I’m up at Novel Journey today, reprising an article first sprung here. Halloween has to be the lamest holiday on record, so in honor (or dishonor) of All Hallows’ Eve I submitted The Good Vampire to the gals. Check it out and leave a comment, just to let me know you’re there.
Sunday, Alayna and I went to The City of Angels Film Festival at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The Festival regularly gets rave reviews for its focus on film and religion. It’s sponsored by a 
number of significant groups, like Fuller Theological Seminary, Biola University, Barbara Nicolosi’s Act One, and Grace Hill Media. We attended a panel discussion entitled: Where’s the Love: The Movie Critic vs. the Religious Audience. There, I was able to say hi to Jeffrey Overstreet, who moderated the discussion and Brett McCracken, who officially IS taller than Mark Bertrand. Luckily, I decided to wear pants (my grungy cargo shorts would’ve said either “carefree artistic type” or “slob” — probably the latter), and what with the blazers and business attire, I’m glad I did. Anyway, the panel was terrific. Lots of insights which I’ll discuss at a later date.
On the way out of L.A., we made two stops. First was Meltdown. Considered by many the best comic book store in town, the spacious, quirky shop also has a tremendous selection of oddball action figures. I went for less expensive fare, purchasing Frog, from Frog and Toad fame for my bookshelf. Afterwards, we ate at El Tepeyac Cafe, affectionately called Manuel’s. Situated in a rough and tumble neighborhood in 
East L.A., Manuel’s serves authentic, old school Mexican food. It was no wonder that, after stuffing herself on Enchiladas, Alayna slept all the way home.
Finally, Chris has been telling me for a while now about free podcasts you can find on iTunes. Last week, I downloaded two short stories from the The Classic Tales as read by B.J. Harrison — H.G. Wells’ The Magic Shop and Edith Wharton’s The Eyes. It was the first time I’d read / heard either author. Wharton, especially, piqued my interest for more. What a terrific writer! Next up will be Selections from Hamlet and The Monkeys Paw by W.W. Jacobs. I’m thinking that, with these podcasts, I can finally catch up on some “reading”.
I LOVE Frog and Toad!!! I want one of those!!! My favorite story is The List 😉
How nice to have a daddy who will let you sleep, safely, on the drive home 🙂
Festival sounds fun … I’ll hop over to Novel Journey.
Can’t wait to hear about the discussions, Mike. So cool that you got to go.
Yes, we love Frog and Toad around our house also, Ame. But while I let Alayna sleep on the way home, I promptly woke her when we arrived and fired her up for a coed soccer game that evening.
Nicole, the Festival was Thurs-Sun, but we just attended that one event. The panel consisted of a USA Today film critic, a member of the selection committee of two major film festivals, Jonathan Bock, the president of Grace Hill Media, a group that provides a “promotional” bridge between the religious community and Hollywood, and a Catholic priest who has written quite a few books on spirituality in film. The event was 2 hours and well worth the 10 bucks. It’s amazing the divide between the puritanical view of film held by many believers, and the libertarian tolerance. Yes, I’ll write more on this.