I have a confession to make. I watched the Grammys last night. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I’ve seen the Grammys, but I decided this year to break my long streak of paying no attention to them at all. As I watched last night, I remembered why it was that I haven’t given heed to these awards. As a cultural moment, the Grammys are supremely and exquisitely vacuous. In fact, I would say that they are quite depressing. As far as the decline of civilizations is concerned, the Grammys are right up there with gladiatorial games and barbarian invasions.
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Forgiveness
This is a great clip from an old episode of “ER.” It shows the impotency of postmodern/liberal gobbledygook theology. Best line: “I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell!… I need answers! And all your questions and uncertainty are making things worse!” (HT: Trevin Wax)
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American Idol
This story appeared in my feed reader from The Today Show website. Sad story. Stand-up guy. Watch it.
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An MTV Abortion
Last week I saw a news story about the MTV program “16 and Pregnant,” which was set to air an episode featuring a young mother who chose to have an abortion. The mother’s name is Markai Durham, and she already had one child when she became pregnant a second time. She and the father decided that they didn’t have the resources to raise a second child, and that is why they chose to end the life growing inside her. The story of her first pregnancy and birth was the subject of an episode last November (full episode here). The story of her decision to abort her second child aired last…
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Charlie Brown on Tonight
Tonight’s the night! The classic animated Halloween PEANUTS special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” is on tonight, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
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The Original McFly
“Back to the Future” is an iconic 80’s film. It launched Michael J. Fox’s movie career, which only went downhill after this first movie. “Back to the Future” was the most successful movie he ever made.
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Voice of Rudolf Passes Away
Her name was Billie Mae Richards, and her 1964 performance as the voice of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been a Christmas tradition for millions for nearly 50 years. She died today at her home near Toronto, Canada. She was 88 years old. Read the report here. RIP.
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New Ken Burns Documentary on Baseball
I just heard that Ken Burns has a new documentary on baseball that will be airing on PBS later this month. According to PBS’s website, it’s a two-part, four-hour documentary titled “The Tenth Inning,” and it comprises a new chapter in Burns’s Emmy-winning 1994 series titled “Baseball.” This latest chapter tells “the tumultuous story of the national pastime from the 1990s to the present day. Introducing an unforgettable array of players, teams and fans, the film showcases the era’s extraordinary accomplishments and heroics – as well as its devastating losses and disappointments.” There’s a trailer that you can view on PBS’s website. It’s set to air September 28 & 29…
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Hollywood vs. the Heartland
Robert Duvall recently sat for an interview with Christianity Today. I found this exchange to be pretty interesting: CT: Why do you think Hollywood has a tendency to mock Christians and preachers? Duvall: Well, it’s not just Christians. I mean, I’m a Christian. But they mock the interior of the United States of America, the heartland. They don’t go out of their way to understand what’s really there. I think his analysis is remarkable. It’s the “heartland” that Hollywood likes to lampoon, not just heartland religion. He sees the real divide to be a cultural one, not a merely a religious one. This observation is correct so far as it…
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Culture War at the Movies
Christopher Benson notes at the First Things blog that the culture wars have entered the American cinema. Below are four trailers of new movies covering the topics of same-sex “marriage,” Darwinism, and evangelical scandal. Besides being expressions of the current culture war, there is something else that these movies have in common. It appears that all of them come down on the side of the secular left on each of these issues. This is not surprising for Hollywood, but it is nevertheless a sign of the times (1 Chronicles 12:32).