Don’t Forget Jesus This Christmas
In the first season of South Park, the town is going all kinds of crazy in their efforts to make sure everything is politically correct during “the holiday season”. To the extent that they forget what the true meaning of Christmas is. Which leads to one of my all time favourite Christmas scenes after the credits have rolled.
Jesus Christ, all alone, singing happy birthday to himself. Classic.
Don’t forget to sing happy birthday to Jesus this Christmas.
Don’t Be That Guy at Christmas
I’m not a big fan of the hype that surrounds Christmas. I think it’s all a bit too much. But there’s a danger in being too anti-Christmas hype. Don’t be that guy this Christmas.
Putting the Word “Christian” in Front of Something Doesn’t Make It Christian
The team over at Blimey Cow have released a new video that I want to add a hearty AMEN to. Take a look at the video and I’ll add some thoughts below.
Who Owns The Trademark To What Would Jesus Do?
I’m not sure it was possible to be a young Christian in the 1990’s and not own something that had What Would Jesus Do? written on it. I’m not sure where in the Bible God gave that command but it must be in there somewhere. Everything from bracelets to t-shirts to Bible covers – WWJD? was everywhere.
Which makes me a little bit surprised that no-one had claimed a trademark on the phrase.
Until now.
Coming Soon: The Ten Commandments
Heard of the Ten Commandments? Sure you have. They’re right there in Exodus 20. Maybe you’re not as familiar with the actual commandments, but have at least heard of the movie. The one with Charlton Heston, of course. The others aren’t really worth watching.
No matter how familiar you are with these laws for God’s people, you might be keen to check out an upcoming TV show based on the Ten Commandments. Ten directors, including Michael Cera and Wes Craven have been signed on to create a ten part anthology series, each episode based around one of the commandments.
Coming Soon: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is one of the most popular stage musicals out there. Based on the account of Joseph and his family in the book of Genesis, the musical has been doing the rounds since 1982. And now it might be heading to cinemas as an animated feature. The movie is being made by Elton John’s production company, Rocket Pictures.
Welcome To Tumblr
Tumblr is probably my favourite social media place to hang out. I love checking out the creative works produced by people who are part of the same fandoms as me (Doctor Who, comic books and tokusatsu for instance) and following some of my favourite writers and actors. But let’s be honest, Tumblr can be pretty weird. I try and stay away from the “weird part” of Tumblr, but there are certain idiosyncracies about the joint that show up, especially when you’re not ready for it.
Coming Soon: Left Behind
When I became a Christian in the late 90s, the Left Behind books were one of the biggest things happening in the Christian book market. The main concept behind it – that the rapture happened and all the Christians were taken up to heaven while everyone else was “left behind” on earth to deal with what happened next – was difficult for me to get my head around as a young Christian. The theology of the rapture was not something I’d encountered before and it wasn’t taught at my church. I never got far into the books and never saw the original Kirk Cameron movies (I’d hired the first one out once, but never got around to actually watching it). But later this year a new Left Behind movie will hit cinemas, this time starring Nicolas Cage. I’m going to assume that this is going to be a thing that Christians will want to pay attention to. There’s going to be media attention and people are going to be talking about the rapture.
Why Names Are Important
Okay – pop quiz. Using only your eyes and the knowledge inside your head (no cheating by using Google), answer this question: who are these two characters? What are the superhero identities of these two action figures?
Read More…
After Hours and Understanding Pop Culture
Recently I was invited to speak to a group of college students. As I was about to walk out the door at home to get there, my wife asked me what I was speaking on. I told her “I’m speaking on how to understand pop culture and use it for ministry”. Her reply, “So basically you’re speaking on your Thing”. “Yeah.”
I love pop culture. I love pulling it apart and exploring what it says about us and our society. I love discovering different points of view and world views. And I love holding pop culture up to the lens of the gospel and see where it contrasts and where it agrees. I spend a lot of time trying to understand the culture around us. So when I see something that manages to pop open the hood of pop culture and helps me see the working parts underneath, I like to share it with people.
After Hours from Cracked is one of the best shows on the internet and you should be watching it.
Dancing With The Stars Tries To Get Lucky
About a month ago, I remember grooving along to a clip from The Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert dances along to the Daft Punk song Get Lucky, alongside a whole bunch of famous people. As he dances, he invades other TV shows. It was pretty fresh and a lot of fun. Here’s Colbert’s Get Lucky.
Great clip, right?
Not so great was when Channel 7 launched their new promo for Dancing With The Stars. Stop me if this sounds familiar: the “celebrities” from Dancing With The Stars are dancing along to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. And in the process they invade other TV shows. Have a look.
