Happy 1st Birthday Pop Culture Christ!
Or Welcome to Pop Culture Christmas!
It’s hard to believe, but Pop Culture Christ has been up and running for a whole year. What started as an excuse for me to scribble down some sermon illustrations has become an outlet for me to discuss two of my favourite things: Jesus and pop culture.
In the last year, I’ve published 181 articles. I’ve been asked to provide articles at Fervr, written a guest post at Christ and Pop Culture, and asked for an interview on Triple J radio. I’ve begun the Master List and filmed a series of Fervr Presents vodcasts. And I’ve got even more ideas for Year 2. Because of Pop Culture Christ, I find I can’t even walk down the street without thinking of reviews and articles. And that’s a good thing. As Christians, we need to be more aware of the world we live in and be able to turn everything towards proclaiming Jesus. Pop Culture Christ has been great tool for me to hone these skills. I hope it’s been helpful for you too.
What would you like to see more on here? What would you like to see less of? More reviews? More cultural observations? More video or audio? Let me know in the comments.
Here’s looking forward to a big Year 2!
Top 10 Posts for Year 1(Please note: I believe that most of these posts are in the Top 10 because of people searching for images. I’m praying that people who come across the site looking for images or movie reviews will hear the message of Jesus through my posts)
- Fight Club Rules
- Supergirl and the Fall
- Cliffhanger
- The Simpsons: The Father, The Son, And The Holy Guest Star
- Spider-Man 3
- Prince Caspian
- The Gospel According to Ricky Bobby
- Flanders’ Book of Faith
- Alice Cooper: Along Came a Spider
- Annoying World Youth Day Laws
And here are 10 posts that I have some fondness for (in no particular order):
- The Shack
- Greenday: Jesus of Suburbia
- Vampiric Obsession
- Ben Folds: Not The Same
- Do You Worship Chocolate or Coffee?
- Metro Station: Shake It
- Summer Bay Christianity
- Thank God You’re Here
- Samedi Energy Drink
- Where’s Wally and the Old Testament
Do you have a favourite post?
V is Coming!
I remember seeing the original V mini series when I was a kid. The use of alien visitors to explore the Nazi rise to power and the abuse of authority and trust was striking. There’s a television remake of V coming out this year that I’m very excited about. And after seeing the trailer, I’m even more excited. Because it looks like it will be dealing heavily with themes of faith and worship. This is must see for me. It better be good. The trailer is after the jump.
Hey! Nietzsche! Leave Them Kids Alone!
Hey! Nietzsche! Leave Them Kids Alone!
by Craig Schuftan
Have you ever met an emo? Have you ever walked past one in the street or sat down with one for a conversation? Have you ever wondered what’s going through their head, why they think and feel the way they do? What is an emo any way?
Craig Schuftan has thought about these things. And he’s cracked the code. He’s worked out it’s all connected – from David Bowie to Smashing Pumpkins to Weezer to My Chemical Romance. The key to understanding? The Romantic poets of the 19th century. And now it all makes so much more sense.
Finding Salvation
People look for salvation in all kinds of places. In their work, their family, their possessions, etc. Everyone is looking for that one thing that will make their life complete, that will rescue them from insecurity and doubt. When things are tough, people head for their real god. Life is difficult, so I’ll find god at the bottom of the bottle. Life is tough so I’ll go out and find god through meaningless sex. Life is hard to I will search for god through hard work and super annuation. We look for salvation in all kinds of places. Except for the place where real salvation can be found – Jesus Christ.
X-Factor #43 shows us this truth in just one panel.
Family Guy 7×11: Not All Dogs Go To Heaven
I’m not the biggest Family Guy fan. It was funny at first, but for me, every episode feels pretty much the same. So I’m not a regular viewer. But this episode, Not All Dogs Go To Heaven, got my attention because it had the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation guest starring in the episode. So I thought I’d give it a shot. But it was the second story line, featuring Meg, that ended up being the most fascinating.
Samedi Energy Drink
To get your product out there these days, you need a hook. Especially in the ultra-hip, overly-cool, way x-treme world of energy drinks. But is it really a wise move to contact ancient Voodoun spirits to sell your product?
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek (2009)
Rated M
Director: JJ Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana
My dad and I used to watch Star Trek together. We’d watch the different series: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager. Back then, it wasn’t always easy to catch them on TV, so we’d wait for each new video to come out, rent it from the video shop and watch two episodes back to back. After a while, I stopped watching Star Trek. It no longer appealed to me. It was no longer offering me an experience that I waited for with anticipation. But it will forever remain something I shared with my dad. So when the new Star Trek movie came out, I got on the phone to my dad. He hadn’t been to see a movie at the cinema since I was a little kid. But I wanted to share this experience with my old man. See, Star Trek is not just a movie, or a TV show, or any other medium it appears in. Star Trek is an experience.
