Becoming a Monster

Actress Charlize Theron gained 30 lbs. and a lot of makeup to look incredibly ugly for the movie Monster, in which she plays Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer who was executed in 2002. Now Theron and the film’s director are using the film as a platform to speak out against the death penalty: “I don’t … Read more

No Wonder We’re Bored

Jim Tonkowich has a great article on the relationship between boredom and a lack of wonder: If we are bored and casting about for the next experience that may, at least temporarily, jerk us back to life, we will never develop a Christian spirituality and worldview. First, we will never make the time and take … Read more

Books That Haunt: Godric

Each Tuesday, until I decide otherwise, TruePravda will feature a different book in the Books That Haunt series. Five friends I had, and two of them were snakes. So begins Frederick Buechner’s (pronounced “Beekner”) Pulitzer Prize runner-up novel Godric. The novel is loosely based on Godric of Finchale, a 12th century holy man known for, … Read more

The Dean of the College of Madness?

Howard Dean will make a spectacle of himself, and nothing will stop him from doing so. He initially indicated that he would drop out of the Democratic race if he lost Wisconsin, but now he says he will stay in for the long haul: Acknowledging that it was an “obvious contradiction” from his fund-raising e-mail … Read more

Tech Update

I’ve been using Computer Associates’ free EZ Armor Security Suite for my anti-virus software for about two weeks, and everything seems to be working well—even with all the MyDoom onslaughts in the last two weeks. I switched because I was having some conflicts between Norton Antivirus 2003 and Outlook XP. Since Microsoft and Computer Associates … Read more

Blogs You Should Be Reading

Since everyone else does this, I thought I would begin highlighting a few of my favorite blogs (that you need to be reading too) on Fridays. And yes, if everyone else jumped off a bridge, I would too. The Evangelical Outpost: If you’re an evangelical blogger, I don’t have to tell you to read Joe … Read more

“Let Me Go Talk To Them In The Back”

If you’ve ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes at a car dealership, this article is an intriguing read. The writer worked undercover at a dealership to find out how the process worked: What really goes on in the back rooms of car dealerships across America? What does the car salesman do when … Read more

Fundamentalist Fondue

I was reading Carl F. H. Henry’s The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism last night and something was bothering me—Henry used the terms “evangelical” and “fundamentalist” interchangeably. If I were reading the book in 1947 when Henry wrote it, I wouldn’t have any problem with that—the terms meant the same thing in 1947. Today, however, … Read more

Character In Congress

My mother-in-law, who works for his office, sent me a great article on U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) in The Hill today. The article chronicles Wamp’s personal changes from a drug addict to the God-fearing man he is today, and is an inspiring read. Wamp, who incidentally was one of only two congressmen in 2003 … Read more