Celebrity
The Jilted Lover Rejoices! Lebron Goes Home
Celebrity / Forgiveness / Grace in Practice / Relationships / Sports

The Jilted Lover Rejoices! Lebron Goes Home

by Howie Espenshied on Jul 15, 2014 • No Comments

The biggest professional sports play in their history is notoriously referred to as “The Fumble”. Their NFL owner literally packed up their beloved team and moved them to Baltimore in the middle of the night. Their NFL team has been in existence for 68 years and has never sniffed a Super Bowl, let alone won one. Their MLB team hasn’t won a World Series title since the ’40s. Their NBA team has been around since 1970, zero championships. Futility, thy name is Cleveland.

That’s not to say that the city hasn’t had it’s sports moments.  The Indians have found their way back…

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New Music: Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence
Celebrity / Identity / Music / Relationships / Religion / Reviews / Suffering

New Music: Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence

by Blake I. Collier on Jul 1, 2014 • No Comments

Matthew Linder (who gave Mbird a delightful treatise on Willy Wonka) and I, for well over a week and counting, have been infatuated with the newest Lana Del Rey album, and conversations over Facebook and email ensued. Below are some of the highlights of our discussion of what we both consider a tremendously beautiful and heart-wrenching album.

 

Blake:

So from the first listen, I felt an aural tie to the gothic americana genre, but without the usual folk/bluegrass instrumentation. Gothic americana is notorious for using religious allusion and imagery for often non-religious reasons. It is all tied into this idea of Flannery…

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The Selfie on the Mount
Art / Celebrity / Fashion / Music / Technology / Theology/Religion

The Selfie on the Mount

by Michael Sansbury on Jun 19, 2014 • 2 Comments

Instagram enhances Facebook’s most essential quality.

Facebook allows you to keep in touch with old “friends,” but keeping in touch means subjecting yourself to climate-change rants from that girl who failed biology in high school, college football highlight videos from that guy who never went to college, and (if you’re friends with me) shameless plugging of Mockingbird blog posts. But we subject ourselves to this cacophony for one reason and one reason only: So we can see their pictures.

Their pictures allow us to establish our place in the hierarchy. Her kids are cuter than mine, but mine are way cuter than his….

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Mike Powell and Rap’s Bored Hedonism
Celebrity / Money / Music / Radio

Mike Powell and Rap’s Bored Hedonism

by Joey Shook on Jun 17, 2014 • 3 Comments

How do I love Mike Powell? Let me count the ways… He’s been churning out some of the most honest and thoughtful commentary on music that I’ve read in years, all with a refreshing candor and without a trace of heavy-handedness. I mentioned his work before in my Poptimism article, but his writing is very much worth seeking out at Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, or Spin for any fan of music or music writing. Not only is he a great music writer in the traditional sense, but Powell also exhibits a uniquely confessional and personal style of writing (especially in his…

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The Drunken Downfall (and Death) of Thomas Kinkade
Addiction / America / Art / Celebrity / Identity / Suffering

The Drunken Downfall (and Death) of Thomas Kinkade

by Matt Schneider on Jun 10, 2014 • 16 Comments

To be honest, I didn’t even know Thomas Kinkade was dead. That was until I read this fascinating piece on Kinkade, America’s favorite sentimental “Painter of Light,” from The Daily Beast by Zac Bissonnette: “The Drunken Downfall of Evangelical America’s Favorite Painter.” I also had no idea Kinkade was (a) an Evangelical Christian and (b) an alcoholic. The story is at once alarming, yet not surprising, and ultimately really sad. Thus, I can’t help but explore it here.

