helping the homeless and other indigent folks, I haven't been seen any of them in the strip (so far). The cute setups and mild zingers, about par for newspaper comedy, depend more on current topics like cell phones and caffeine consumption for their humor than the Good Book.
I emailed with Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's longtime publicist, seeking comment from the Material Girl about the brouhaha concerning her on-stage crucifixion. Here's what she (Rosenberg, not, alas, Madonna herself) had to say about the act that has German authorities reportedly threatening prosecution:
There were reports of a huge controversy when Madonna played Rome with her current show and the reality is (as I saw with my own eyes) that there was absolutely no controversy. Madonna performed before 70,000 adoring fans who cheered her arrival on the Crucifix. There were no protests at her hotel, at the Olympic Stadium or anywhere in Rome for that matter - not even the media made a big deal out of it. I frankly do not think that Madonna has any reason to worry about prosecution in Germany. I have not seen any official statement released from the Catholic Church.
Madonna's appearance on the Crucifix is not at all disrespectful to the Church or Catholicism. In fact, it's a poignant beautifully moving segment of her show. She is bringing attention to the millions of orphaned children in Africa and pleading for her audience to pay attention to citizens of the world who are in desperate need of help. She should be applauded - not condemned. Don't believe everything you read in the media.
No doubt, being Madonna's publicist requires taking the long view and not reacting to every quasi controversy surrounding the singer or her faith. And prosecution for her crucifixion act does seem extreme, shocking as it may be to Christians to see the Kabbalah Queen up on that cross. Here's hoping, though, that Rosenberg is right, and that Madonna succeeds in bringing that much-needed attention to African orphans and not to the German legal system.
Award-winning Christian pop band Salvador has teamed up with the American Bible Society (ABS) on its "La Biblia Es Mi Guia" ("The Bible Is My Guide") national advocacy campaign, designed to promote Bible reading among Hispanics. During concerts, the band, which has songs in both English and Spanish, and whose new album "Dismiss the Mystery" is set for release later this month, will invite their audiences to attend Bible readings and pass out booklets of translated Biblical excerpts and study guides produced by the ABS. (Personally, I'd rather get VIP passes and guitar pics, but to each his own.)
"Rarely do musical artists get the opportunity to work side by side with an organization of the caliber of the American Bible Society," says Nic Gonzales, lead singer of Salvador, according to an ABS press release. "As the son of a pastor and a Christian man, there is no greater honor than to be a part of a campaign that promotes reading the Bible.
Interestingly enough, ABS's "La Biblia Es Mi Guia" campaign has done much of its outreach through its Myspace page, even though the social networking site is primarily used by young people to post photos and comments about each other and by musicians to promote their work. Sadly, the ABS only has 55 "friends." Hopefully, the Salvador partnership will help ABS find some new BFFs.
And while on the subject of Myspace, you might be interested to know that Jesus Christ has approximately 6,663 Myspace profiles, whereas Satan and Lucifer have a combined total of 4,103 profiles! Scary.
I love it when Hollywood celebs go out on a limb, take the moral high road, or decide to influence the complex nature of world politics by taking out a newspaper ad. Dozens of celebrities and Hollywood execs, including Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, Michael Douglas, and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch ran a full page ad in the LA Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety yesterday denouncing the loss of innocent life in Israel and Lebanon caused by Hezbollah and Hamas.
I am not convinced that the leaders of Hamas spend a lot of time sitting around reading the Hollywood trades, so I am not sure if they will appreciate someone like, oh, let’s say, Pat Sajak, signing a petition saying terrorism is bad, very bad. But what’s worse is that I am sure that those who have lost loved ones in other countries struggling against terrorism to achieve democracy--countries like Iraq or any number of countries in Africa that are also suffering at the hands of militant extremists--are feeling just a little left out that their plight doesn’t warrant a full page ad from Kelly Preston, Danny DeVito, or Bernie Mac.
News like this just makes me a bigger fan of Bono.
Before we get a glimpse of Madonna in handcuffs for her on-stage mock-crucifixion scene--German authorities are threatening prosecution for mocking religion--take a look at the offending scene and judge for yourselves:
"Sure he may have walked through the Great Wall of China, wooed Claudia Schiffer, and used his superpowers to thwart would-be robbers, but those were mere parlor tricks," writes Eonline's Josh Grossberg of magician David Copperfield's claim to have discovered the Fountain of Youth. We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Josh.
Copperfield told Reuters that he has found the spring of eternal youth--the very same font that Juan Ponce de León was said to be looking for when he came upon Florida. Only instead of the Sunshine State, said fountain is actually in the Exuma archipelago, the Bahamas. According to the illusionist, who is planning on having the waters scientifically-tested, "You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again... Bugs or insects that are near death, come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."
And potentially very lucrative. Copperfield scooped up one of the islands for a reported $65 million and plans to turn it into "a posh, private retreat that the ultra-rich can enjoy for up to $392,000 a week." Taking money from the pockets of the ultra-rich? Now, that's a trick we'd like to see!
As if he hasn't already done enough good for the Jewish people by giving the world "The Hanukkah Song," Adam Sandler is now donating 400 Sony Playstations to Israelis whose homes were damaged by missiles in the recent conflict with Hezbollah, the Jerusalem Post reports.
It's a comfort to know that, though the recipients may not have a roof over their heads, they'll at least have the latest in videogame technology to help pass the time.
For Catholics, yesterday was the feast of the Assumption of Mary. For almost everyone else, it was the eve of a different kind of holy day: the 29th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death on Aug. 16, 1977. So Catholics in Memphis, Tenn., where Elvis lived most of his adult life, have figured out how to combine these two important days: the annual "Elvis Mass" at St. Paul's church, the Catholic church closest to Elvis's mansion, Graceland.
St. Paul's "would have been Elvis' parish had he been Catholic," remarks "Dennis," a Catholic seminarian in Memphis who notes the double holy day--which he calls "the Vigil of the Memorial of Elvis" on his Vita Mea blog. The 3 p.m. Mass enables Catholics in Memphis to combine their obligation to attend Mass on the feast of the Assumption with their desire to honor their city's most famous resident. As Dennis writes, it's a way to "remember the Queen of Heaven, and to ask her intercession on behalf of the King of rock and roll." Elvis probably needs her intercession, for his last days before his death at age 42, probably of a heart attack, seemed to have been a haze of prescription-drug abuse and serious overeating.
Still, the King, although a Protestant, was devoted to the Queen, and in 1972 he recorded "The Miracle of the Rosary" in her honor. The "Miracle" is always among the hymns sung at the Elvis Mass, along with "How Great Thou Art," another favorite among the numerous hymns he recorded. After that, many of the thousand or so attendees at the Elvis Mass (many of whom are non-Catholics) join the crowd of thousands more for the annual candlelight vigil of song and prayer at the gates of Graceland.
What if Joan Girardi, the lead character on CBS's retired smash-hit "Joan of Arcadia," heard a voice, but it wasn't the voice of God. What if it was a voice telling her to do very bad things? Well, Joan's family would have only had to call the exoricsts listed right there on the TV Guide channel listing. That's right, the network that perfected the heartfelt, inspirational, spiritual drama--think "Touched by an Angel" and the aforementioned "Joan of Arcadia"--is turning to the dark side of the force to stay on top of the ratings pile.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that "Joan" creator Barbara Hall and uberproducer Joe Roth ("Little Man," "Exorcist III") have been given the green light to film a pilot for a show that will "revolve around exorcists and others who investigate supernatural phenomena."
Bob Larson--talk-radio host and author of "Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare" and "Larson's Book of Cults"--will be a consultant.
So why should you watch a scripted drama about supernatural phenomena and exorcisms when there are plenty of reality-based shows--"Ghost Hunters," "Most Haunted," Derek Acorah's "Ghost Towns"--that do the same? For the drama. Reality show exorcisms are usually anticlimactic events, generally involving a group of people holding hands and saying a prayer or two to release trapped spirits from a dwelling. And that's just not Hollywood enough for most viewers.