Seriously Channel 7? This is just lazy. If I was being charitable, I’d say they were playing to a meme. Realistically, I just think they’re ripping off something original to try and make their tired format reality show look fresh.
What do you think?
Trying Something New
I didn’t mean for it to happen. I thought I’d just check it out once. Take a quick look, strike it off my “Things I’ve Never Done” list, and walk away. I never thought I’d become one of them. I never planned on this becoming part of who I was.
About six months ago I became a Tokusatsu fan.
Hate Speech
This morning on Tumblr, I posted a picture of a music review someone had written on Chris Brown’s album Fortune. Not only did the reviewer call this album “repugnant”, they implored the reader to not support Brown’s music because of his history of violence against women. Having read excerpts from a report given by the Los Angeles Police Department, I couldn’t agree more. Chris Brown does not deserve to be public figure adored and idolised by people.
Yet people keep leaping to his defense.
I received this message in my inbox shortly after posting the article:
bitch your mother should not be celebrated. who tf are you? a cracker. please sit. no1cur about your thoughts. HE STILL GOT MORE MONEY THAN YOU!
That is a direct copy and paste, in its entirety, from Anonymous’ message. Yup, Anonymous. Unless the famed 4chan hacker has me locked in his crosshairs, then the person who wrote this message didn’t even have the guts to put their name on it. Cowardly support of a man who punches women in the face. I’m using my real name as I post this. I’m not hiding behind an alias. Is it too much to expect that people won’t respond in kind?
What is Anonymous’ argument? Why should I withdraw my condemnation of Brown? He has more money than me. Wow! Apparently money can’t buy you love but it can buy you the right to do what you want without anybody criticising you.
This is not right. This should not be. Turning a blind eye to a person’s unrepentant sin, just because you enjoy there music, is not on.
Religion of File Sharing
Dune 2 was a computer game figuratively grabbed me by the shirt and slapped me in the face, forcing me to give it the attention it was due. To me, this game was the grand-daddy of real-time-strategy games. Without Dune 2, we may not have had classic games like Commander and Conquer or Starcraft. But the thing is, while I played Dune 2 obsessively, I never bought a copy of it. And while all my friends were also enjoying the game, I don’t think any of them had paid for it either. There was just a bundle of 3.25″ floppy disks, bound together with a rubber band, that was passed around. When it came to getting passed the copyright protection, you just had to keep restarting the game until you knew the answer to the question. It was the same with music – dubbed cassette tapes changing hands like it was no big deal. When I look back at it, we had no idea what we were doing was illegal. We had no idea we were pirates. It’s just what you did. But was it a religious experience?
Recently in Sweden, a new church has been given official status. The Church of Kopimism is based around the idea that information wants to be free and is in fact holy. That information becomes more valuable through the act of sharing. Therefore sharing information is of religious significance to members of the church. The perceive any attempts to stop them from sharing information as a form of persecution. Is this a legitimate faith system, or just an elaborate excuse for piracy?
Woody Allen Jesus
There’s been some controversy over in England this week over a song written and performed by Tim Minchin. Recorded for the Jonathan Ross Christmas show, the song was pulled at the last minute for fear it may offend. Because the song was making fun of Jesus. The head of ITV got nervous that Christians would respond poorly and axed the song. You know what? I’m a card carrying Jesus lover. I’m a committed Christian and a minister in his church. And I found this song hilarious.
Getting Ready For The End of The World
Have you seen one of those billboards yet? The ones that say the world is ending on May 21st? I talked about them a here. They’re popping up all over the world. I’ve personally seen them in Sydney and Brisbane, but I hear they’re everywhere. Well, the 2st is this Saturday. Are you prepared for the end of the world? If not, are you prepared to explain to people next week why the world didn’t end? Here are some useful resources.
Is Luck Anti God?
Good luck.
That’s lucky.
As luck would have it.
You’re just unlucky.
Better luck next time.
Luck is a word that I use a lot. It’s part of my everyday speech. Like me you probably use some of those phrases on a daily basis. But have you ever thought what the word luck means? What are you really saying when you use the word luck? Is the word luck anti God?
Justin Bieber Must Die!
Look, I’m just going to put it out there. What I’m about to say won’t win me any friends or make me Mr Popular on the internet. But you need to hear this.
Justin Bieber bashing is not cool.
Football and Adultery
If a football player appears in the news outside of the sports section, chances are it’s not because they’ve been behaving themselves. It seems there’s always one scandal or another rocking the football community, regardless of which code you follow. Players cheating with each others wives, engaging in group sex, accused of rape, having photos of them naked and/or molesting animals leaded on the internet, getting drunk and assaulting people in night clubs… really it’s not that hard to think of examples of footballers misbehaving.
Pop Culture Christ 
Recent Comments