(Before I move on, I should preface this essay by noting that Kinkade died on Good Friday two years ago, so I was probably distracted…

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The Freedom to Fail Before a Benevolent King…or “Prince”
Celebrity / Grace in Practice / Relationships / Sports / Theology/Religion

The Freedom to Fail Before a Benevolent King…or “Prince”

by Howie Espenshied on Jun 6, 2014 • No Comments

Yes, that’s Prince holding a scepter while watching Rafael Nadal play at the French Open this past weekend. Larry David rocked a cape in a Seinfeld episode, but it didn’t catch on. I’m not holding out hope for the scepter as a fashion accessory fad, but I’m kind of rooting for it. Best line in the USA Today article? – “Meanwhile, the folks at Prince, the tennis equipment company, looked at Prince watching tennis and couldn’t believe they never made this connection before.” Nadal seemed to respond well to the presence of “royalty”, making quick work of his opponent in…

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Unexpected, Strange and Courageous: Cat Stevens Escapes the Mousehole
Celebrity / Grace in Practice / Music / Religion

Unexpected, Strange and Courageous: Cat Stevens Escapes the Mousehole

by David Zahl on Jun 5, 2014 • 6 Comments

I happened to catch a few minutes of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony when it aired on HBO the other night. Awards ceremonies usually make for great channel surfing interruptions (if awful destinations) and this one was no exception. KISS was giving their acceptance speech when I tuned in: Peter Criss gave thanks for his remission from male breast cancer (say what?), a self-congratulatory Ace Frehley struggled to read his notes through enormous rose-tinted glasses, and then Paul Stanley lambasted the board of the Hall of Fame for not allowing more people to vote. I must…

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Grace…for Donald Sterling?
Celebrity / Grace in Practice / Law / Sports

Grace…for Donald Sterling?

by Howie Espenshied on May 22, 2014 • 2 Comments

If I step on and smash an acorn, have I killed an oak tree? If I answer yes, I’m implying that the acorn has the full capacity and possesses all of the attributes necessary to one day become an oak tree. In its present form, it would be correct to say that the acorn is in a latent (not fully realized) capacity status. The human heart also has (admittedly metaphysical) latent capacities – capacities for both God-shaped goodness and unspeakable evil. Usually, much of this unrealized potential stays unrealized. Few of us act on every good or evil impulse. However,…

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Did Michael Jackson Xscape from His Own Face?
Celebrity / Identity / Law / Music / Reviews

Did Michael Jackson Xscape from His Own Face?

by David Zahl on May 15, 2014 • 4 Comments

Sooner or later anyone interested in the subject of identity is going to have to reckon with Michael Jackson. You just can’t get around him, especially not this week, which brought the release of his second posthumous record, Xscape. No one has delved more deeply or compassionately into the questions of identity posed by the King of Pop than journalist Margo Jefferson. In her penetrating treatise On Michael Jackson (written while MJ was still alive), she confronts the, er, white elephant that dogs every tribute to the Gloved One:

In the past two decades we’ve watched Michael Jackson morph from a…

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Grace for the Party Monster? Michael Alig and the Law of Club Celebrity
Celebrity / Forgiveness / Grace in Practice / Law / News / Psychology

Grace for the Party Monster? Michael Alig and the Law of Club Celebrity

by Mockingbird on May 8, 2014 • No Comments

This one comes to us from Josh Encinias

I jokingly suggested on Monday that Papermag should’ve titled their article about Michael “Party Monster” Alig: “Alig Don’t Wanna Be a Freak (But He Can’t Help Himself)” (Dynasty), but as I read through the story, I realized that Alig was released from prison this week into a community that’s simultaneously expecting the best and worst from him, because of his high-profile background. But can it be any other way? He’s a criminal with a twisted history. People are unsure what direction his life will take, but I know there’s an answer…

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Andy Bernard to Give Graduation Speech at Cornell University … Ever Heard of It?
Celebrity / Education / Humor / TV

Andy Bernard to Give Graduation Speech at Cornell University … Ever Heard of It?

by Matt Schneider on Apr 22, 2014 • No Comments

It has been a Mockingbird tradition to highlight worthy graduation speeches amidst the vast sea of snoozers. As the spring commencement season approaches, I want to point out that Ed Helms, the actor who played Andy Bernard on The Office, will be giving a speech at Cornell University’s graduation on May 24. This is noteworthy because Andy Bernard, the sycophantic airhead with anger-management issues, always brags about how he went to Cornell (’93). “Ever heard of it?”