As if this past week's orange and red security threat alerts aren't making us nervous enough, there are a slew of documentaries coming out soon on DVD or working their way across the country in limited release at art-house movie theaters that further illuminate the atrocities of war, terrorism, and governments out-of-control. As I mentioned last week here at Idol Chatter, I saw several independent documentaries recently at Michael Moore's film festival in northern Michigan and it's time now for me to highlight the best of the bunch.
The reason to make an effort to see these films is quite simple. Societal change cannot happen without further awareness of the pressing issues of our culture. Documentaries give coverage to these issues that soundbytes on TV simply can't. The danger with watching any of these documentaries is that the documentary film is no longer an art form of presenting fair and balanced information, but an art form that, with few exceptions, celebrates rhetoric as its means of communication. So these films require a great deal of effort from the audience, as they must sift through what is simply emotional appeal and what is the truth.
And if watching these films discourages you too much about the present condition of our world, just head to the cineplex and watch "Talledega Nights" one more time.
The Road to Guantanamo: A mix of documentary and drama, this film tells the little-known story of three young British men of Pakistani descent who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were thrown into prison at Guantanamo Bay for two years because of it. I had never heard of this incident and found the details absolutely horrfying. The film is clearly going to be a P.R. nightmare for the Bush administration if the movie gets any kind of national release.
The War Tapes: A reporter was asked by the National Guard to do a documentary as an embedded journalist. Instead, she arranged for cameras to be given to the soldiers to allow them to shoot the film. The result is a raw look at life behind enemy lines and wouldn't exactly make a good recruiting video for our military.
The Canary Effect: Native American cinema is rare, and this documentary traces the history of what the United States government's policies have done to Native American culture, and puts forth the premise that the genocide of Native Americans is still happening in our society today. Even if you don't buy into everything the movie has to say, it is truly a haunting look at the struggle of Native Americans to survive.
Who Killed the Electric Car?: Michael Moore gave this film his coveted "Roger Smith Award" (the award is named after General Motors executive Roger Smith, who was the subject of Moore's documentary "Roger & Me"). The film should play as a double feature with Al Gore's environmental documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," because "Car" tells the story of an alleged conspiracy by General Motor to kill their development of the eco-friendly electric car to make the oil companies happy.
For more information on other documentary winners from the festival, go here.
I promised myself: No more Mel Gibson blog pieces. But I can't resist sharing this thought, one insightful point in a long article full of insightful points, by Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman:
WAS IT MEL'S RAGE, OR HIS BETTER ANGELS, THAT DROVE HIM TO MAKE THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST? Both, and that's why it's a true Passion play. The simple explanation for why Gibson crafted his version of the Gospels is that he's a self-confessed sinner, and therefore an ideal candidate to tell the primal story of Christian redemption. I believe that, yet what makes Gibson a singular poster child for the temptations (and ravages) of sin is that when you consider what a widely worshipped Hollywood star he is, a man who can do pretty much anything he wants, he is by now so obviously ruled by his addictions that it's no great leap to say that they're filling a hole in his spirit.
Gleiberman also says that despite Mel's faults and bigotry, he's eager to see "Apocalypto" anyway. I couldn't agree more. Read the whole article here.
Apparently, with just 1 million "points" you can get into heaven! At least if you attend The Church of St. John the Evangelist in Ontario, Canada, that is. St. John's and radio station CHEZ 106 (106.1 FM) have teamed up to sponsor a contest where congregants and radio listeners are offered "absolution of past sins" by God and a ticket into heaven. They're enticing people with catchy advertising: "Lived the 'Classic Rock' lifestyle in the past? Coveted your neigbour's wife? Lied to your boss? Feel like you're being dragged down by your past indulgences?"
Are you interested yet? Check this out, from the press release, for full details:
St. John’s Anglican Church, 154 Somerset West in Ottawa, and Classic Rock CHEZ 106 are proud to announce an exciting new contest which allows Ottawa residents the opportunity to win something that no amount of money can buy!
Starting Monday, August 14th 2006 @ 5am, CHEZ 106 (106.1 FM) will offer members of its online VIP club the opportunity to exchange "Platinum Points" for absolution from their past sins.
"Living the Classic Rock lifestyle, we’ve all done things we’re not proud of," says CHEZ 106 Program Director & Afternoon DJ Jeff Brown. "And as part of our new VIP Club, we want to offer listeners the chance at things they normally can’t gain access. What’s more exclusive than a free ticket into Heaven?"
"Heaven is not a pie in the sky when you die," says Garth Bulmer, priest at the church. "It’s about unloading the crap which drags you down and picking up a new life. It’s just a click away."
Listeners are encouraged to participate in this "Points" program through station contesting, events, or while the station is on location in the Ottawa Community. Normally, listeners can exchange these points for concert tickets, cds / dvds, books, station merchandise, or other prizes periodically made available to them through our website at www.chez106.com.
The contest, which runs until September 30th, 2006, offers no refunds and is not guaranteed.
I suppose this is one way to modernize what was a rather popular medieval means of getting into heaven!
Simply put, Will Ferrell is a funny man. And "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is just what we need right now, among all of the extremely-not-funny things going on in the world.
A lot of us like to consider ourselves film connoisseurs, choosy and particular about what we spend our time and money watching. "Talladega Nights" doesn't appeal to the picky film fan in any of us--and that's where the beauty lies. Like "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," "Talladega Nights" finds Ferrell poking fun at the white American male, and it's something we can all get a kick out of. Getting through the product placement in the movie is a little tough, but you couldn't have a movie based around NASCAR racing without it. The laugh aspects of the film are black and white--you find yourself either laughing out loud or shaking your head and asking the person next to you, "What?!" For example, Ricky Bobby says grace to "Baby Jesus," instead of "the grownup Jesus, with a beard." It's funny--the first time around--but the jokes grows a little stale after a few minutes. This seems to be the case several times throughout the film.
The movie is an obvious poke at the stereotype of the white Southern man--the NASCAR-loving, trophy-wife toting, American flag-waving hick. Being from the South and knowing people who have been to the Talladega Superspeedway, I wondered, as I watched the movie, if racing fans would be offended by this portrayal, especially by the characters consistently making fun of Jesus. As someone who is super-sensitive to stereotypes of my heritage, I didn't find myself offended at all by the actors' accents or lifestyles. This is part of Ferrell's genius--you find yourself enjoying his characters because he looks as if he's having such a good time. But then again, I'm not a white male from the Deep South who loves to drive.
The film is probably the most quotable of the summer, if you can remember anything. It's packed with so many short, sharp lines--and stepping out of the theater, you try to remember one, verbatim, but they all get mixed together. I don't know if "Talladega Nights" is the best Will Ferrell movie yet. I saw it twice, and naturally it wasn't as funny the second time around, but "Talladega Nights" is still the funniest movie I've seen in quite a while--not smart, indie comedy, just simple, ridiculous, laugh-out-loud fun. If laughter really is good for the soul, then I think it's safe to say Ricky Bobby is, too.
Bono, the lead singer of U2 turned celebrity AIDS activist wants to know why Christian churches are virtually absent from the effort to address the AIDS pandemic, and whether they are willing to rectify their reluctance.
How is Bono leading this charge? By joining forces with Billy Hybels, a widely known megachurch pastor with connections to satellite churches all over America. In an article from The Christian Post on Saturday, August 12, Lillian Kwon writes that while Bono "never liked the church," he was certainly able to entice Hybels about the worthiness of his cause, and the silence among churches about AIDS:
When Bono came into Hybels' life, the megachurch pastor found it "ironic" that a rock star was approaching the church with a cry to help the poor and the sick--a command that Jesus had clearly given and that churches were typically known to do. However, churches have always been behind on such issues, said Bono. And he explained the reason being a fear of politics and a judgmental attitude about the AIDS virus. While churches have largely been in the charity and homeless feeding scene in their local communities, their presence has been foreign to the millions suffering from HIV/AIDS.
