Too busy to post much today. Heck, I’m so busy I had to skip a free sneak-preview of U23D last night, the innovative (and reportedly mind-blowing) new three-dimensionsal U2-in-IMAX concert movie. And if you know me, you know how much that hurt!
But the deadline for Cyndere’s Midnight looms like the Cloverfield monster on my horizon, and I can’t spare an hour for anything.
So here are just a few links, starting with… well…
Cloverfield, Cloverfield, Cloverfield
Since I probably won’t be seeing Cloverfield (or anything) anytime soon due to writing deadlines, I’ll just link to GreenCine Daily’s coverage of the movie with hype as big as its own super-monster.
But I can tell you this without seeing the movie: No monster in 2008 will be as big and destructive as…
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Morefield on Christians on the Big Screen
Commenting on yesterday’s entry about “positive portrayals” of Christianity on the big screen, my friend and colleague Ken Morefield gets inspired and blogs a strong opinion on the subject. Thanks, Ken!
Among his sharp observations, I see that I’m not the only one to suggest that perhaps the “negative caricatures” of Christians we see on the big screen may occasionally have something to do with the fact that Christians often do behave publicly in despicable ways.
(It’s nice to have someone else suggest this for a change, because when I suggest that portrayals of raging, judgmental Christians aren’t so unrealistic, I watch my email box fill up with messages that inform me about the terrible things that await me in hell. Oh, the irony.)
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It’s Zoolander Meets Paradise Now
It’s time for another edition of “Lame or Brilliant?”
Here comes You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.
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The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of “Fight Club”
Two terms that should never go together: “Fight Club,” and “The Musical.” But Paste reports that it may be happening anyway.
Thanks to Rebecca Wimer for the link.
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Destinations for Bookstore Tourists
Looking for a good bookstore? Here a glimpses of some of the best. But where’s Powell’s, the legendary Portland bookstore that’s so vast you’re handed a map when you walk in the door? Where’s Seattle’s Elliott Bay Bookstore? Or La Conner’s The Next Chapter? How about Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, or Village Books in Bellingham?
Thanks to Adam Milling for the link.
We saw U2 3D Tuesday night. Very, very cool. I think (and hope!) that it will spark a wave of similar non-gimmicky 3D films.
Or what about the Tattered Cover in Denver?
Why the scare quotes on “negative caricatures?” I may not pay as much attention to this as some, but isn’t the root of the problem the caricature half as much if not more than the negative half?
If someone depicts a self-identified Christian person behaving as a jerk in public, well, that’s one thing. That doesn’t bother me as much as how frequently these negative portrayals simply aren’t based in reality. The minister and his spouse in the TV show “7th Heaven” were sometimes creepy and frequently judgmental, but that’s a molehill compared to the mountain of how completely off the show runners and writers were in showing the life of the church.
If we boiled this down, I imagine most people of faith would find they’re more upset by how often mainstream entertainment gets them wrong — for good or ill — than they are by always having the religious person be the judgmental one, or the repressed serial killer or the greedy thieving manipulator.
Another bookstore article, this one in yesterday’s CNN. Just US stores this time including Elliott Bay, Powell’s and Tattered Cover.
edition.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/getaways/01/17/destination.bookstores.ap/index.html
Hey there! Was passing by your blog and you give some great blurbs on the latest.
Fight Club – the musical, sounds daring and potentially fantastic, or crazed and very strange. Either way, I’ll be eager to hear news of it in the future.
You can also check out what people are thinking about Cloverfield here on the GreenCine boards. http://www.greencine.com/board?action=viewTopic&forumID=24&topicID=3081
Sounds like people are diggin it so far.
I’m not very impressed with the trailer for “You don’t mess with Zohan” – I think you can throw a little Borat influence in the list of movies it rips from as well. Will be interesting to see how that one pans out.