Kris Rasmussen: October 2008 Archives

Joel McHale over at "The Soup" has been skewering the alleged romantic relationship between tween queen Miley Cyrus and 20-year-old model Jason Gaston for weeks now. Pictures have surfaced of the two together almost everywhere in Los Angeles from fashion shows to shopping malls. Last week, Miley finally talked about Gaston with Ryan Seacrest and told listeners not to be so judgmental about the relationship because he is a "great Christian guy."

I have long said that it is always a good idea here at Idol Chatter to have a favorite celebrity atheist. Mine used to be Kathy Griffin, but after reading an article over at Image Magazine, I'm thinking about making Ricky Gervais my new favorite--though writer A.G. Harmon has already beaten me to it.

Hot on the heels of blog buzz about a church that is doing a sermon series called "The Gospel According to the Office," an article Gervais wrote quite some time ago about his conversion from Christianity to atheism, has been receiving some newfound attention.

In the article, Gevais pinpoints the exact day that he went from a Jesus-loving boy to a die-hard atheist. He says his loss of faith had something to do with his older brother's ridicule and his mother's lack of an adequate response to his brother's comments. Since that fateful day, Gervais claims he has never looked back and has only embraced truth, science, and beauty.

It seems like almost every successful musical artist-- Christian or not--feels an obligation to record Christmas music at some point and I often wonder why. I mean, how many different ways can you remake "Silent Night," right? But then I come across a Christmas CD like Casting Crowns new release "Peace on Earth" and my "Bah, humbug" spirit goes away. It has some truly fresh covers of Christmas classics as well as some new worship songs that just might become the Christmas classics of the future.

The indie film "The Visitor" has already received high praise from fellow Idol Chatter bloggers this year, but it was difficult to find in theaters. Fortunately, this gentle story of a recently widowed professor who befriends a young Syrian man is now out on DVD. It is arguably one of the best character dramas of the year, and is my pick for the week.

Sure, it's a little ridiculous that Christmas decorations are up at K-Mart already, but they aren't the only ones jumping the gun on the Christmas season. The last two weeks have seen more than one popular Christian music group release a Christmas CD. And, I just can't help myself, I have been listening to all of them this week. But at least iI have good news to report because Christian music fans are in for a real treat.

If a classic Christmas sound is what you are looking for, you might want to check out Amy Grant's "Christmas Collection." It is a compilation of some of the more popular songs off of her other Christmas recordings, but it also has some new tunes, including one I really like "I Need a Silent Night."

It would be a Herculean task to try to encompass the entire career of the world's most famous evangelist, Billy Graham, so when producers as well as director Robby Benson (yes, "Ice Castles" Robby Benson) decided to do a biopic,...

In an upcoming interview with actor Armie Hammer--the young man who portrays evangelist Billy Graham in the upcoming movie "Billy Graham: The Early Years"--he mentioned to me that his favorite bit of research for the film came from an interview...

I said earlier this week that I would recommend my favorite Paul Newman movie as my DVD Pick of the Week in remembrance of the great actor. "Nobody's Fool " is not only my favorite Newman movie, but it is...

It made me sad all over again for what our culture has lost when I watched David Letterman's classy, heartfelt tribute to the late Paul Newman. So many Idol Chatter readers have expressed their sadness over his death and appreciation...

Actor Greg Kinnear has had pretty good luck playing the "every man" on screen--you know, those Jimmy Stewart kind of roles where an average American attempts to do the heroic or the impossible when no one believes he can. His...

Though based on some of the responses I have received about my last post on "Religulous", it might be hard for Idol Chatter readers to believe I kept an open mind when I attended a screening of the film last...