This message and interview between Hybel and Bono was broadcast to pastors and church leaders who attended the 2006 Leadership Summit, which include 125 satellite participating sites all over the country. At one moment Bono commented, "Christ won't let the church walk away from the AIDS emergency," to great applause.
To inspire AIDS activism among Christians and church communities, the Leadership Summit decided to sweeten the pot:
In partnership with World Vision, Willow Creek Association created the Courageous Leadership Award where the church that most exemplifies thegospel in action (associated with HIV/AIDS service), will be awarded$100,000 to help fund that particular church initiative. The winner will beselected and awarded at next year's Leadership Summit.
James C. Hunter's book "The Servant," is hardly something new in the business-leadership genre: its theme, that execs should be not taskmasters but facilitators of their employees' growth as human beings, was first struck by Robert Greenleaf in his 1977 book "Servant Leadership." Hunter's small innovation—putting his wisdom in the mouth of a Wall St.-wise Benedictine monk—capitalized on a late '90s trend of Jesus-based business books. The barely 200-page volume never got out of the quadruple digits on Amazon in the United States.
Imagine Hunter's surprise when he got a call from Brazil recently informing him that "The Servant" had climbed to #1 on bestseller lists in Brazil. As this Washington Post story about Hunter points out, Brazilians are especially attuned to the role-reversal inherent in the servant leadership concept. The country's book market is also apparently experiencing its own spiritual moment: #2 on Brazil's list is another American book, "The Greatest Psychologist Who Ever Lived: Jesus and the Wisdom of the Soul," by Mark W. Baker.
Patricia Leigh Brown, a reporter from The New York Times travel section, tried her hand at the ever-more popular ayurvedic spas popping up all over southern India to cater to Westerners, and describes the experience in her rather humorous article from this Sunday's Times, "In the Land of Four-Star Asceticism."
Ayurveda is a "3,500-year-old herb-based healing tradition that still flourishes in the daily life of India," she writes. Yet for more money than any native Indian would dream of spending on such a common tradition, you too can take what Brown describes as "the Order, the humble oath of four-star asceticism," which requires that you agree "to forsake all known forms of vacation decadence (rice gruel for dinner, anyone?), to give up meat, alcohol, caffeine, leather accessories, naps, sunbathing, swimming, and mindless frivolity in order to purify and balance your whacked-out Western body and soul."
Brown reports that ayurveda, "which means “knowledge of life” in Sanskrit, was designed to 'restore health and establish the digestive powers and likewise create intellectual brightness, personal beauty, acuteness of the senses, and prolongation of life,'" and includes a therapy-like "consultation to determine the elements, or doshas, of my native constitution--a process she refers to as “diagramming the person.”"
Why pay thousands of dollars for what, according to Brown, is about as un-vacation-like as a week of overtime on Wall Street? "The big idea of ayurveda, said to have divine origin, is that health is a state of balance between body, mind and consciousness. Its sister discipline is yoga, which, before it became an industry, was also a science dating back to the Vedic period. One’s constitution is said to be composed of three doshas--vata (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (water)--encoded in every cell. Initial treatment includes a prescribed diet (supplemented with herbs both ingested and applied), yoga, meditation and massages to prepare the body for elimination of agni, or waste. Pancha karma, a specialty of Kerala and no stroll through the park, includes a stamina-challenging sequence of enemas. 'We are not treating part by part and organ by organ,' Dr. Sreelatha explained kindly. 'We consider the body and soul.'"
Before rushing to Expedia to book your trip to an ayurvedic spa, be sure to read Brown's humorous reflections from her whirlwind ayurvedic tour through southern India. If afterward you are still game, some plans begin at $5,000 for a two-week stay (and that's not including the flight).
As my fellow blogger Doug Howe recently noted, last week marked MTV's 25th anniversary. Doug has decided to forsake the cable giant for more "positive, spiritual" pastures, but I am still on board. It's true that the channel hawks such wares as the this-close-to-being-morally-bankrupt "Room Raiders" and "Parental Control," but I would argue that MTV isn't actually the spiritual wasteland Doug thinks it to be. Sure, the audience may learn more about religion through controversy than catechism, but they are exposed to different beliefs and views and may be inspired to explore them. And so, in no particular order, I present just a few of the ways that MTV has become Multi-Faith TV:
Catholicism: We all know that "Catholics Do It Better," thanks to Madonna, whose very name reeks of religion. In order to understand songs like "Papa Don't Preach" and "Like a Prayer," and to understand the controversy and appreciate the symbolism of her edgy stage shows, teens learned more about the religion either on their own or through MTV soundbites.
Speaking of imagery, many MTV videos incoporate classic iconography. Perhaps one of the most prominent hagiographic clips is "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M., replete with images of arrow-riddled St. Sebastian.
Buddhism: Ask most late-20 and early 30-somethings how they learned about Buddhism and they will answer, "The Beastie Boys." The three party-obsessed, Jewish boys from NYC became serious paractitioners of Buddhism and popularized the "Free Tibet" concerts.
Just last week, on a very amusing episode of MTV's "Run's House," Rev. Run, former member of rap pioneers RUN-DMC and a reverend-priest in Zoe Ministries, accompanied his brother, Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def-Jam records and a devout Buddhist, to a yoga class.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Julie the Mormon. That's how Julie Stoffer, who starred on "Real World: New Orleans," will always be known. Julie did in 2000 what the Osmonds did in the 70s--in her own quirky way, making Mormonism mainstream.
Christianity: The past 10 years has been the decade of the virgin on MTV. Everyone from Britney Spears to Jessica Simpson to Mandy Moore was talking about God and virginity. One need only Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" to see pure unabashed Christianity on Viacom's video vixen. Plus, evangelical Christian bands like Sixpence None the Richer, Jars of Clay, and P.O.D. have all enjoyed frequent rotation.
Judaism: Recently, millions of teens were introduced to Hasidic Judaism via rap/reggae artist Matisyahu. He sings about his faith and "counts among his musical inspirations Bob Marley, Phish, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach."
Islam: Just recently, MTV began running a campaign of promo spots called "Spiritual Windows." One of the promos features Muslim men bowing in prayer. More importantly, the network featured Colin Powell discussing Islam and provided factual and responsible reports about that religion post-9/11.
And don't forget the terrific work being done by MTV documentaries: "Made," in which a teen realizes a life dream with the help of a coach provided by MTV. And then th
ere's the "Real Life" series, which offers dramatic, often inspiring, takes on subjects affecting youth.
Sure, MTV is a bit unorthodox, but it's a great way to educate the masses and increase understanding. Just ask former MTV VeeJay Carson Daly who had, at one time, wanted to be a priest. Without MTV, how else would Middle America know what it means to be a Hasidic Jew who sings reggae, which itself is often associated with Rastafarianism?
All Hollywood wants for Christmas is another "Passion"-sized blockbuster, without the Mel-sized controversy. This year's hopes are placed on a chronology of Christ's birth and toddlerhood titled "The Nativity Story," due for December release, and Time Warner's New Line Cinema has taken care to wrap the flick in just the right ribbons and bows to appeal to everyone and offend no one.
The "Nativity" script is by Mike Rich, both a Christian and a proven Tinseltown insider (his "Finding Forrester" made $53 million in 2000, which he followed with the uplifting and profitable "The Rookie"). Rich's script was vetted by historians, theologians, and ecumenical experts, allowing New Line to hew to a portrait of Christ's birth as "history-defining" while scoring the endorsement of Billy Graham's daughter, Bible scholar Anne Graham Lotz. The top biller in the painstakingly uncontroversial cast is Keisha Castle-Hughes, the child star of "Whale Rider," who plays Mary, the mother of God.
