November 14, 2007 Archives

The film "Amazing Grace"--which was released on DVD yesterday--tells the story of William Wilberforce, who led the successful effort to abolish slavery in 18th-century Britain. He was inspired by a former slave trader who wrote the widely known hymn.

To celebrate the release of the film, Beliefnet is giving away 10 copies of the DVD.

There are two ways for you to enter:

1) Post a comment below by November 27th telling us what the hymn "Amazing Grace" means to you. Make sure you include your email address in the designated area (it won't be made public).

2) Or, show us what the song means to you by uplaoding your own version of "Amazing Grace." To do this, visit the Beliefnet Community site and click "Upload Audio" to add your own audio file of the song (also, by November 27th). Please note, you must log in with your Beliefnet user name and password first. If you do not currently have one, you may register for free.

The five most original written responses and five most original audio versions--based on the judgment of the Idol Chatter editors--will win a copy of the DVD.

To listen to cool renditions of the classic him by popular artists, click here.

For the legal issues, click here.

This post is from playwright and screenwriter Keith Bunin, author of the plays "The Busy World is Hushed" and "The Credeaux Canvas."

For the past week I’ve been on strike for the first time in my life. I’m a writer, so I usually spend all of my time all alone in my apartment in Brooklyn, hunched over my computer. But these days I get up in the morning and take a subway into Manhattan so I can stand on a picket line in the chilly November weather.

I hate that I’m on strike for a lot of reasons. First of all, writing isn’t just a job for me—it’s a huge part of my identity. The truth is, I’d write every day whether or not I got paid for it. I feel deeply fortunate that I’ve been able to support myself doing something I love. In that light, it’s hard to summon the necessary righteous ingratitude. As a general principle, however, I do believe that the writer of any creative work should receive a fair percentage of the profits from it. I'm better at advocating for my fellow writers than I am for myself.

If you love “The Office”, hate preachy teacher movies like “Dangerous Minds”, or you just need a holiday gift suggestion for your kid’s teacher this year, I have the perfect DVD for you. “Chalk’ ( I am guessing the title “Dry Erase Marker” didn’t test as well with the marketing department) is a hilarious, spot-on fictional account of a group of teachers, most of them rookies, at an Austin high school. Granted, I am sure I found this movie especially entertaining because I am one tired, frustrated educator who is currently counting the nano-seconds until Thanksgiving Break, but this indie gem (not surprisingly, written by a former teacher), is a timeless satire that champions a segment of the working class in a way that anyone who has ever been in a classroom can appreciate in one way or another.

Save Christmas from the Shopocalypse! That's the mission of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir--ending the consumerism and over-consumption they see as rampant in our holiday season. Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, of "Supersize Me" fame, tells their story in his new documentary "What Would Jesus Buy?". Watch an exclusive clip here:

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