Preview - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A)

This needs no commentary except that it is going to ROCK!

Download hi-def at Narniaweb.

CD - White Christmas (B)

Artist: Martina McBride
Buy it

I'm usually a very savvy buyer when it comes to stealth reissues but I fell for this one hook, line, and wallet while doing my gift shopping at a big box retailer. The complete repackaging, the handful of new tracks that didn't ring any bells (and probably those mesmerizing blue eyes) convinced me to brush aside the little voice that said, "But wasn't her first Christmas album - that we already own - called White Christmas?"

Yes it was. And this is it. Somewhat.

The 1998 tracks have the same liabilities/benefits as they did then. There are no original arrangements and they are virtually straightforward covers of classic versions. But this is good when it comes to singing along with them - no curves are thrown at you. And MM's voice is, of course, insanely beautiful.

The four new tracks produced by Martina herself make some gutsy calls and I like that about them. Her Danny Elfman-esque take on 'Jingle Bells' is funny and just a little creepy and I loved it in spite of myself. She's definitely overheard her kids watching Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one too many times!

Her time-traveling duet with Dean Martin on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is captivating. She has an extremely broad stylistic range and is a terrific mimic. If no one told you the lady's voice was a 21st century superstar you would think it was a Rat Pack-era songstress holding her own with Dino. Brilliant!

It almost makes up for the covert ops. One could blame all that on Martina's label but she is extremely hands-on in the production, design, and marketing of her albums. I've found out she has reissued this album with two extra songs tacked on before but it was with the original artwork. Since she's added 6 songs altogether over the years, why hasn't she just created a new Christmas CD? It would save confusion and animosity (which this reissue is certainly causing, judging by the online comments) and make more money. I understand that RCA wanted a vehicle to put the Dean Martin duet into (and it's working, this is currently just behind Josh Groban's Christmas album on the charts) but I still think this was a misstep.

Final score:
Music - A minus
Marketing - C plus

Book - Carry A Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt (B-)

Author: George Grant
Buy it

An insatiable reader of books on TR, I was immediately drawn to Carry a Big Stick by its small size and by its wealth of quotes from the President (something many authors neglect). Grant is unabashedly hero-worshipping here: no negatives are to be found. If one begins "Stick" with this in mind it can be accepted and tolerated.

Though it is clearly colored by Grant's conservative ideology (he tags turn of the 20th century politicians with turn of the 21st century labels - and greatly underrepresents TR's progressive leanings), it does reveal some facts about Roosevelt's religious convictions and church activities - something that is absolutely ignored in most modern biographies of historic figures.

The book is less a chronological account than a quick look by turns at each facet of the multi-talented and constantly moving President. It is adequate as an introduction but is highly selective.

Reprinted in paperback as The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt. Oddly, it's not any cheaper!

Final score: B minus

CD/DVD - Greatest Hits Special Edition (A-)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

This compilation was not exactly necessary. Grant's last greatest hits album came out only three years ago. It's primary purpose is as a sampler of the brighter sound of her recently recently reissued, newly remastered back catalog. There are two different versions of this set running around: A straightforward CD version and a CD/DVD Special Edition. This review is of the latter.

I am an Amy completist, so I already own every song and music video on this special edition set. It's difficult for me to judge the strength of the track selection because even though I love them all, there are dozens of favorite songs that aren't on it. That's just going to happen when trying to boil 30 years and 20-odd albums down into 19 songs.

I will say to the new or casual fan who is looking for a greatest hits CD to start their AG collection that this is a pretty good place to start. Her first compilation, The Collection was a good, relatively deep summation of Amy's purely Contemporary Christian period and is a great choice for those who want to focus solely on that era. Greatest Hits 1986-2004 covers her crossover and pop hit periods fairly well.

This CD is an extremely broad sampling of both eras but skews to the lite pop - with better remastered sound quality for current systems. The mix of cheery 70s-style acoustics and string sections with 80s synthesizers and 90s adult pop can be a bit jarring but it's all part of Amy's growth over the decades. My only real gripe is the underrepresentation of her introspective and gut-wrenchingly honest work from Lead Me On and Behind the Eyes, which may be regarded by posterity as her two best albums.

The greatest benefit (for new Amy fans and old) of this 2-disc Special Edition - in my humble opinion - is the nearly half hour of interview footage she provides (Preview). Just sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee, reminiscing and vividly describing the hows and whys of the peaks and valleys of her recording career and her life, Amy demonstrates exactly why she has touched audiences and made devoted fans for three decades. It's nearly impossible not to like such an earthy, gentle person who is openly alloyed with the wonderment and messiness of real life. She's like an ideal next door neighbor that you'd love to sit around and discuss life, love, and faith with. And in some ways we already have because it's all there in her songs.

Golden Compass furor

From Christianity Today:

Golden Compasss Under Fire

Just a little over a year ago, a major motion picture hit theaters worldwide carrying a message full of hooey, heresy and borderline blasphemy. But rather than stage boycotts and cry foul, many Christians embraced the film as a "tool" for evangelism and for "engaging" popular culture; one even called it Dan Brown's "gift to the church."

