ENGAGING CULTURE

These are topics that I found interesting but either couldn’t find time to or couldn’t merit a full post for, so I have linked to the originators of the story so you can check it out. WARNING, the links below may not be “safe.” They may contain offensive language or images, and in no way do these links suggest my agreement with everything found on those sites or even the posts themselves. I’m just attempting to keep you informed. You have been warned!

Bobby Gilles from Sojourn Community Church in Louisville has a wrap-up to their recent Cultivate Beauty Festival in which he Highlights Christians In The Arts From Across The U.S.

Are you a tech-geek? Then you need to check out Revision3. It’s internet television produced by geeks for geeks. And most of it is really top notch. After the diffusion of Tech TV into the garbage that is G4 back in 2004 some of my favorite shows and people were tossed out to the unemployment line. But being the web 2.0 geniuses that they are they brushed themselves off and like the phoenix were reborn. So Kevin Rose (the creator of Digg) and Sarah Lane aren’t on Screen Savers anymore, but you can check them out on Diggnation and popSiren, respectively. Check out some of their other shows: Best Of…, The Digg Reel, PixelPerfect, Tekzilla, The Totally Rad Show, and Web Drifter. Digg it.

Cinematical announces that The Weinsteins Are Making a ‘Fraggle Rock’ Movie. Fraggle Rock will be live-action; it will be a musical; and it will be produced by the Jim Henson Co., which owns the rights to the characters. The TV show’s five central characters, Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Boober, and Red, will still be the focus.

Film School Rejects responds to an Entertainment Weekly article discussing the question: Are the leading women of romantic comedies becoming leading men? With such recent films as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Made of Honor, the argument seems to be there unless you define a Rom-Com as more romantic than comedy.

Joe Holmes at CultureFeast writes an interesting look at the life of a blogger seeking to be always on the cutting edge of the details.

Have you heard of the phenomenon that is Twilight? If you say you haven’t then millions of tweenage girls are gasping in horror at your lack of cultural savvy. /Film wrote a great introduction to the series and made the inevitable Harry Potter Comparison. But here’s a quick rundown, Twilight is the first in a series of novels by Stephanie Meyer. The center around a girl who moves to a new town and meets a teenage vampire who was born in 1901. The novel is around 500 pages long and is chock full of romantic goodness just right to whet the appetites of a myriad of screaming fans. My wife just notified me that she has finished the book (in like 2 days) and will be writing a review in the next couple of days. I became interested in Twilight when they announced a movie. MySpace video has the trailer here. So I have submitted myself to the challenge of reading this estrogen diatribe. And I’m glad I know the folks over at Film School Rejects who come through in providing me some tips for how to keep my masculinity while reading Twilight.

Firstshowing has the latest in Wall-E featurettes, this one is called a Hero’s Journey and it tells more of the plot through some interviews with the filmmakers.

Hollywood Reporter brings us the news from Cannes that documentarian Micheal Moore is making a sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11. Perhaps it will be called Fahrenheit 9/12.

The AP reports that Pop artist, Robert Rauschenberg, died Monday at 82. His most famous work, “Bed,” was painted on a quilt from his bed, using paint, toothpaste and fingernail polish.

Jewish Seeker, AJ Jacobs, shares what he learned in his year-long attempt to keep every law in the Old Testament. That includes Leviticus 19:27 which bans the shaving or cutting of the beard. He had this to say about that effort: “I let my beard grow until I looked like Moses. Or maybe Ted Kaczynski. I got called both. I got searched at airport security. I itched like a madman. Plus I was subjected to every beard joke in the history of facial hair, including about 412 ZZ Top references.”

I’m sure there are other things I missed, but I’ll get better at building this list with links as my day goes by so I don’t have to think about what needs to go on it. Happy clicking. Tomorrow I will have my preview of this weekend’s blockbuster, Prince Caspian, and a prediction for how much Indy 4 might rake in.