Books and Films
« Previous EntriesThe Greatest Generation
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Tom Brokaw’s 1998 best-seller, The Greatest Generation, looked back to the generation of Americans who came through World War II victoriously. The past few weeks I’ve been reading E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (1980, Presidio Press), a first-person narrative of two WWII […]
The End Is Near… Again
Monday, October 5th, 2009Another disaster movie is scheduled for release — of all times, right around Thanksgiving. 2012 offers up scenes of worldwide destruction tied to some cataclysm apparently predicted by the Mayans centuries ago. I guess the Thanksgiving season release makes […]
‘ABC,’ Kung Fu, Charlie’s Angels and The Tonight Show
Friday, June 26th, 2009Obits hit the headlines constantly, some making a bigger splash than others. But the recent loss of David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson feel linked, and their combined weight transcends whatever individual ripples they create in the international media pool.
It’s almost as if 1970s television has died too. Jackson’s shrill rendition of […]
Tales From the Judges’ Crypt
Thursday, February 26th, 2009In the early 1950s, few comic books offered more thrills than Tales From the Crypt. The series’ horror stories eventually came under attack from parents, clergy, schoolteachers and others concerned for children’s spiritual and emotional welfare. Congressional subcommittee hearings in 1954 led to the establishment of a national Comics Code. The original Crypt issues are […]
The ‘Alan Smithee’ Option
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009From 1969 to 2000, if you were a Hollywood director who believed the creative control of your film had been wrested from your creative little hands, you could beg the Directors Guild of America to replace your name with a pseudonym. If the guild agreed, “Alan Smithee” was the allowed name.
“Smithee” was first applied to […]
Long in the Tooth
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Perhaps you’ve heard the old expression for old age. “Long in the tooth” generally means old or worn out. The saying probably connects with our gums’ tendency to recede from our teeth and make them appear longer in our later years. Teeth, however, are actually ground down and get shorter with advanced age. Maybe the […]
What If?
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008Cary Grant as James Bond? Sean Connery as Gandalf?
Ransom Riggs, writing for CNN.com’s “mental_floss” segment, has listed five major film roles that were turned down by another well-known actor than the one who made the role world famous. Film aficionados can play the what-if game with any number of titles in Hollywood history and postulate […]
Chomp!
Friday, June 20th, 2008On this day in 1975, Universal Studios released Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film Jaws. Summer swimming hasn’t been the same since.
I was only 10, and our family didn’t go to movies, so I didn’t see Jaws until years later on VHS. But even at that later date and with a somewhat jaded perspective on all things […]
Unlikely Theologian
Friday, April 25th, 2008Paul Verhoeven has made news with his pronouncement regarding the birth of Jesus Christ. The Dutch film director of such seminarian titles as Basic Instinct and RoboCop assures the world’s Christians that the Virgin Birth is a hoax. According to Verhoeven, Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s tragic rape by a Roman soldier.
An Amsterdam publishing […]
“The wind blows wherever it pleases …”
Friday, April 11th, 2008Ubiquitous John 3:16. Max Lucado has written about it in his latest best-seller, calling it the “Hope Diamond” of the Bible. During professional sports broadcasts the reference jumps out with highlighter intensity from handmade signs creeping onscreen. In a day of growing biblical illiteracy, the verse remains readily quotable.
Almost reflexively, the words pop in my […]
