If you aren't watching ABC's "Once Upon a Time" on Sunday nights, you should be.

Especially if you are a pastor, or work or lead in the creative arts at a church.

See if this sounds familiar: a show takes on fairy tales of old, by taking these old, familiar stories and repackaging them in a way that not only makes them fresh for a new audience but plays upon the collective memory of the old story itself, so that one is simultaneously drawn to the the old, old story but are now witnessing that old story in a new light. Sound familiar?

The show itself runs into trouble from time to time with some less-than-stellar dialogue, and some very obvious CG, but its efforts in telling a story of good and evil, not to mention addressing omnipotent characters and the handling of characters within such a story, well, they are commendable, and there is a lot to learn from them.

Right now you can still see the show for free, streaming all the episodes on abc.com. Check it out and tell me what you think!

And if you want to hear more from me on the topic, download the January 10 episode of the Pop Culture Pulpit Podcast. You can subscribe through iTunes by clicking here.

So I thought I would let my first post of October (eek) be a barrage of coolness: things I've seen/taken in this week that I think is/are awesome.

First up: my new episode of The Pop Culture Pulpit - for the first time I have a guest! My good friend and the "king of tv" Paul Goebel - he talks with me about the new fall tv season, and it was great to have him as a guest. Listen by clicking here.

Next up: Check out this "shadow artist" - his sculptures are crafted and shaped theough steel and shadows. Very creative.

Here's a trailer for a fascinating new movie called The Artist: a film made this past year that utilizes the craft of "silent movie making" to tell its story. What at first sounds cheesy and unnecessary sure does look cool and actually compelling.

Have you ever thought of Jerry Seinfeld as a prophet? You will after seeing this stand-up on the concept of answering machines and their functionality in our contemporary world of Facebook:

And finally, mashups seem to be all the rage, and this one combines the vocal stylings of Tom Waits with the visual impact of cookie monster, and, in many ways... it speaks for itself. Enjoy the clicking everyone!

This week I got a note from a Pop Culture Pulpit listener Murray Blythe - he wanted my take on an artist interview from another podcast.

The podcast in question is called "Who Writes This Stuff" - and it recently featured a two part episode interviewing Derek Webb, a solo artist who happens to be a Christian, but who comes from one of the ole favorites of Contemporary Christian music, Caedmon's Call.

Caedmon's Call was a Godsend to those of us planning weekend services in the late nineties. Here was an intelligent band on a Christian label writing great songs that challenged you lyrically and set the stage for further discussion. Pretty much exactly what you wanted for a special song during a service.

Murray Blythe listens to my podcast from Australia, where he lives and works. This fact has no bearing on my story, other than I think it's cool.

So on this week's podcast, I brought up the podcast and the Derek Webb interview - and I inteved my listeners to listen to the interview and weigh in on the topic discussed - primarily,  the way that Christians must balance expectation and/or restrictions with authenticity in the way they express their art. I haven't listened yet, but my plan is to do so and then offer my take on it as I step up the the pop culture pulpit in a future episode.

So if you'd like, mozy on over to WHO WRITES THIS STUFF and listen to the interview - then head back to the POP CULTURE PULPIT to discuss. Or leave a comment here, and as I'm working on the podcast, I'll incorporate your feedback.

Thanks and have a great rest of your September!

The next installment of the Pop Culture Pulpit is now live and ready for download! This one is Episode 62 and is called "White Guilt" - check out the ramblings regarding The Hunger Games and The Help - both books made into new movies coming soon.

Listen to the show, won't you? You can subscribe with iTunes by clicking here

Stream or download using your favorite RSS feeder here

Stream live right on my website here

Stream or download on the podcast website here

And if you simply refuse to click away from this awesome page - use the player below to enjoy the show! Thanks for supporting the podcast!

I have to say that I am eagerly anticipating the final film installment of the Harry Potter series next week. Almost as much as I am the opening of Epic Theatre Company's production of The Mystery of Irma Vep... Almost.

Got excited today as I caught nine small clips that MTV has leaked from the film - check them out below if you simply can't wait until next week!

And get your tickets to Mystery of Irma Vep too!

Well it's been an interesting week for pop culture, everyone getting over the fact that no one obviously Christian had been raptured after Saturday had passed. There were several items I saw on the pop culture landscape today that I thought were worth mentioning, so here goes:

First, it's been exactly one year since LOST gave us a Series Finale worth talking about. Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jensen offers up part one of a commemorative piece about the show and its themes today, focusing in on the spiritual themes of the show and his take on them. You can read that article here.

Secondly, Lady Gaga released "Born This Way" the complete CD today - I had the opportunity yesterday at Starbucks to stream the entire collection on my computer, and I have to say that her faithful re-creation of the best parts of eighties music arrangement and production was practically a religious experience for me. But lyrically, she has never been more in tune with exploring the spiritual side of things: songs about God, Jesus, Mary, Judas... she may be picking and choosing from the religion buffet table lyrically, but she knows a great pop riff when she steals (writes) it...

