Posts tagged "TV"
Doctor Who, Vincent van Gogh, and the Limits of Future Hope
Suffering / Theology / TV

Doctor Who, Vincent van Gogh, and the Limits of Future Hope

by Todd Brewer on Nov 2, 2012 • 3 Comments

With the recent wave of BBC programs appearing on PBS (Downton Abbey, The Hour, Mr. Bean) it’s somewhat surprising that the 49 year old mainstay Doctor Who hasn’t enjoyed the same popularity. With time travel, aliens, and revisiting historical events, what’s not to like? Either way, this is a major oversight.

But I digress… a quick summary of the show’s premise and plot. The Doctor is a time traveler who has made it his mission to protect Earth from the multitude of extraterrestrials who threaten humanity, both in the past and future. Helping him in this quest is his the adventurous…

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The Beautiful Ugliness of HBO: A Conference Breakout
Conferences / Identity / TV

The Beautiful Ugliness of HBO: A Conference Breakout

by WB on Sep 13, 2012 • 2 Comments

I don’t wanna just survive. It’s says in these movie writing books that every character has an arc. Understand?…Everybody starts out somewheres. And they do something, something gets done to them and it changes their life. That’s called an arc. Where’s my arc? 

-Christopher Moltisanti, The Sopranos

HBO’s wild success in premium television belies an underlying sophistication in everything from writing, to editing, to photography. Perhaps the network’s most striking accomplishment is how down-to-earth its characters and plotting tend to be, while still retaining their series’ impressively novelistic scale. HBO seems to understand how deep the human obsession with “arced” narratives of…

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Humor / Religion

God Is My Co-Pilot

by David Zahl on Mar 10, 2011 • 2 Comments
Give Up, Charlie Sheen!
Addiction / Celebrity / TV

Give Up, Charlie Sheen!

by Bryan J. on Feb 25, 2011 • 7 Comments

But alas, the exhortation to “give up” does not engender the ability, nor the desire, to “give up.”

We’ve posted bits and pieces on Charlie Sheen’s very public, very unfortunate meltdown before, but one might argue that Thursday the “bottoming out process” began. CBS has halted production on Sheen’s successful TV show, Two-and-a-Half-Men, in response to Sheen’s recent disastrous radio interview. Sheen attacked, among other things, the show’s producer, Alcoholics Anonymous, and, of course, Thomas Jefferson? As Sheen publicly tailspins, he becomes a public example of the bound will we all wrestle with day-in and day-out. Some moments…

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Church / Death / Suffering

Graham Schuyler and Churches for the Sake of Others

by David Zahl on Feb 24, 2011 • 3 Comments

The convergence of two of our favorite things: Friday Night Lights… and Graham Schuyler:

Sweet Emotion on American Idol?
Celebrity / Grace in Practice / Music / TV

Sweet Emotion on American Idol?

by David Zahl on Feb 17, 2011 • 7 Comments

Not being a huge American Idol person, or post-Rocks Aerosmith fan, everything in Jon Caramanica’s article in this past Sunday’s NY Times, “Steven Tyler Escapes From Idolatry,” was news to me. Those of you who’ve seen the episode in question can tell us whether it was indeed a lightning-striking instance of grace on TV or a carefully played media-moment (or both, as the article suggests). But there’s an unmistakeable note of Nazareth here – in regards to Mr. Tyler, that is – of folks being caught seriously off guard by his charisma/character/kindness, of their preconceptions being exposed for what they…

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Control: A Conference Primer
Conferences / Film / Law / Music / Psychology / Suffering

Control: A Conference Primer

by Ethan Richardson on Feb 15, 2011 • No Comments

“Mother, I tried, please believe meI’m doing the best I can,I’m ashamed of the things I’ve been put through,I’m ashamed of the person I am.Isolation, Isolation, Isolation.”

When Sam Riley, as Joy Division’s tragic lead singer Ian Curtis, drones out these lyrics in Corbijn’s 2007 film, Control, he’s sequestered to a recording room padded off from his bandmates. The movie audience can only hear a muffled shadow of the band’s music—it really just sounds like he’s singing by himself—and it sort of feels like he feels that way, too. In a film entitled Control, which seems to appropriately converse with the…

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News / Sports

My Mom Lied to Me

by Nick Lannon on Feb 3, 2011 • No Comments

You probably heard it when you were a kid, too: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Our moms said this so that the merciless taunts might be forgotten. Though well-meaning, it’s just not true. A good friend, and frequent contributor to this blog, once amended the platitude: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will [expletive] up my life forever.”