So it was with The Da Vinci Code. Now here comes The Golden Compass, slated to hit theaters in December, and Christians are reacting quite differently. Instead of seeing the film as a tool, opportunity, or gift, some are already calling for a boycott because of the movie's anti-religious elements.

More>>

I feel part of the difference in reaction is that Golden Compasss is targeted primarily at children and parents may see it as an attack on their children's burgeoning spiritual development. And on their parenting efforts. Not being a parent, I suppose I'm not as alarmed. Parental and religious authority is continually questioned and maligned in our current popular entertainment. I can't really see how this is any more egregious. And peddling fear about it is potentially more harmful, in my book, than the movie/books themselves. Fear bred in ignorance will eventually bring about resentment and either cruelty or curiosity. Confronting it, respectfully acknowledging its artistic merit (if there is any), debunking its myths and misconceptions, and - most importantly - admitting where it may have a point is much more productive in the long run. Pull the teeth of the Bumble, to paraphrase Yukon Cornelius.

I would think that a wise and knowledgeable parent would explain the subtle symbolism to children of a certain age. It could be a great opportunity to teach lessons in witnessing to skeptics - and addressing the child's own honest questions about authority and control, actually. Kids will hear all of author Pullman's arguments and stereotypes eventually. Why not take this chance to explain the fallacies in them? Just as with The Da Vinci Code, I'm sure there will be balancing books and guides published to coincide with the movie's release. Parents without much knowledge of philosophy and apologetics could utilize them in preparation.

Also, if we go after this thing with torches and pitchforks, won't we just be proving Pullman's point that we don't trust people to think for themselves?

I had made plans to see The Golden Compass before I knew about any of Pullman's books. It just looked really cool. I may see it yet. I've read Bertrand Russell, so this guy holds no terror for me.

Film - The Day of the Killer Tornadoes (B)

Here, in its entirety, is a short documentary film from the Civil Defense Agency that figured very prominently in my childhood. That's primarily because I lived through the Huntsville, Alabama portion of it. The quality of the film is not great (it wasn't even by 1970s standards!) and some of the re-enactments using the acutal participants are unintentionally humorous but the event it records - the 1974 Super Outbreak - was dreadfully serious. 148 tornadoes (the most ever in a single weather event) struck the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys in a single day, killing 330 people.



This next section includes the town of Xenia, Ohio, which was virtuallly erased by an F-5 tornado that day. It concludes with extensive actual footage from the Huntsville area.


The Huntsville material - and the film - concludes here:



More detailed information on the Super Outbreak is available at http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/

TV - Bionic Woman premiere (B-)

Starring Michelle Ryan (Okay, I give in. She's a PBA), Miguel Ferrer, Katee Sackhoff

Now that the pilot has come and gone, how good was it?

First of all, it's manic. It essentially crams a two-hour movie into 43 minutes. The main character, Jamie Sommers, is introduced three minutes into the show, cajoles her sister, goes to work, gets proposed to, survives a devastating crash, is fitted with bionic parts, goes berserk, gets sedated, gets loose and is out on the street - all before the episode is half finished! It never stays in one place or on one emotion more than fifteen seconds.

Jamie spends about ten seconds (I timed it) dealing with the emotional impact of being turned into a cyborg without her consent - then goes back to tending bar. There's also a very serious, life-changing conversation between Jamie and her fiance during a car ride in the opening act that is obviously edited down to the bare bones. All reaction shots and pauses are cut out. It gives you the information you need and moves on. The editor is like Joe Friday with ADD. At any rate, it gives extremely short shrift to the characters.

Apart from that, I thought it still had great potential. Seriously! It has very high production values, good special effects (some very good), and passable acting by most parties. Michelle Ryan (Sommers) holds her own and does some good stunt work, all while keeping her American accent consistent. Keep in mind she's only 23. A pretty scary villain (the prototype bionic woman, who's gone mad) and a good fight sequence with her didn't hurt either. In fact, if they can spread the tension in that scene over more of the show, it could be very interesting indeed.

One thing that bothered me about that battle was a glaring violation of the "Show, don't tell" rule of drama. You should show actions that illustrate the characters' motives, not have them announcing their motives to each other outright. Give the audience credit. In this case the villain, Sara Corvus (played impeccably by scene-stealer Katee Sackhoff), comes right out and says she's gradually replacing her humanity with bionics because "I'm cutting away all the parts of me that are weak." Well, there goes a year's worth of symbolism down the tubes. I'm surprised Jamie didn't respond, "I have abandonment issues. So there!"

I realize it's an action show and they don't want it to get bogged down like Heroes did for a few months last year but I hope that once the audience is hooked the writers will slow down long enough to let these characters breathe. Give them some real back-story beyond having the bullet-point version read by someone in a suit (which is how we find out about most of Jamie's life!)

Watch it yourself at NBC.com.

Final score: B minus