Tag: NCC Chronicle
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Why Wait?: The Adventure Of Marrying Young
Previously published in the North Central Chronicle on April 23, 2010. The PDF version of this article as it originally appeared in the Chronicle is at the end of the story. Antonia and Brian bought a wedding planning book for $14. But sometime later Antonia’s maid of honor bought them a $4 wedding planning book…
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Sarah Palin Is Not A Serious Person
If Sarah Palin plans to run for president in 2012 (which I’m not yet sure if she’ll do), many people will vote for her. But count me as one of those Americans who will not check the box for Sarah Palin if that day comes. There are a few reasons why I won’t vote for…
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iPad? I think not
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on April 16, 2010. With all the near-orgasmic praise Apple’s iPad has received lately, I feel like I should want to get one. But I don’t. Let’s be honest: it’s a cool toy. It does most of the things and iPod Touch or iPhone can do but on…
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The Cove
Save the Whales is so last century. Dolphins, according to the new Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove, are what really need saving now. The film profiles Ric O’Barry, a former dolphin trainer who captured and trained the dolphins for the 1960s show Flipper. It was during that time when O’Barry realized the inherent cruelty of…
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Disney, Pixar, And The Golden Age of Animation
Published in the North Central Chronicle in September 2009. Everyone has a favorite animated movie. I’m a Toy Story man myself. But no matter which film you prefer, it’s clear that our generation—the Millennials, born between 1983 and 2000—has been the most spoiled in history in terms of the animated films we’ve grown up watching.…
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Twilight Bites: How Dazzling Vampires Distort Masculinity
Published in the North Central Chronicle on April 24, 2009. Let’s pretend I’m a teenage girl and that you’re my best friend. I’ve just told you about this guy I started dating. He’s perfect in every way, I say. He stares at me while I sleep, he alienates me from my friends and, among other…
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Why I Love The Midwest
Originally printed in the North Central Chronicle on April 3, 2009. A friend of mine grew up with the California itch. Her family was from San Francisco but she was stuck in Wisconsin for most of her life. She always complained about it and talk about wanting to be an actress and live the life…
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Oh, Oscars, How Do I Loathe Thee?
Published in the North Central Chronicle on January 30, 2009. Let me count the ways… 1. You want normal people to like you, but you fail to acknowledge what people like. In the past, you’ve been excused from this because most of the time the highest grossing film of year wasn’t worthy of awards. But…
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Stranger Than Fiction
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on January 18, 2009, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” An artist may not set out to create something that changes the world, but he just might do it by mistake. Marc Forster’s 2006 film Stranger Than Fiction is a movie about fate—or “the…
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The Sting
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle in October 2008 as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” Welcome back to “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” I was catching up on more recent films over the summer but I’m excited to start a new year of discovering the new in films of old. This…
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1.21 Gigawatts!?
November 12, 1955. Know the date? Hill Valley, California. The Clock Tower. Struck by lightning. At 10:04 p.m. 53 years today. Oh, yeah. In honor of this historic day in the BTTF world, here is an appreciation I wrote for the school paper: If I were asked to name what I think are the greatest…
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A Summer Camp Counselor’s Guide To Good Character
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on October 10, 2008. This summer I worked at a Bible camp for the third straight year. (Don’t worry, we didn’t praise a likeness of George W. Bush like those crazies did in Jesus Camp did.) The theme for the summer was character. We studied the Book of…
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All Animated Films Are Not Created Equal
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle in October 2008. Are all movies created equal? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) doesn’t think so. With the creation of the Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards, animated movies that deserve to be nominated for Best Picture are unfairly pigeon-holed into this…
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A profile of Korn’s Brian Welch
Originally published in the NCC Chronicle on September 26, 2008. Brian “Head” Welch might be the most unlikely person to have become a Christian. He was a drug addict, a member of a popular heavy metal band, and is covered in tattoos. But in 2005, Welch, the former bassist of the heavy rock band Korn,…
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Iron Man
I think us moviegoers have caught on to the whole Superhero Movie thing. We’ve learned that comic book superheroes are born out of a freak radioactive experiment gone wrong, or out of childhood anger, yadda yadda yadda. We know that evil villains will eventually be outsmarted and killed due to excessive monologuing. We’ve caught on…