Christ and Pop Culture » Asides

Behold, the New Christ and Pop Culture!

Richard Clark — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:19:52 +0000

If you’re reading this, you’ve noticed something different. Yeah, maybe you can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something odd about us. We got a little bit of a facelift while you were out, and we hope you like it.

The change is more than cosmetic, though. We’re changing the way we do things around here. Monday and Wednesdays will be the days you can expect to see brand new featured articles, featuring the same thoughtful and profound popular culture engagement you’ve come to know and love from our brilliant stable of writers. Most Thursdays we’ll publish a new podcast, where we informally dive headfirst into the stuff everyone’s talking about that week. On Fridays we’re bringing back the “RetroPost”, a republished post form our past that has a certain relevance to something that’s happening in popular culture.

Probably the biggest content change, and the one I’m most excited about, is the new focus for our “Of the Moment” section. Rather than constant one-line super-small posts with nothing but links, we’re going to be posting more substantial musings on the issues of the day, as they happen (or at least as they happen to us). We think you’ll find this to be more interesting and helpful than our previous “Of the Moment” posts. If you enjoyed our occasional links, follow us on twitter! We’ll be relegating simple links to our Twitter account. In the meantime, our brilliant writers will have the freedom to brainstorm, share lists, and think out loud about those links right here on the site.

Thanks so much for supporting us so far. We’d love to know what you think of the new design and the new plan going forward, so comment and let us know!

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The Gaming Doctrine

Richard Clark — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:03:53 +0000

In the past few months I’ve been writing a regular column for GameSetWatch and Gamasutra called “The Gaming Doctrine,” which examines religious, moral and ethical issues within the gaming sphere. It’s been a blast, and the discussions that have resulted in the comments at those sites have been unbelievably rewarding. Here are some excerpts from each article so far:

Not Beyond Belief: How Religion and Games Interact:

Make no mistake, creating a modern video game is a thoroughly complicated affair. Whether those making or playing the games might realize it or not, any games that intend to cause a player feel a certain way, experience an event, or invest in a character is inherently infused with meaning. Because of this, the decisions and dilemmas faced by game developers are more than mere technological or literary diversions. They are, quite often, questions of morality and worldview.

Reviewing Games with Values in Mind:

…every game with a story, plot or realized characters also has an inherent worldview. There is no reason to believe that the people playing those games would merely leave their assumptions elsewhere when playing a video game. If the video game industry wants to have more thoughtful games, those writing about games need to encourage more thoughtful gaming. It’s not that reviewers should concern themselves with every possible stumbling block within a game, that they count cuss words or recount horrible violent acts. A simple solution is to simply acknowledge when and why a game felt inspiring, tasteless, disrespectful, immature, or wonderfully nuanced.

Is Death in Games Cheap?:

What if, as a player, we were forced to come to terms with these implications when those characters around us were to die? What if we had to wonder to ourselves if the death of a character was our fault? What if we were given the time to meditate on that death, rather than being forced by the game itself to forget the whole thing and just have fun fighting more monsters? What if we were encouraged to notice the particular absence of the recently deceased? What if we had gotten to know and love the character so much that we actually missed them after they were gone?

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Is This An Overstatement?

David Dunham — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:48:47 +0000

The Death of Friendships…what do you think, hysterical panic or probably true? And is it all really the fault of social networking?

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You Had Me At Goodbye

Richard Clark — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:47:46 +0000

Statistics Show That Romantic Comedies Ruin Relationships – I knew it!

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Could There be Redemption for Mel Gibson?

Richard Clark — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:51:33 +0000

Could There be Redemption for Mel Gibson?

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The Hidden ‘Inception’ within Inception

Drew Dixon — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:50:29 +0000

Here is an interesting take on what’s going on in Inception–if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t read this article. Also if you haven’t seen it–I highly recommend it!

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Great Gatsby … the Videogame!

Drew Dixon — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:50:04 +0000

Who says literary classics and videogames don’t go together? There is now a Great Gatsby videogame.

“Not exactly Modern Warfare, but lit. professors need videogames, too, right? We just have one question, Big Fish: ‘When’s The Anna Karenina Game coming out?’”

Honestly, an Anna Karenina game sounds like more fun.

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The Underrated Jokester

Richard Clark — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:05:01 +0000

Jon Stewart speaks about science and religion. This may surprise you.

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Long Live South Vietnam

Adam Carrington — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:29:44 +0000

This speech was too good to pass up. Did you know that North and South Vietnam are working side by side together to this day? All those lies I was told in high school American History!

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Nothing But the Blood…

Richard Clark — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:43:06 +0000

Will Smith to make Bible way better with the addition of vampires

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Priest Develops 3D Game To Teach Catechism

Richard Clark — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:24:21 +0000

Priest Develops 3D Game To Teach Catechism.

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What should Christians do with Mel Gibson?

Richard Clark — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:19:04 +0000

What should Christians do with Mel Gibson?

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So Much for Family-Friendly TV?

Richard Clark — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:35:56 +0000

This is probably a pretty big deal: Court strikes down FCC indecency rules on fleeting f-bombs.

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The Worldview Behind the Work of Art: Five Cautionary Statements

Richard Clark — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:28:55 +0000

The Worldview Behind the Work of Art: Five Cautionary Statements – For those of us who just love to look for the worldview behind a work of art, here’s some things to keep in mind.

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