Indeed, the only hint of edginess attached to the movie is its director, Catherine Hardwicke, whose best known previous film is "Thirteen," an almost unwatchably grim, if sadly accurate, depiction of teen life in Los Angeles at the beginning of the 21st century. Hardwicke has a defense for the drug use and sex in her breakthrough film, saying "There was something going on that I wanted to blast out for discussion," and some youth pastors, by a hair, saw the point. Still, if conservative Christians are going to make this movie a success, it's Hardwicke they'll have to get past.
It may be better for New Line if they don't. To judge from the trailer, the movie is a basic sandswept epic full of donkeys, drumbeats, and nonbiblical scenes added for drama. For all his church-basement screenings, it was controversy, not corporate calculation, that made Mel's movie compelling as a car wreck.
While I almost always agree with what fellow blogger Tim Hayne has to say--and I appreciate that he seems to be a fellow enthusiast of slightly darker, indie films--I found myself disagreeing with him after watching "Little Miss Sunshine." While I love stories about quirky, eccentric characters who go on unexpected journeys that result in personal growth, which is what happens to the dysufnuctional Hoover family as they travel to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in their VW bus, "Sunshine's" road trip took too many exits down some morally questionable detours for me to fully enjoy this comedy.
Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some funny lines as well as some laugh-out-loud moments, and the premise itself is prettty clever. But what's not so clever is having a dirty old man as a grandfather character and an angst-filled teen quote some philosopher we should all believe was profound for saying that, well, nothingness is the meaning of life. I've already seen it, thanks, though perhaps not quite with the level of crude enthusiasm found here.
And I realize that the movie is, on one level anyway, slamming the seedy world of kiddie beauty pageants, and I wholeheartedly support making fun of that great American subcluture. But do we actually need to watch a seven-year old girl exploited by doing a strip tease dance in order to appreciate the exploitative nature of these contests? I know I didn't.
Perhaps the biggest question that this movie raises is a question I have been debating quite a bit lately. How much sin do storytellers need to show us to prove to us that a character is, by the end of the story, redeemed in some way? It's a question I began reconsidering after the media began arguing about the apalling nature of the "did he or didn't he rape his ex-wife?" storyline on the FX series "Rescue Me." "Sunshine" is by no means as morally controversial or as edgy a show as "Rescue Me," but I feel like the same issue applies to both. I don't believe it is always necessary to see, hear, and feel every bit of garbage that a character goes through in order to empathize with that person's plight or celebrate that person's redemption. Or, put a simpler way, less can be more.
Am I casting too large a cloud of gloom over "Little Miss Sunshine"? Well, it opens in wide release this weekend, so you may just have to decide for yourself.
Fox News reports that Disney is looking for other distributors on which to unload scandal-tainted Mel Gibson's new movie, "Apocalypto," about the mysterious expiration of the Incan Empire. Fox's sources point to Lion's Gate Films, which picked up Kevin Smiths' "Dogma" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" when Disney got cold feet, as the most likely candidate. Today, Lion's Gate executives denied that they were negotiating for the rights to "Apocalypto," and wiser heads, if not better sources, were saying that Disney is probably stuck with Mel's Incan-language epic: Even without Mel's anti-Semitic outburst, the movie, with no recognizable stars and a R-rating for violence, doesn't promise the fast bucks of a big opening weekend that would lure an alternative distributor.
Meanwhile, Mel stars in a new trailer, "Signs (of Anti-Semitism)," based on his role in M. Night Shamalyan's "Signs." Never has Adam Sandler's 'Hanukkah Song' seemed so scary. See for yourself:
MTV celebrated its 25th anniversary last week, but I couldn't figure out what they were celebrating. I find myself singing the Dire Straits’ classic lyric, “I want my MTV,” because my MTV--or, at least, good MTV--hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.
Mark Knopfler called the early MTV stars “yo-yo’s,” said “they aint workin’” and that they were earning “money for nothin.’” What he thought was bad then has become downright disgusting since. “My” MTV was mostly mainstream music with hints of alternative and headbanging stuff, played between the greetings of original Veejays Martha Quinn, Mark Hunter, Nina Blackwood, downtown Julie Brown, and the late J.J. Jackson.
At that time, MTV was truly an on-screen version of radio. Its jingles were unique, the sign-ons were original (who can’t remember the Apollo spacecraft, among other frequent images?) and the music at least felt like music. Some videos were hard to understand, like confusing dreams. Others made the song more real. But today, MTV is some kind of variety of gangsta wrap, teen reality shows, and the closest you can come to teen porn on TV without breaking FCC rules. So for me the 25th anniversary was more of a requiem tribute than a celebration.
The only thing I like about the current trend is the emerging popularity of Christian bands (especially those who aren't called "Christian" bands) on Christian stations, local individual stations, and even MTV's sister-network, VH-1. "The Zone" is one example, now playing faith-based videos in over 200 local television markets. Medium-market cities are being exposed to what the Bible Belt has had for a long time: lots of faith-based entertainment on several stations. Perhaps someday the big cities will have the same. Strong young balladeers and aspiring musicians with faith-driven lyrics are finding a home outside of MTV's bias--and I'm glad for it.
I'm not provoked to say "good riddance, MTV," but I'll certainly say "R.I.P." to a fading cultural phenomenon, while clicking past it for more positive--and spiritual-- music and videos.
At a time when U.S. citizens, religious and otherwise, are divided over whether the U.S. should pull troops out of Iraq, not to mention whether the war itself was justified in the first place, the military is desperate for some positive PR. But is a gun-filled theme park the way to go?
Apparently, it is--or at least the military thinks it is. According to CNN, Fort Belvoir, Va., may soon be home to the country's first military theme park:
The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military-themed park that would include Cobra Gunship rides and bars including a "1st Division Lounge"... [where] you can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner.
Nothing like a full day of fun-filled gun-toting and tank-driving with Mom, Dad, and the kids to foster a better, more peaceful world. Or better yet, a shooting-themed vacation (Insert bitter sarcasm here.)!
What happened on September 11th, 2001, didn’t just leave its mark on the New York City skyline, it scarred a nation. Everyone has a story. We all remember where we were the moment we learned the twin towers had come down, some even watched the buildings fall, and a select few recall mustering the courage to go in and attempt to rescue those still trapped in the concrete and steel. If anyone deserves to have their story told, it’s the brave men and women who put their lives on the line that fateful day.
Such is the impetus behind Oliver Stone’s "World Trade Center," a film devoted to the accurate re-telling of the story of Port Authority Police Department Sergeant John McLoughlin and Officer Will Jimeno. Both men were part of a valiant crew who ventured into the concourse of the World Trade Center after the first tower was hit, having little idea of what was actually going on, knowing only that they had a job to do.
Walking into the theater, my skepticism caused me to put up a wall. I had no intention of letting my emotions get the better of me, nor did I have an overwhelming desire to recall the psychologically exhausting experience of that horrible Tuesday. Much like the rest of the nation, I remember 9/11 with startling clarity, and the film’s degree of honesty and unromantic execution make for a downright eerie recreation of events.
"World Trade Center" begins as innocently as the morning itself, but there exists a general discomfort in knowing precisely what is about to take place. Thankfully, special effects are used sparingly, merely intended to illustrate rather than exploit the magnitude of the attacks. That’s not to say anything is omitted entirely. In fact, the film should be applauded for its choices in what the audience gets to see and what it doesn’t.
Although overly emotional at times (but that’s to be expected), nothing about the characters or their actions feels particularly forced. For the most part, the actors offer honest portrayals of real people working together in a time of crisis. Unlike "United 93," however, which used virtual unknowns to bolster its realism, "World Trade Center" misguidedly features big names like Nicolas Cage and Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose presence actually serves as a distraction from both the subject matter and the other fine performances. Stone may be asking a little too much in urging us to believe A-list actors are real people.