Helm’s upcoming speech is bound to go at least semi-viral just by his showing up at Cornell. But it’s even more likely to go viral…

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Alone with Oprah: Lindsay Lohan and Public Recidivism
Addiction / Celebrity / Film

Alone with Oprah: Lindsay Lohan and Public Recidivism

by Sarah Condon on Apr 16, 2014 • 1 Comment

I can’t explain why I started watching Oprah Winfrey’s network documentary series about Lindsay Lohan, simply called “Lindsay.” We lived in Manhattan when her infamous Marilyn Monroe-esque photos were published by New York Magazine. There was something about Lindsay juxtaposing herself with such a tragic and talented figure that made her surprisingly interesting. But honestly, the subsequent jail time, trips to drug rehab, and tabloid partying lifestyle made me sort of numb to caring. And then Oprah decided to make her life a pet project. And I was compelled to tune in.

The series begins on a note of hopeful promise….

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Ron Lester Has the (Varsity) Blues
Celebrity / Film / Identity / Religion

Ron Lester Has the (Varsity) Blues

by Michael Sansbury on Apr 14, 2014 • 5 Comments

Palm Sunday is an annual reminder that what goes up must come down. As if we needed reminding.

Remember Varsity Blues? Honestly, I don’t. I never saw the movie. But it was a huge success at the box office, and, as a Friday Night Lights knockoff, it really couldn’t miss, especially since it starred Paul Walker, James van der Beek, Ali Larter, and Scott Caan. The most unforgettable performance, though, (I’m told) came from one Ron Lester, who played the enormous offensive tackle, Billy Bob.

At the time Varsity Blues was filmed, Lester weighed close to 500 pounds, which, combined with his…

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Another Week Ends: Normcore, Eterni.me, Colbert’s Late Show Prospects, Post-Grad Advice, and “I Love You, Buts”
America / Celebrity / Children / Church / Fashion / Humor / Identity / Money / Religion / Technology / Theology / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Normcore, Eterni.me, Colbert’s Late Show Prospects, Post-Grad Advice, and “I Love You, Buts”

by Ethan Richardson on Apr 11, 2014 • 2 Comments

Real quick before we get going: Conference recordings should be up early next week! Videos will roll out gradually after that. Also, we’ve pulled Eden and Afterward to make some final changes. Look for a release announcement in the next ten days.

1) Even getting out of the game is part of the game, now. In fact, it is the game de rigueur. If you thought you weren’t in a fashion trend, if you didn’t know a group existed for people who were actually dressed just like most people, now there is, and you are, and it is the innest…

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Celebrity / Music / Religion

Bono Talks Jesus on The Meaning of Life

by Matt Schneider on Apr 7, 2014 • 4 Comments

This is a clip from a longer interview on The Meaning of Life with Gay Byrne, an Irish program on RTÉ Television (ht, AP). Much of what Bono says here overlaps portions of the book Bono: In Conversation With Michka Assayas that we’ve highlighted in the past. Bono seems to be in something of a league of his own as such a huge rockstar who is so open with his (solid) Christian faith, and he is articulate about it to boot. Watch the whole interview here.

By the way, did you happen to catch the amazing/dizzying U2 performance of “Invisible” on the roof of 30 Rock on the premier episode of The Tonight Show Staring Jimmy Fallon? Their acoustic set of “Ordinary Love” was pretty mesmerizing, too. Some worthy lyrics here:

‘Cause we can’t fall any further
If we can’t feel ordinary love
And we cannot reach any higher
If we can’t deal with ordinary love

Are we tough enough
For ordinary love