everything that's on my mind

Star Wars Episode III : Revenge of the Sith is out on DVD today. I was a huge Star Wars fan growing up. I saw the first one as a 10-year-old in the summer of 1977. Some friends and I were at a movie early that summer when they showed the trailer for Star Wars. I don't remember our exact words, but they were the 1977 equivalent of "I'm there, dude." Been a fan ever since. The first two were the best, and the prequels have been good, but not great. However, I have not yet seen Episode III. Due to difficulty in getting to the theater this summer (back surgery, moving from Alabama to Little Rock, etc) I have been forced to wait for the DVD. Well, now it's here and I look forward to seeing it this week. I've heard it is the best of the prequels, so I'm looking forward to judging it for myself.

---

Speaking of movies, I received an email ad this morning from Family Christian Stores advertising a new CD of "music inspired by The Chronicles Of Narnia." Evidently it features "todays top CCM artists" who have "truly been inspired by or impacted by" the books. And the FCS website has a whole "Narnia Headquarters" section for shopping for Narnia-related items. Why does this happen so often? I've seen these 'inspired by' albums for The Prince of Egypt, The Passion of the Christ, The Prayer of Jabez, and The Purpose Driven Life, just to name a few. The Chronicles of Narnia have been around for some 50 years. Why are people just now getting "inspired" to write music about it? I'll tell you why - because 'Christian' record companies want to cash in on the new movie being released next month. That's the primary focus, I'm convinced. Money to be made. And other types of 'Christian' companies will do the same - there are already new printings of the books with new cover art (from the movie), new children's versions of the books with lots of pictures, books about the books and movie, toys, jewelry, greeting cards, and many other cheap but overpriced items you can pick up at your local Christian bookstore, probably from a large Narnia display or special section of the store. We've been through all of this with The Lord of the Rings and The Passion recently. And as I mentioned, there are hundreds of "Purpose Driven" and "Jabez" products out there. (And I now see that the Left Behind guys are now publishing "prequels". I guess the original TWELVE books didn't make enough money.) The more time I spend in Christian book stores, the more things seem out of control.

Grant posted something along these lines about a different product, and one of the comments used the phrase "Jesus Junk." That reminded me of a song by Atomic Opera by the same name:

Jesus Junk
lyrics by Frank Hart & Kemper Crabb

I want a Virgin Mary nightlamp
Bible hero lunch box
The Shroud of Turin on my wristwatch
Only listen to Christian ... Rock

Gospel Cola in the morning
Then make my Velvet Jesus Bed
I want some Holy Trini-Tea Bags
Covenant Candy fish ... and loaves of bread

Gold plated Crown of Thorns Messiah Ring
Belt buckle's a decending dove
Hang a chrome fish on my truck
They'll know we're Christians by our love ... Of junk

All my Jesus Junk
Yeah, my Jesus Junk
I am a Jesus Junkie

Give me a piece of the true cross
The thigh bone of a saint
I long for something Holy
This sub-culture ain't ... real

Testa Mints to make my breath fresh
Bible Gum and Christian science fiction
Where Jesus turns wine into water.

I will go see the movie, because I love the book, and from the trailers it appears they've done a great job with the movie. I will not, however, buy the music supposedly inspired by it, or any of the other things on the long (and likely growing) list of Narnia items out there.

---

Some good words from Shaun Groves regarding Kyle Lake.