But realism is truly call called into question on the subject of religion. There’s little doubt that faith played an important role in the recovery efforts of 9/11, so it’s no surprise it should make an appearance in "World Trade Center." But the inclusion of faith is, for the most part, pegged to one or two people, making the presence of anything spiritual seem compartmentalized. As such, it’s an underused element, and, sadly, made for some of the film’s only truly awkward or out-of-place moments.
Equal parts terrifying and uplifting, "World Trade Center" sets out to tell a story of hope amid the ruin, and, for the most part, succeeds. There are no teary-eyed monologues or melodramatic, angst-ridden moments, just moving portrayals of real people facing one of history’s most catastrophic events. If you can find the courage to sit in a darkened theater and relive September 11, 2001, "World Trade Center" is definitely a film worth seeing.
Earlier this summer, I wrote in this space about the growing popularity of Faith Night promotions at minor-league baseball stadiums. The faith in question was typically Christianity. Leave it to the Newark Bears, an independent New Jersey team, to celebrate Scientology Night.
In the past, the Bears have signed Jose Canseco's brother Ozzie and extended the career of base-stealing king Ricky Henderson and other major leaguers, in moves that were equal parts publicity and on-field savvy. The team has also shown a knack for memorable promotional events, such as the "Britney Spears Safety Night" that Kris blogged about earlier this week. Now it's using the faith of Tom Cruise to help bring people out to the game.
"Come out to the ball park and get a chance to win copies of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics or DVD copies of the immortal 'Battlefield Earth,'" promises the Bears' website. "Come to the Newark Bears Box Office dressed as your favorite Scientologist (John Travolta, Tom Cruise), and receive FREE admission."
First Al Gore was right about the environment, and now Tipper Gore and her Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) may have been right about those explicit lyrics warning labels!?
A recent study by the Rand Corp. showed that "teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music."
And while much popular music is full of blatant sexuality, the songs depicting men as "sex-driven studs" and women as "sex objects" (a.k.a. bitches and hos) seem to have the most impact on teens' sexual development.
"Exposure to lots of sexually degrading music 'gives them a specific message about sex,'" lead author Steven Martino told the AP. "'We think that really lowers kids' inhibitions and makes them less thoughtful' about sexual decisions and may influence them to make decisions they regret, he said."
The report doesn't mention if any of the songs used in the study are part the recent rash of euphemistic, yet still sexually explicit, songs from the female point of view, including such hits as Kellis' "Milkshake" and The Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps," in which a girl uses a little T&A to get some Dolce & Gabbana.
Of course, other researchers felt "factors including peer pressure, self-esteem, and home environment are probably more influential than the research suggests."
"When somebody has a healthy sense of themselves," notes Yvonne K. Fulbright, a New York-based sex researcher and author, "they don't take these lyrics too seriously."
The Sundance Film Festival has Robert Redford. Tribeca has De Niro. And the film community in Michigan... well... we have the polarizing docudrama director and producer Michael Moore. Yes, filmmakers from Hollywood as well as Iran, South Africa, and Italy flew to the Midwest last week to attend the 2nd annual Traverse City Film Festival, which is the brain child of summer resident Moore. And while the film festival's motto is "Just Great Movies," this is Michael Moore after all, so in spite of family-friendly movies at an outdoor space and a few light-hearted cinematic choices, most of the movies had a strong political and moral agenda, to say the very least.
The evils of war, the genocide of cultures, censorship of the artistic process, and numerous government conspiracies were the common themes found in most of the festival selections. While many of the movies depicted the negative ways that politics can influence art, the question debated by many of the successful directors in attendance for the panel discussions seemed to be this: Can art truly change the hearts and minds of the public and therefore have a lasting impact on global politics?
Some directors--like Mark Dornford-May, whose movie "Son of Man" retells the gospel in present day South Africa--stated that it is almost impossible in his country to separate politics from life and art. He made "Son of Man" for the sole purpose of demonstrating how, historically speaking, anyone who stands up for justice and equality is automatically outcast by mainstream society. But other directors--like the Iranian director Mani Haghighi, whose movie "Men at Work" was a festival favorite--said he believed that the media gives so much coverage to the atrocities of war that he feels he must not make his movies overtly political, but instead focus on beauty in the everyday.
Personally, I was alternately shocked, disturbed, and educated by many of the film selections at this year's festival, which, unlike "Men at Work or "Son of Man," were primarily documentaries. I am now convinced that the documentary film as an art form is only going to increase in visibility and importance in our cinematic culture.
I have no doubt that documentaries like "The Road To Gauntanomo" and "The War Tapes" will go on to raise awareness of current social and political injustices. But the real question for me is whether or not both audiences and filmmakers understand that documentaries walk a thin line between propaganda and journalism in search of truth. I certainly saw films on both sides of that line last week, and I will be posting my picks and pans on Idol Chatter in the coming days.
As TNT's "The Closer" headed toward its 9th episode of season two Monday night, "Heroic Measures," Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson (played wonderfully by Kyra Sedgwick) delivered some more of her trademark, morally ambiguous detective work. This time around, the show took on the issue of malpractice among doctors, as her team attempted to prosecute two surgeons for highly questionable decisions made on the operating table, resulting in the tragic and unexpected death of a child.
While the episode raised difficult questions--such as, "Can the outcome of a doctor's medical judgment result in what we call murder?"--viewers also saw the more desperate side of Deputy Johnson. Famous for her ability to deliver confessions (hence her title: the Closer) and determined to prosecute these doctors, Johnson bursts in anger: "Tell me what you need these doctors to say, and I'll get them to say it!"
For fans of the show, Johnson's ability to manipulate suspects out of their right to an attorney and trap them into making incriminating statements is both what puts you in awe of her character and makes you question it, too. She has an incredible talent for finding whoever commits murder, no matter how complicated the case, yet the methods she employs to do so are often at the cost of what most would regard as ethical behavior. (For example, is it OK for a detective to sweet talk a suspect out of representation? Especially if they don't even realize they are under suspicion? Or to withold knowledge of the death of a spouse or child from someone in order to collect evidence?)
Often, the outcomes of her maneuvering end up hurting her sense of the acceptable as well, as known murderers go free (see episode 11 from season one) or parents desperately try to protect their children end up in jail. At times the results of her investigations seem almost inhumane.
The end of the show's episodes are often painfully gut-wrenching, both for the viewer and for Chief Johnson. Though difficult, each one makes for fantastic, thought-provoking television.
Pop star diva and tabloid darling Britney Spears made a surprising appearance at a minor league ball game in New Jersey last weekend--sort of. The Newark Bears hosted a "Britney Spears Safety Night," using Britney's numerous "oops" parenting moments--including an incident where she was driving a car with her baby in her lap--to promote car-seat safety. Any spectator could attend the event for free if they brought a baby or child aged four or under, carried a baby toy, or dressed like a baby themselves. Fans attending the ball game also had the chance to win a free car seat, courtesy of AAA.
The Bears' creative marketing of a public-service announcement leads me to wonder what other events sports teams could dream up that would combine celebrities' mistakes with public education. How about a Paris Hilton Abstinence Night, in which all fans would receive a chastity belt? Or a Lindsay Lohan Alcohol Free/Boss Appreciation Night?
And here I thought we couldn't learn anything from celebrities.
A handsome Midwestern man discovers that his family is actually of Jewish heritage and that his mother was forced by the Nazis to catalog stolen art during World War II. Now the matron is working to see that the art is returned, but family members are being hunted down by a mysterious entity, even though they have since changed their names.
What would seem like a typical plot on "Law & Order" is actually one of the latest storylines on the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless." It seems that resident heartthrob and Newman Enterprises executive Brad Carlton is actually George Kaplan.