Exhibit A consists of the many wounds we all still carry from all the times we’ve been derided, scorned, excluded, and shunned. Witness Exhibit B:

That was…

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Mindfulness Therapy and The Quicksand of Internal Judgment
Psychology / Science / Suffering

Mindfulness Therapy and The Quicksand of Internal Judgment

by David Zahl on Jan 4, 2011 • 16 Comments

Fantastic article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the new “wave” of cognitive-behavioral therapy known as mindfulness. Its understanding of the counterproductive power of (internal) judgment is pretty darn eerie. Not only that, but as a school of thought, it appears to recognize the futility of information as a change agent, as well as the essentially passive nature of true self-improvement. In fact, if you can get beyond the slight New Age can-do bent in the language, mindfulness might well represent the next step in a Law/Gospel approach to psychotherapy. But don’t take my word for it (ht WDR):

Even people…

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JAZ’s Faves of 2010
Film / Music / TV / Year In Review

JAZ’s Faves of 2010

by John Zahl on Dec 31, 2010 • 3 Comments

A quick wracking of the brain brings these picks to mind (in alphabetical order):

Films:

The Book of Eli. On the bible: “Don’t you see? It’s not a book, it’s a weapon!”Get Low. Love Robert Duvall! Deep, moving, forgiveness and the lack of it, telling the whole story once again. Plus, Bill Murray is so funny in this one.Inception. Thought it was awesome until I saw the south park episode about it.  I just hope the director had a correct answer to the end in mind.The Kids are Alright. Hilarious, thought-provoking, phenomenal acting.The Social Network. Eerie, smart, made me feel bad for…

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Some Favorite Christmas Entertainments
Christmas / Film / Music / TV

Some Favorite Christmas Entertainments

by Nick Lannon on Dec 16, 2010 • 1 Comment

Some things I eagerly anticipate every Christmas:

Die HardNever was I happier than last year, Christmas 2009, when I came home from doing our final Christmas Eve service (probably around 11:45pm) to find my family wrapping presents and just starting Die Hard in my living room. Nothing puts me in the mood more than hearing Run-DMC starting “Christmas in Hollis” as De’voreaux White exclaims, “This IS Christmas music!” And then, of course, brilliance ensues. Villains are villainous, heroes are heroic, and the Nakatomi building is saved. Just the way Jesus would do it.

“The Night of the Meek”…

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No Laughing Allowed
Humor / Law / Sports

No Laughing Allowed

by Stampdawg on Dec 15, 2010 • 5 Comments

OK, to be honest, I am a movie/TV nerd, and everything I know about football comes from watching Friday Night Lights. If you actually threw a football at me I’d be more likely to duck than catch it.

But I ran into this story over the weekend and would really love to hear what you folks at MB think about it. I walked away feeling so much for this guy, who is quarterback Derek Anderson for the Arizona Cardinals.

This is what happened, as far as I can tell. The Cardinals were getting hammered, it was the fourth quarter, they were down…

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Another Week Ends: Cyber Bullies, eBay, Glenn Beck, FUNdamentals, Madonna, TV roundup
Children / Humor / News / Politics / TV / Week In Review

Another Week Ends: Cyber Bullies, eBay, Glenn Beck, FUNdamentals, Madonna, TV roundup

by David Zahl on Oct 8, 2010 • 6 Comments

1. A quick study in opposites: In an NPR story about the rise of cyber-bullying and public humiliation, “It’s Not the Web, It’s Us” sociologist C.J. Pascoe wisely states, ‘we shouldn’t place all the blame for [cyber-bully] actions on new technology. ‘I think the problem starts pre-technology, which is, what are the motivations we have in humiliating another person, and humiliating them sexually?’ she says. ‘That’s the issue we need to deal with, and then follow up with concerns about new media.’”.

The good people at ebay might beg to differ:

2. The NY Times Magazine ran a cover…

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Must-See TV, The Fourth Wall and Narcissism
TV

Must-See TV, The Fourth Wall and Narcissism

by Mockingbird on Sep 27, 2010 • No Comments

From Mockingbird behind-the-scenes guru Jeff Dean:

It’s official: the fourth wall no longer exists in NBC’s Thursday night’s “must-see” line-up. The returning shows are the most flagrant examples. On Community, Abed constantly references what it means to be a sitcom. Thursday he critiqued the episode as a season premiere. 30 Rock is already a TV show about a TV show, and Thursday’s episode started with Tina Fey welcoming us to the fifth season. The Officeis filmed like a documentary. The first episode this season takes this even further when the already-aware-of-the-camera team decides to make a Lip Dub video for…

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The Batchelorette and "That Guy"
Identity / Law / Relationships / Theology / TV

The Batchelorette and "That Guy"

by Camcole on Jul 12, 2010 • 1 Comment

[Disclaimer: I’m a dude. I mean really a dude. I love football, BBQ, and Braveheart. I roll 6’5, 235, but I do watch The Bachelorette with my wife.] 

Many of us are making our way through the guilty pleasure of The Bachelorette: Season 6. If you have watched a few seasons of The Bachelorette (I have watched three, which is as many years as I have been married), then you have  probably nailed The Bachelorette archetypes, which reappear season after season.

There’s the “Too Good to Be True” character – Roberto this season – who just…

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