By Steve
Friday July 16, 2010
- Where Criss Angel disappears: nside is Mr. Angel’s extensive collection of magic memorabilia, including items like Harry Houdini’s handcuffs and Lance Burton’s top hat. Décor includes drawings and paintings by Salvador Dali, as well as several custom pieces by popular artist Michael Godard including a three-dimensional painting of a rabbit pulling Mr. Angel’s head out of a hat. There are numerous gothic crosses and two large murals of crucified Jesus, one of which is embellished by drops of Mr. Angel’s own blood puddled on the floor below. (Wall Street Journal)
- The creativity crisis: For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it. (Newsweek)
- Evangelicals try stand-up by (Wall Street Journal)
- Revisionist fire at author Harper Lee should be dampened: To kill a mockingbird is a sin, Finch told his children, because it brings no harm to others. “They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us,” a neighbor further explained. Likewise, trying to kill a great book because a 50-year-old literary character doesn’t measure up to modern critics’ idea of heroism is a sin. All Harper Lee ever did, after all, was sing her heart out for us by Kathleen Parker (Washington Post)
- Divine drama queen:
But I’d secretly rather have a God who is a non-anxious presence by Mark Galli (Christianity Today)
- Father Gregory Boyle talks about his book ‘Tattoos on the Heart’ and Homeboy Industries, the L.A. gang ‘exit’ program that is his labor of love. (LA Times)
- The return of Spider-Man to the movies (The Culture Beat)
- What happened to studying? You won’t hear this from the admissions office, but college students are cracking the books less and less (Boston Globe)
- Being rooted in a culture of mobility: In his new book, The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove talks about the spiritual benefits of staying in a particular place. (UM Portal)
- Battle with cancer changes outlook: When Juanita Rasmus was diagnosed with mucinous spindle cell carcinoma — kidney cancer – last October, she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she waited to see what lesson the disease would bring. (Houston Chronicle)
- Green Lantern heats up ComicCon (EW)
- More Catholic men are praying the rosary to grow spiritually by David Olsen (Scripps)
- Variety: The American philosopher William James died a hundred years ago. Jonathan Rée calls for a return to his humane example (New Humanist)
- Interview: Blues singer Jonny Lang (Pegasus News)
- In downturn, tattoos still hold long-lasting appeal (Providence Journal)
- Southern states: Create your own BBQ or gumbo trail (LA Times)
- Between friends: Late-night calls. Inside jokes. Honest advice. Pals Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emma Thompson compare notes on dirty dishes, hot husbands — and how they help each other (Good Housekeeping)
- Google Biblical Earth: artist recreates Christian stories seen from space. An artist has recreated key scenes from the Bible such as Jesus’ crucifixion and the parting of the Red Sea to show what they would have looked like from space. (Telegraph)
- William Faulkner goes online, 50 years later (NPR)
- The Conservative Mind, Circa 2010 by Ross Douhat (NY Times)
- DIY culture: It wasn’t so many years ago that Europeans loved to moan about American culture overrunning homegrown art forms. In the 1990s and early 2000s some in Europe were arguing for regulatory barriers to hold off the New World barbarians, particularly from Hollywood. In France, President Jacques Chirac’s culture minister, Jacques Toubon, warned about how the United States entertainment industry was trying “to impose domination by any means,” and Régis Debray, among other French intellectuals to hop on the same bandwagon, predicted that “the American empire will pass, like the others.” (NY Times)
- ‘Virtual preaching’ transforms Sunday sermons (CNN)
- Pad Thai recipe (NY Times)
- The sublimity of wine by Rod Dreher (BeliefNet)
- From dung to coffee brew with no aftertaste (NY Times)
- Confusing attraction with sexuality: Our culture’s obsession with alternative lifestyles (Charity’s Blog)
- For cash-strapped states, sin is sure lucrative (NY Times)
- Man kills 200,000 ants for artwork: An artist has created a portrait from 200,000 dead ants. (Telegraph)
- Aging gracefully, the French way (NY Times)
- Caravaggiomania for iPhone and iPad ~ New Multimedia Art Guide (Art Knowledge News)
- A church Mary can love by Nicholas Kristof (NY Times)
- Will my love say yes? College kids ask this website: Website GoodCrush.com acts as the middleman for college kids lacking romantic courage. (Wall Street Journal)
- Rock star Bono’s fashion wife on an ‘Out of Africa’ mission: Ali Hewson, co-founder of Edun, launches collections at Liberty. (Telegraph)
- Gratitude: Letting other people know they matter benefits us. Other people matter. Let them know that they matter. (Psychology Today)
- In these difficult times, New York state’s motto could be: Will Tattoo for Food (NY Times)
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