Slate’s New Parenting Podcast

Posted on January 22, 2014 at 3:50 pm

I am a big fan of Slate’s podcasts, especially the Culture Gabfest, and am delighted that Dan Kois (of the excellent Book Club) is co-hosting a new one about parenting. Kois and his co-host, Alison Benedikt, lead off with their own current struggles and triumphs (so far managing to be candid without overly intruding on the privacy of their spouses or children). The current episode takes a more nuanced approach in discussing the current fan of “mindful parenting” than Slate’s Double X essay by Hanna Rosin and I like its overall tone, friendly, accessible, supportive, and curious.

Christian Movie Connect: New Video Podcast Premieres Today

Posted on July 27, 2011 at 9:00 pm

Christian Movie Connect is a new weekly video podcast hosted and produced by faith-based film producer and media personality Cheryl Ariaz Wicker. It premieres today with the kickoff show featuring actor John Schneider, talking about his role on the upcoming “Doonby.”

Tune in for news of the latest faith-based movies and Christian personalities on and off screen, posted weekly each Wednesday on ChristianMovieConnect.com.

Christian Movie Connect (CMC) podcasts feature interviews with filmmakers, actors, screenwriters and other newsmakers in the Christian film industry both nationally and abroad, conducted at Christian industry events as the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, Biola Media Conference, Gideon Media Arts Conference and Film Festival and International Christian Visual Media Catalyst Conference, to name a few.

Film and media personalities featured on future CMC episodes include Bobby Downes (“Like Dandelion Dust”), Jerry Jameson (“Raise the Titanic,” “Airport ’77,” “Murder, She Wrote”), Ken Wales (“Amazing Grace,” “Christy”), Jenn Gotzen (“Nixon,” “Doonby”), PluggedIn Online’s Bob Waliszewski, Dave Christiano (“7th Street Theater,” “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry”), Christian media guru Phil Cooke, Columbia Pictures’ Devon Franklin, Walden Media’s Micheal Flaherty and 20th Century Fox’s Simon Swart; and VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. Among the well-known Christian leaders that will be featured on CMC to lend their take on the influence of Christian film are media and culture expert Josh McDowell and best-selling author/speaker Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham.

CMC will also have special daily podcasts from the Gideon Media Arts Conference & Film Festival (Gideon) airing from August 7-12, 2011. Producer Cheryl Ariaz Wicker says, “As a producer of faith-based, family friendly and life affirming films, I am an advocate for Christian movies and clean, values-based entertainment. Through positive films, we can inspire movie goers…but greater still, we can promote time-tested values to the culture at large.”

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The Evolution of Movie Soundtracks

Posted on May 15, 2010 at 8:00 am

The New Yorker has a fine article by music critic Alex Ross about soundtrack composer Michael Giacchino, who won an Oscar for his lilting but wistful score for “Up” and who also writes the evocative music for the television series, “Lost.” But even better is the podcast interview with New Yorker Out Loud editor Blake Eskin, because Ross talks about the evolution of movie soundtracks over the decades, from the lush orchestral scores composed by European emigres like Erich Wolfgang Korngold during the 1940’s to the jazz-influenced scores of the 1950’s that first acquainted mainstream audiences with music they were not yet ready to listen to on records or in clubs. And he illustrates his points with great examples that make you want to go back to see the movies all over again — or, I should say, listen to them all over again.

Here is Korngold writing for “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

And here is Duke Ellington’s score for “Anatomy of a Murder.”

I share Ross’ disappointment with today’s over-reliance on pop songs to carry the emotion of the story but was glad to hear that he thinks that fully-orchestrated scores will make a comeback. As he points out, “Star Wars” would not have had nearly the mythic power without the unforgettable soundtrack from John Williams.

Tim Gordon’s New Podcast

Posted on November 19, 2009 at 10:00 am

My dear friend and fellow critic Tim Gordon starts a new weekly podcast about the movies tonight. He always has something interesting to say and it is always fun to listen to him say it, so be sure to tune in.

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