Stephanie Sloane, editor of Soap Opera Digest and a 16-year veteran of the industry, told The Jewish Week she has never heard of such a story arc on a soap. "Judaism is not often addressed in daytime [programming]," she said. "There is only one other prominent [Jewish] character in daytime [Nora Hanen on 'One Life to Live'], and the stories are not about her being Jewish. We don't see her celebrating the High Holidays. Her religious affiliation is not often addressed."
But as a veteran of the soap world once pointed out to me, we do see Norah often wearing a cross pendant around her neck.
And while Sloane has a point about recent soaps not giving Jewish characters rich spiritual lives, she is clearly forgetting that "Days of Our Lives" brought a Holocaust survivor storyline to daytime serials in the early '80s.
In 1985, Dr. Mike Horton, a Protestant, and Dr. Robin Jacobs, an Orthodox Jew, fell head over heels for each other. But Robin's dedication to her faith--and her even greater dedication to her Holocaust survivor father, who didn't want her to marry a non-Jew--kept them apart. Although, there were brief glimpses of ecumenism--Robin led Mike through a Shabbat--she couldn't disavow her heritage and ended up dating a Jewish pharmacist named Mitch. Meanwhile, Robin's uncle suspects a new doctor at the hospital, Dr. Fred Miller, is an escaped Nazi who orchestrated the deaths of thousands, including Robin's grandmother. Mike and Robin work together to bring down the former Dr. Friedrich Kluger, but Robin still won't marry Mike, even though he offers to convert--although she will conceive a child with him. But that's a different story.
What's most interesting in this latest example is that life is, in a way, imitating art. The actor who portrays Carlton/Kaplan, Don Diamont, was raised a secular Jew and took his mother's maiden name on his agent's advice, leaving his former identity as Bruce Feinberg behind.
"While I probably didn't acknowledge it at the time, the truth is it gave me a layer of insulation from the outside world. I didn't look Jewish, and from my [new] name you couldn't tell who I was," Diamont said. "Then as I got older, it was just the opposite. I made it a point to let people know I was Jewish and that my name was Feinberg."
Though Woody Allen's last movie, "Matchpoint," was a dark psychological thriller, Allen is still most recognized for his unique brand of screwball comedy. Allen once again throws together eccentric characters, mix-ups, and mayhem in his latest effort, "Scoop," but this time with only limited success.
"Scoop" involves Sid, a neurotic has-been magician (Allen); a ditzy American journalism student, Sondra (Scarlett Johannson); and Peter Lyman, a wealthy British playboy (Hugh Jackman ), who may or may not be London's infamous Tarot Card Killer. When Sondra attends Sid's magic act and becomes an unwilling volunteer in one of his tricks, a recently deceased journalist magically appears before Sondra to give her a clue about who the Tarot Killer is. The overeager Sondra realizes this is her chance to make a name for herself by solving the murder and "scooping" all of the newspapers with the story.
"Scoop" is a long way from vintage Allen, as Allen himself hinted at in a recent interview. The biggest problem with this movie is not so much the convoluted story--because that is part of Allen's charm as a storyteller--but the miscasting of both Jackman and Johansson in the lead roles. Johansson is not quite believable as a goofy co-ed who ends up having sex with every man she tries to interview, and Jackman is not nearly dastardly enough or charming enough to play the roguish Peter. However, Allen's classic deadpan timing as Sid never fails, and he consistently delivers the best lines of the film over and over again.
So even if "Scoop" will probably not make the cut in a Woody Allen film retrospective, Allen's performance in the movie reminds me that even mediocre Woody Allen is superior to a lot of comedies that try to do what Allen has been doing with artistic ease for decades. And in a summer full of films that are big on special effects and small on substance, "Scoop" is still a refreshing treat.
There no longer is a Sabbath Day in Football Television Nation USA.
Am I the only one who remembers a time when the colleges played on Saturday, the NFL played on Sunday afternoon, Monday Night Football was a special treat, and all-day football happened once a year on New Year's Day? Everything is different now, so much so that if an outside observer had to ask whether this was a "Christian" nation or "religious" nation or a "spiritual" or a "sports-watching" nation, there could be only one conclusion, at least based on ratings and dollars paid for the rights to broadcast football. Consider:
• College Football starts early and goes late on Saturdays, and you can watch a triple-header every weekend, quadruple if Hawaii plays at home; • There are NCAA games on just about every other night of the week, and when Central Florida plays Marshall on October 4, every night of the week will have been covered; • College games are on ABC, NBC, CBS, BET, and various independent stations on Saturdays; the weeknight games are on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360, and ESPN Classic; • In the pros, Monday Night Football has moved from ABC to ESPN; • Sunday Night Football has moved from ESPN to NBC; • Little Richard and Cheap Trick have been brought in to join Hank Williams, Jr., for the lead-in theme song on ABC; • ESPN will be showing NCAA games on Sunday nights to compete with NBC; • One commentator--Cris Collinsworth--can now be seen on three different networks, which is two more than most.
The huge audience that watches the NFL on TV is apparently growing even larger. Just “follow the money” for verification. To broadcast the Monday Night Football games, ESPN pays $1.1 billion dollars. Imagine Dr. Evil saying that, but this isn’t fiction. By adding in HBO, NBC, and other rights packages, the NFL will take in about $3.75 billion dollars just from those who show games (or parts of games) on TV.
More and more of our culture plans not only its TV watching but its social calendar itself around NFL games. Restaurants, bars, churches, youth groups, business travelers, community groups, and families now review the NFL schedule before setting dates for key events in the Fall. Polls suggest that only about 18% of Americans make carrying out their faith the highest priority in their lives. Someday, someone might ask questions about the destiny of a culture that puts watching sports ahead of spiritual growth in its priorities.
A new reality show debuting this fall on the LOGO network has given "niche marketing" a whole new meaning. "Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising" follows the two J-named boys, 20-something twins from Montana, as they pursue a music career (their band's name is Nemesis). The story gets wilder: not only are the twins photogenic, they're both homosexual and were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses. As Jehovah's Witnesses, they follow a proud musical tradition: all the Jackson kids were brought up in the religion, and Prince still considers himself a member of the church.
A major component of the show, according to LOGO's official blog, will be that "the pair, raised as Jehovah's Witnesses, have to deal with whether or not to come out to their religious family." One assumes that they decided to do just that--come out to their family--or else grandma and grandpa are in for a big surprise when they sit down to proudly watch the twins' new TV show.
How to tell the Miller twins apart: Josh has dark hair; Jacob is a blond. Jacob has a long-term boyfriend; Josh is single. They bear a strong similarity to Evan and Jaron, the Orthodox Jewish twins who refuse to perform on Friday nights, the Jewish Sabbath. Musically, Nemesis also falls into the Evan and Jaron genre of poppy, rock-inspired ballads about relationships. Will a random radio listener be able to tell that the songs are about guys? And, more importantly, will they care?
A lot has been made of Mel Gibson's recent indiscretions and its bearing on the national cultural character assessment. Whether it is media hype, national fascination, authentic character examination, or passing conversation, it has become the job of many to offer their opinions regarding Mel's recent trifecta of DUI arrest, drunken tirade, and rehab clinic check-in. Including me.
First, Jesus said "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the log in your own eye?" I have yet to see a single web report, newsmagazine expose, or media outlet position encouraging all of us to consider the log in our own eye as the result of this. It's all about Mel, his character, his religious faithfulness, his possible bigotry, his hypocrisy, and the effect on his brand and value within the industry. What would happen if one--just one--reporter or talking head talked about how this event has caused him or her to reflect on their own character, habits, and shortcomings?