Sword of My Mouth #1
Her baby isn’t quite right. But in a post-Rapture Detroit, not much is.
So, those pesky Christians are gone. Magic works and those pagans are going ahead with their witchcraft and physical mutations. Angels roam the streets, enforcing martial law. And young, single mother Ella battles loneliness.
Sword of My Mouth is the sequel to the graphic novel Therefore Repent! It’s a six issue miniseries being put out by IDW. My big question for Sword is this: is it going to be exploring Christian issues like Repent did or is it going to go in a new direction?
Rob Bell: Jesus Wants To Save Christians
Rob Bell is the poster child for the Emergent Church, at least from our point of view here in Australia. Christian bookstores have shelves packed with Nooma DVDs and copies of his books Velvet Elvis and Sex God. His current book is called Jesus Wants To Save Christians. It’s a controversial title and what’s in the book follows suit.
Something Positive
I read a lot of webcomics. And why not? They’re free after all. One of my favourites is a comic called Something Positive. This strip is witty, well drawn, and very, very not PC. If you even the slightest bit offended by almost anything, then do not read Something Positive.
Superhero Spotlight: Blue Devil
Would you sell your soul to the Devil for superpowers? Think of all the good you could do as a superhero. All the lives you could save. Wouldn’t all that be worth the sacrifice of your soul? Isn’t that the kind of thing Jesus would do? That’s what Daniel Cassidy aka Blue Devil did. But was it worth it? And is it even possible?
Thank God You’re Here
You’re standing in front of a blue door. In just a moment you will step through this door into an unknown situation. It could be anywhere from ancient Egypt to the local pub. Someone will say “Thank God You’re Here” and it will be up to you to keep up. You’ll need to stay alert and always have an answer ready. Are you ready to step through that door?
Sword of My Mouth
Sword of My Mouth is a six issue comic book miniseries currently being put out by IDW. It’s a sequel to Therefore Repent! Has anyone seen this yet? Is it worth me picking up in the individual issues? Or should I wait for the trade? Or not even bother?
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
This could go one of two ways. Wolverine could be X-Men 2 or X-Men 3. It could be a well told, action packed movie full of character moments that are true to the characters and source material. Or it could be the abomination I found X3 to be. So which one is it?
My Little Pony of the Apocalypse
There’s something about those brightly coloured ponies that always seemed a bit sinister to me. Here’s the trailer to My Little Pony: The Movie. This aint no cartoon.
D2 Does KYCK
D2 is the youth crew at my Church, St Luke’s Liverpool. As a group, we headed up to Katoomba this past weekend for KYCK, a Christian youth convention. It was great. Here’s a video to show what KYCK was like from our point of view.
Think Before You Upload
How much thought do you put into what’s on your Myspace profile? Are you concerned about who might see those photos of you on Facebook? What steps are you taking to make sure people who wish to exploit you don’t receive your private information online?
The Victorian government want you to Think Before You Upload.
The Master List Is Live!
If you’re visiting the site (and not just reading on the RSS feed) you may notice that there’s a new page link at the top. The Master List is here! The aim is to find all those modern songs that talk about Jesus, God and the Bible and write about them. I’m hoping it will be a great resource for preachers and teachers. Please keep adding suggestions to the list. Also let me know if you want to hear about some songs before others (this could take me years after all).
Here’s a link to the page.
4 Horsemen
Some of you may not remember what things were like in 1999. If you don’t remember, you’ve just made me feel old. Thanks for that. Back in ’99 every one was getting ready to crack out their old Prince albums and party like it was 1999, because, well, it was. But there was a looming threat. The Y2K bug. There was a great panic because we were uncertain that our computers could cope with the change from ’99 to ’00. Planes were going to fall out of the sky, cars would spontaneously combust in the streets, microwave ovens would rise up against the oppressive regime of mankind and over throw the government – you know, the usual. It would be the end of the world as we know it. It was time for the apocalypse.
As I’m writing this in 2009, you can be pretty much assured the apocalypse didn’t happen in 1999. But there was a genuine uncertainty about the year 2000. Vertigo comics jumped on this wave with their V2K line of comics, all focusing on the stroke of midnight, New Year’s Eve 1999. 4 Horsemen was one of those books.
KYCK 09: Eugene Hor
Eugene Hor is a great bloke and a great Christian speaker. This weekend at KYCK he spoke on the Book of Revelation. Great stuff. I got the chance to interview him on Sunday morning. Video after the jump.
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