Awards make me uncomfortable.
The Oscars take place this Sunday, and I can’t think of a more brazen example of self-glorification in contemporary America. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the Academy Awards, and maybe if I ever won something like an Oscar or a Pulitzer Prize or a Nobel I’d feel differently about this [...]

The recovery community has a saying, “expectations are preconceived resentments”. The angrier or safer people feel the freer they become to share their resentments and many of these resentments are against God. Usually these resentments are based upon some history of hurt. God’s providential governance of the universe appears overly haphazard and risky and we [...]

Last week, I watched every episode of Conan O’Brien’s The Tonight Show, all of David Letterman’s monologues, two full episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and various viral bits from other shows. But the thing is: I never watch late night talk shows except for bits I find online. So why did I watch? [...]

The Vatican doesn’t think much of Avatar. And frankly neither do I.
When the film opened in Italy, the Vatican offered a review.  A Philadelphia Daily News columnist covering the release wrote:
The Vatican newspaper and radio station are criticizing James Cameron’s billion-dollar 3-D blockbuster for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion [...]

“Avatar” may take place on a far-off, fictional moon, but the science-fiction blockbuster has some real-world implications for those of us who use avatars in our everyday lives. Especially, in a way, if we’re Christians.
An avatar is a high-tech alter ego. In the movie, a former Marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is sent to [...]

Buddy Christ, the unforgettable icon from the very forgettable movie Dogma, was a welcome spoof of the troubling lengths Christians go to try to make Jesus chummy and non-threatening. I just saw these figurines in the mall and was tempted to buy one. I can think of a few pastors and colleagues who would get [...]

A friend of mine is a chaplain for a NFL team. He and his wife spend time with players and their families. He prays with them, mentors them, encourages, challenges, and teaches them.
He’s not mentioned in Time Magazine’s recent write-up on NFL chaplains, but the roles sound similar.
The Time magazine piece seems to emphasize the [...]

The Good Wife, a new weekly drama on CBS, reacts to the one question everybody asks whenever there’s a press conference for a politician disgraced by a sex scandal, and his wife stands supportively next to him: what’s she doing there? Why isn’t she following Carrie Underwood’s advice and taking a Louisville Slugger to his [...]

What to make of Letterman? I find myself conflicted.
On his Late Show program Thursday night, David Letterman relayed the true story of a blackmail attempt against  him for $2 Million, starting about three weeks ago. Letterman’s response was both to have the extortioner arrested and, presumably to pull the teeth out of any future threats, [...]

On Wednesday nights I open up TiVo and exclaim with relief, “Oh good, it’s ‘Wipeout’ night!” ‘Wipeout’ relies on the least complex reality TV premise I know of: people fall off jumbo toys and go splash in the water. The obstacles on this freak obstacle course range from the benign (the Big Balls) to the [...]