And what about us? Have we stopped to consider if there be any arrogant, prejudiced, biased, deceitful, hypocritical way in us? I hope so. Then we could say that perhaps our fascination with movie stars serves a strong purpose, as the way we look at them helps us take a more mature and reflective look at ourselves.
Additionally, the very Pentateuch upon which the Jewish faith is built contains the stories of Adam's disobedience, Abraham's lie, Moses' murder, and the iniquities of the nation of Israel. The Old Testament goes on to discuss the sins of many of its heroes, including David, the "man after God's own heart," whose story of prestige, power, access, adultery, conniving, murder, and cover-up would make today's primetime dramas seem, well, biblical.
I hope there's room for every one of us to at least withhold judgment, if not offer grace and forgiveness, for one who sinned. Like Mel, we are, all of us, part of the less-than-perfect human race. And the last time I checked, the statistics for human imperfection were running about 100%, so we're all in it together.
With Mel's anti-Semitic antics making headlines, it seems like as good a time as any to revisit a classic "South Park" episode. Though, really, who needs an excuse?
(Warning: It's "South Park," so there's some bad language and other potentially offensive cartoon moments that are probably not suitable for the little ones.)
Religion has found a hero in Hollywood. Actor Patrick Swayze, best known for bumping and grinding his way into our hearts in the 1987 hit film "Dirty Dancing" and for that killer pottery-making scene in "Ghost" (1990), has come out in defense of religion.
According to ContactMusic.com, the spiritual star fears films cynical of religion, like "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "The Da Vinci Code," may leave the world without faith to turn to. He says, "I believe in a higher power. I've studied Eastern philosophies, and I've studied the Koran. We've devalued everything worth believing in. Now we're tearing into religion. A line should be drawn."
Swayze's ongoing spiritual journey might best be expressed by one of the characters he's played, James Dalton, a college-educated tough-guy bouncer from 1989's "Roadhouse." In one scene, he's asked what his degree is in. He says, "philosophy." When asked if he studied a specific discipline, he responds, "No. Not really. Man's search for faith. That sort of s---."
Slated for a young girl's 15th birthday, a Mexican Quinceanera celebrates virginity and coming-of-age with the extravagance of the ritziest bat mitzvah. In Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's appropriately titled film (that would be "Quinceanera"), emphasis on all the trimmings--a hummer limo, a brand new dress--causes a rift between Magdalena (Emily Rios), an Americanized 14-year-old, and her old-fashioned father, a storefront preacher who moonlights as a security guard so that he can pay the bills.
"It's the Quinceanera wars," Westmoreland said at a recent press event I attended, where he joined Glatzer, Rios, and co-star Jesse Garcia to talk about the film, which won both Special Jury Prize and Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival and opens in limited release on August 4th. "Magdalena's father wants it to be more spiritual and traditional but Magdalena's a modern American girl."
According to one modern American girl, materialism--in the movie and in real life--is synonymous with growing up. "What are you going to do, just stay 10 years behind?" Rios asked. "Centuries ago it wasn't about having a hummer limo. Things we see on TV, kids want that type of lifestyle themselves. They don't think of religion."
But there's a bigger problem these characters must soon face: Magdelena's unexpected pregnancy, the result of, in Westmoreland's words, "lots of teenage wriggling and a little too much enthusiasm, but no sex."
"We were thinking, 'We don't want to retread a story of a young girl getting pregnant,'" Westmoreland said. "I've been in a sex education class in the north of England in the middle of 1981, and the nurse had told us about this strange way of getting pregnant."
"It gave her a kind of pride--she didn't realize she was even at risk for being pregnant, and therefore she had this tough spirit," Glatzer said. "I had two different people come up to me after screenings at Sundance and tell me they were products of virgin birth."
But Magdelena's father doubts her abstinence, so she moves in with her great-uncle Thomas (Chalo Gonzalez), and gay cousin Carlos (Garcia). Initially at odds with one another, Carlos and Magdalena eventually bond as community outsiders.
Off screen, Rios and Garcia clicked instantly and were surprised to discover that they were both former Jehovah's Witnesses: Garcia questioned the practice when he enrolled in a theology class in college ("I ended up learning a lot of different things about different religions that I liked,"), and Rios was presented with her first birthday cake when she turned sixteen on set. "I think I wouldn't have dealt with the things I dealt with if I continued being an active member in the congregation," Rios said. "I went through some tough times when we weren't practicing anymore. I was born into the religion--going to church four times a week, dedicating your entire life... I felt a little liberated. It's not that I didn't know any better, I just didn't know any different."
Regardless of religion, Rios identified so strongly with Magdelana that she didn't feel like she was acting. "Whether it's Jehovah's Witness or not, I know how strict families can be," the actress said. "My parents always taught me everything goes by the bible, so it was a rebellion. 'You want to talk to me about the bible, you guys aren't practicing anymore, so what are you trying to tell me about it?' It was just a big old clash. In the end, you're going to accept one another because family is basically all you have."
In the immortal words of Alice Cooper, "School's out for Summer." But Cooper, the heavy metal maestro, is making sure that the kids of southwest Phoenix will still have a safe place to go once school doors are closed. MSNBC.com, via the Associated Press, reports that Cooper's Christian, nonprofit Solid Rock Foundation, "has begun fundraising efforts for a 20,000-square-foot teen activity center to be called The Rock, to be built at Grand Canyon University in West Phoenix."
The former vincent Furnier spends most of the year in suburban Phoenix playing golf and working for his foundation, but realizes that it's not all tee times and spa treatments for many of the area's children. "People don't lay in the sun in southwest Phoenix. There's lots of shootings going, there's lots of meth going on, there's lots of gangs," Cooper said. "In the middle of all that is a bunch of 12-, 13-, 14-year-old kids that can go one way or the other."
Isn't this the same heavy metal rocker whom pop culture lore says took his stage name after learning that he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch, Alice Cooper, while scrying on a Ouija board? Yes it is. And while Cooper wasn't actually a witch in the past--the name came from his idea of an ax-wielding little girl-- he did come from a long line of Christians. According to Wikipedia, Cooper's grandfather was an ordained Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ, his father was an ordained Elder, and Cooper has some distant French Huguenot ancestry.
The shock-rocker returned to his Christian roots in the 1980s when he was struggling with alcoholism, and is now interested in helping at-risk youth learn the value of "boundaries." "Kids love boundaries. We used to fight against them. But in all reality, what we really did want was to know where we could go," he said.
"We're not going to beat them over the head with a Bible," Cooper told the AP. "But we're certainly going to be available to tell them that that's available to them."
And not to worry, there will be plenty of rock at this teen center--rock climbing that is. The center will include a "recording studio, indoor basketball courts, rock-climbing walls, coffeehouse, game room, and concert hall."
Is California’s tradition of spiritual experimentation a kind of faith in itself? In a new book, "The Visionary State: A Journey Through California's Spiritual Landscape," writer Erik Davis and photographer Michael Rauner explore California’s long history--make that pilgrimage--from promised land to breeding ground for alternative spiritual movements. Key to that history is California’s perfect storm of Catholic Mexicans from the South, Buddhists and other Eastern sects arriving from across the Pacific, and American Protestantism, all stranded with little organized religious authority in a desert frontier.
Davis and Rauner’s focus is not on cult leaders and self-appointed prophets, but on spiritual monuments: buildings and other locations crucial to "the whole gamut of California weirdness," in Davis’s words. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle’s "Finding My Religion" columnist David Ian Miller, Davis asks whether the spiritual "supermarket" of California--this "sort of restless experientialism--is a tradition? What if it is a kind of peculiarly modern sort of anti-tradition tradition?"
The next question, of course, is whether California is not a model for the rest of the states, the way it has been for everything from supply-side politicians to organic eating.
