Anybody Want to Answer My Email Today?
Here's today's email...
I post this simply because a few people have asked me recently if there are still Christians out there who hold onto this condemning reaction to art and culture. They seemed certain that if there are such people, there are only a few isolated folks out there who think this way, and I should just ignore them.
But I am convinced that there is still a vast community out there who write off movies (and other forms of art as well) as "a lost cause" ... as so corrupt and evil that "true believers" will have nothing to do with them.
If we just ignore this unnervingly common perspective , or hope it wil go away, very little will change. In fact, when I do interviews on the radio about movies, I often get questions from listeners who seem genuinely bewildered about why a Christian would ever bother to set foot in a movie theater at all.Read more
Adam Walter on "Inland Empire"
My friend Adam Walter shares my enthusiasm for David Lynch's Twin Peaks and for several of his films. Nobody's been more excited than me about the new boxed set of Twin Peaks DVDs... except Adam.
Adam and I both had the privilege of attending a special screening of Inland Empire at the Cinerama a few months back, with Lynch in attendance. It was great to see Lynch and witness his fascinating Q&A session afterward. But the film left me rather boggled, not to mention exhausted.
Adam, however, sat through the film again and went on to write a rather ambitious examination for those who would like to understand it better.
That thoughtful examination has just been published at Metaphilm.
Save "J"
There's a new comedy opening this month, one that's received a lot of praise at film festivals.
And I'm very concerned about what is going to happen when it opens.
Since I don't want to distract people who will see the movie and mess up their experience of it, let's just call it "J" for now.
J's storyline involved a controversial ethical decision, just as Million Dollar Baby's story involved a different controversial decision.
Already, conservative and Christian media personalities and film critics are celebrating J because of a particular twist in the story. The buzz has begun, the rejoicing that the film may prove very "useful" in advancing a particular "cause."
And thus, it's almost certain that there will be backlash against J in the mainstream press. The questions are only these:
The DaVinci Coda? Does "The Last Supper" Have a Soundtrack?
There's a fascinating story at CNN today about the apparent inclusion of musical notes in Da Vinci's "The Last Supper".
Pala stressed that his discovery does not reveal any supposed dark secrets of the Catholic Church or of Leonardo, but instead shows the artist in a light far removed from the conspiratorial descriptions found in fiction.
"A new figure emerges -- he wasn't a heretic like some believe," Pala said. "What emerges is a man who believes, a man who really believes in God."
My Thoughts on "The Golden Compass"
I've been doing a lot of radio interviews about Auralia's Colors, and questions about Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass keep coming up.
I've been planning a sort of once-and-for-all blog post about the controversy, but for now you'll find a few of my responses to these questions posted here. (The transcript has several errors in it, but I can't do anything about that. Still, you'll get the basic idea of my response. And where it seems I've "quoted" the book, that's only a spur-of-the-moment paraphrase, not a direct quote.)
Questions on a Novel Journey
Novel Journey's Ane Mulligan just posted her conversation with me about Auralia's Colors. These are the questions she asked:
- Time to crow: What new book or project do you have coming out?
- How did you come up with this story? Was there a specific 'what if' moment?
- You write movie reviews for Christianity Today. How did you get into that?
- Every novelist has a journey. You say on your blog you dreamed about your first novel since you were five. That's a long road to publication. Tell us about it. How did you find out and what went through your mind?
- Do you ever bang your head against the wall from the dreaded writer's block? If so, how do you overcome it?
- Novelists sometimes dig themselves into a hole over implausible plots, flat characters or a host of other problems. What's the most difficult part of writing for you?
- How did you climb out or overcome it?
- Where do you write: In a cave, a coffeehouse, or a cozy attic nook?
- What does a typical day look like for you?
- Some authors report writing 5-10 thousand words a day. Do scenes flow freely from your veins or do you have to tweeze each word out?
- Briefly take us through your process of writing a novel... from conception to revision.
- What are a few of your favorite books (not written by you) and why are they favorites?
- What's the best writing advice you've heard?
- What do you wish you'd known early in your career that might have saved you some time and/or frustration in writing? In publishing?
- How much marketing do you do? What have you found that particularly works well for you?
- Do you have any parting words of advice?
"There Will Be Blood" ... It Will Be Frightening
Rabble-rousing film blogger Jeffrey Wells has unleashed a monster of a response to Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood.Read more
A Christmas Album from Don Peris
 
Last year's Christmas was aglow with new music from Over the Rhine (Snow Angels).
This year's Christmas will glimmer with the enchanting guitar stylings of The Innocence Mission's Don Peris.
And the proceeds go to bring shelter to those in need.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (2007)
If you haven't heard Raising Sand, you're in for a treat.
Who would have thought that we'd ever see the collaboration by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss? Who was bold enough to dream they'd perform songs by Tom Waits and Sam Phillips (the two finest tracks on the album)?
Even better, they're joined by guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Jay Bellerose.
And the wizard behind the curtain is T-Bone Burnett, who keeps things turned down to a simmer. He holds the reins on these inspired performers so tightly that it makes the albums he produced for Gillian Welch sound positively reckless and indulgent.
But restraint is a good thing, in this case, and the harmonies that Plant and Krauss discover are like a dream.
Seems like every year produces some unlikely gem, something you just have to hear to believe. Last year, it was Seu Jorge singing David Bowie in Portuguese. This year, it's Raising Sand. Don't miss it.
Want to know more? Thom Jurek's ears are as sharp as ever, and his review is up at AllMusic.
Steven Greydanus's Turbulent Mailbox
My friend and colleague Steven Greydanus also happens to be one of my favorite film critics. And like the interesting "Christian hate mail" I describe in my book Through a Screen Darkly, Greydanus gets plenty of amazing (and disgusting) mail in his mailbox too.
You can check out his latest batch of questions-and-answers here.Read more