The Anti-Defamation League has formally accepted Mel Gibson's apology for his anti-Semitic outburst last Friday. After calling Mel's first attempt at apology "unremorseful," the ADL has helpfully offered to take the "Passion of the Christ" creator up on his offer to meet with Jewish leaders. "Once he completes his rehabilitation for alcohol abuse, we will be ready and willing to help him with his second rehabilitation to combat this disease of prejudice," the ADL says in a release.
Phew! It's good to know that such a beautiful moment of interfaith cooperation can come out of a drunken-driving/anti-Jewish-ranting incident.
Criticized yesterday for an apology that was deemed "insufficient" and "unremorseful" by Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, actor Mel Gibson released a full statement today asking for the forgiveness of the Jewish community for his anti-Semitic tirade during an arrest on DUI charges.
"There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge."
"I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words."
The Academy Award-winning director--who has battled with alcoholism, and is heading back into rehab--goes one step further, asking for the assistance of the Jewish community in his recovery process. "I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery," said Gibson. "I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed."
Gibson may be waiting a long while for that door to open, as many big-name Jewish Hollywood personalities have spoken out against the star, including screenwriter director Nora Ephron and agent Ari Emanuel, the real-life inspiration for HBO's "Entourage" agent Ari Gold. "People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice to their bottom line," Gold wrote on HuffingtonPost.com.
In fact, the ostracization of Mel is already underway: The Wall Street Journal reports today that ABC is pulling the plug on a Holocaust miniseries that the network has been developing with Gibson. Apparently the Mouse House doesn't deal with rats. Meanwhile, ABC's grande dame Barbara Walters remarked on "The View" Monday morning that she didn't think she'd be watching any more Mel Gibson films; but I'm sure she'd love to have the first interview with him after his stint in rehab.
This past weekend, I was sitting in New York City's Union Square, waiting to meet a friend, when a group of people caught my eye. They were all wearing long, white, flowing robes. Their leader was strumming a guitar. And they were all holding up signs reading, "Jon Stewart is God." They sat in a ring, singing together, and waiting for curious bystanders to approach them. A camera guy tried to look blasé and hid behind a tree, taping the whole thing. I couldn't tell whether he was with the group or was just following them around for his own purposes.
I went home that night and Googled the group. Their website explains the basic principles of "Jonism," including the faith's theological foundations. Why is Jon Stewart a God? According to the "Jonsons," it's because, "He is not a man because no man can be consistently that funny. He is not an animal because he is way too articulate. He is not a plant because... well... he moves too fast. He is neither an idol nor is He a statue of any kind although his exquisitely times pauses make us wonder sometimes."
The Jonsons are releasing their single "Jon Stewart is God," on iTunes in September. Here are some sample lyrics:
Jon Stewart is God No minor deity Jon Stewart is God More than you and me Before Buddha and Allah Cast their cosmic dice They seek Jon's advice
Thanks to the internet, the Jonsons have a way to proselytize and convert the masses. They even manage to get in a dig at TV pundit Tucker Carlson, whom Jon famously insulted on CNN's now-cancelled show Crossfire. According to the Jonsons, "The extent of sin is so great that its effects continue to this very day in the form of cruelty, sickness, suffering, death, taxes, bad movies, fast food, and politcal pundits who wear bow ties."
Whether it's a gang of true believers or just an elaborate joke is yet to be determined. What's for sure, though, is that their song is pretty catchy. (Click here to listen to it.)
Last week, Donna blogged on Stephen Colbert's interview of Bill Donahue, leader of the Catholic League. It's now up on youtube.com, so you can judge for yourself:
Donna Freitas has a Ph.D. in spirituality and is the author of "Becoming A Goddess Of Inner Poise: Spirituality for The Bridget Jones in All of Us."
Douglas Howe is an ordained minister, executive coach, author, and retreat leader.
Paul O'Donnell is the former Culture editor at Beliefnet.
Kris Rasmussen, the author of "WonkaMania," has been a contributing editor to the Christian music magazine CCM and a feature writer for Relevant magazine.
Plus, a number of Beliefnet editors will also be posting to Idol Chatter as the mood strikes.
While not necessarily a huge fan of his music, I have been reading with great interest the different interpretations that publications like Rolling Stone and the New York Times have been giving the "Modern Times", the new CD by iconic blues-rocker Bob Dylan, which dropped in stores this week. It seems no one can miss the dark apocalyptic tone of "Times" and the way it marks a return by Dylan to overtly spiritual musings about the meaning of life. But while God does make an appearance in a few of the songs, anyone looking for an answer to the years of speculation over Dylan's much publicized conversion to Christianity in the late 1970s--and the subsequent debate as to whether he has held to that faith, returned to his Jewish roots, or abandoned all of the above--will not find the answer here.
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Indie film star Catherine Keener--known for her 
How Jewish is Jackie Mason? "As a matzo ball," says the comedian. "Or kosher salami." So Jewish, that when Jews for Jesus published a pamphlet suggesting that Mason had accepted Jesus, he let loose with 
"Blacks to the right. Whites--you go over there. Asians, step to the left. Latinos, stay where you are. Remember to stay within your groups. We're going to drop you off in the middle of nowhere, with limited supplies, and want you to fight for your lives."
Has all of the couch jumping and Suri speculation finally caught up with Tom Cruise? 
Tragedy awakens the need for something to grasp, something sturdy, reliable, and familiar. We saw this need after 9/11, with congregations growing within churches and other places of worship. We see this in times of war, especially in soldiers'--and their families'--reliance on prayer. Similarly, the second half of Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina documentary, "
Like any good Jew, 
I'm not sure the mainstream music industry has ever given Canadian folk-rocker 
Last week marked the introduction of a new character on "Sesame Street": 
At this late point in summer, the controversy about the crucifixion scene in 
Just about everyone--including both the Catholic Church and Church of England--has called Madonna's move "offensive," in much the same way Christian leaders have responded to past attempts to put a woman in Jesus' place. Perhaps most famous of all these attempts--prior to Madonna's, at least--is 
There are comics strips about babies, romance, the Army, sports, teenager, knights, Vikings and car mechanics. Ready for charitable Christians? 
"Sure he may have walked through the Great Wall of China, wooed Claudia Schiffer, and used his superpowers to thwart would-be robbers, but those were mere parlor tricks," writes 
For Catholics, yesterday was the feast of the 
Simply put, Will Ferrell is a funny man. And "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is just what we need right now, among all of the extremely-not-funny things going on in the world.
Bono, the 
All Hollywood wants for Christmas is another "Passion"-sized blockbuster, without the Mel-sized controversy. This year's hopes are placed on a chronology of Christ's birth and toddlerhood titled "
While I almost always agree with what fellow blogger Tim Hayne has to say--and I appreciate that he seems to be a fellow enthusiast of slightly darker, indie films--I found myself 
What happened on September 11th, 2001, didn’t just leave its mark on the New York City skyline, it scarred a nation. Everyone has a story. We all remember where we were the moment we learned the twin towers had come down, some even watched the buildings fall, and a select few recall mustering the courage to go in and attempt to rescue those still trapped in the concrete and steel. If anyone deserves to have their story told, it’s the brave men and women who put their lives on the line that fateful day.
As TNT's "
Though Woody Allen's last movie, "
A new reality show debuting this fall on the LOGO network has given "niche marketing" a whole new meaning. "
Religion has found a hero in Hollywood. Actor Patrick Swayze, best known for bumping and grinding his way into our hearts in the 1987 hit film "Dirty Dancing" and for that killer pottery-making scene in "Ghost" (1990), has come out in defense of religion.
Slated for a young girl's 15th birthday, a Mexican Quinceanera celebrates virginity and coming-of-age with the extravagance of the ritziest bat mitzvah. In Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's appropriately titled film (that would be "
In the immortal words of Alice Cooper, "School's out for Summer." But Cooper, the heavy metal maestro, is making sure that the kids of southwest Phoenix will still have a safe place to go once school doors are closed. 