And third, it was announced today that Mark Burnett of "Survivor" fame has been contracted by the History Channel to create a series called "The Bible", which will combine live-action and CG effects to tell selected stories of the Bible. Could be interesting. Read a tiny article about that here.

And if you would prefer to listen to my dulcet tones describing that which I see all around me in the world of pop culture through the internets and directly onto your favorite mp3 player, please subscribe to my podcast! The Pop Culture Pulpit is ready for you - just uploaded a new episode yesterday - and if you have listened to the show and enjoyed it, I would love it if you headed over to the iTunes page and left positive feedback. Apparently that kind of feedback is very valuable in that area of the internets... so help me help me!

American Idol movie night is in the hizzouse! This week always cracks me up because they pick songs that just happen to have been in movies, but it's not like all of these songs are thought of as movie songs. So just for fun I will note the songs that actually are movie songs as they perform them. Guessing that it's probably 3 of the 8.

Paul: Old Time Rock & Roll (MOVIE SONG) - Stairs. His voice sounds way too thin for this song. No one wearing that outfit likes old time rock and roll. He's first to perform and he will likely go home.

Lauren: The Climb (MOVIE SONG) - Loved the video piece with Laurel and Hardy. I have to say that I felt like the arrangement didn't allow her to show that she's a better singer than Miley. But she is.

Stefano: End of the Road - It's hard to hear this song as a solo when it was so effective as a vocal group number - but the key change was boss.

Scotty: I Cross My Heart - (MOVIE SONG) He is such a pro. I am getting tired of having to move my head slightly to the right during the whole performance to see him (george) straight…

Casey: Nature Boy - Unbelievable. Seriously, did anyone foresee that such a musical performance would appear on the AI stage? Again, thank goodness the judges save worked.

Haley: Call Me - The Partridge Family Bus is suing her dress. I still like Haley but this was not a smart song pick. This song does not align well with what she does successfully. The dress on the other hand…

Jacob: Bridge Over Troubled Water - I might download this one. Wowwwwwwwwww. I think I'm ready to be rebaptized.

James: Heavy Metal - (MOVIE SONG) I loooooveed the video piece with Jimmy and Will.i.am. Remember when everyone thought Constantine was a rocker? James makes him seem like the Fantasia of Heavy Metal. That was like a circus act on the flying trapeze.

Can I have a new TV show starring Will.i.am. and Jimmy Iovine please? I need that right away.

Who's in the bottom three with Paul?

Well, what a long and strange trip it has been.

My last post talked about 200k hits on our "Sunday" video as though it was a lot. And it was.

But after quickly passing the million mark, we just as quickly got to two million. Things have slowed down now quite a bit, but I have a feeling they will accelerate again once a certain day of the week visits us again. 2 million is a lot for a church, can't say it's really a lot for youtube videos in general. So there is some perspective at work here.

At our Downtown Naperville location, and at the Yellow Box, this weekend we will be showing the video during the service in preparations for Easter. Last week it was shown at our Shorewood and Plainfield locations. I would love to say that we will be showing it on Easter Sunday, but seriously. This video is meant for a lot of things, but maybe an actual Easter Service isn't one of them.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Here's the parody video we made, and released a week ago. Yep, it's only been a week.

Sadie has been doing great with her new found "fame" - and we are enjoying the buzz around the local neighborhood. In the end, that's where the impact is. Sure, all the other sites that linked to it and played it and loved to hate on it and all that stuff, it's pretty cool to get that fifteen minutes of internet fame, but the fact that when I picked up the kids from school, our neighbors who don't attend church anywhere that I know of, were all talking about church. Even in the context of an absurd video.

The plan worked. Not how we thought it would, but what do we know anyway...

Hey everybody - happy Friday! (is there a song out there that would be a symbol of that kind of joy that shows up simply by celebrating one day of the week...)

Well, you may know by now that our church's video "Sunday", which features my daughter Sadie, has accelerated in views over the last 24 hours due to being placed in many blogs, including Tosh.0, TV Guide online, Today's Big Thing, and others. We're currently hovering around 200,000 views.

Buzz was created for sure, but in the scope of all things internet, that many views is exciting but not record-breaking. So let's not get all crazy up in here. But it has been a fun 13 and a half minutes of fame...!

I tried to keep the comments up in the youtube placement of the video as long as I could, but the venom spewed by the pagans out there was far too violent and destructive. I don't fault them: they are only doing what they do with every other thing they see on the internet - we are not special in that regard.

And they aren't alone in behaving absurdly on the internet with regards to commenting on videos. Someone stole the vid and posted it on godtube, which tries to be a Christianish version of youtube, and the comments there have devolved into a debate about whether or not Sunday is actually the Sabbath. Seriously. So even though they may not be swearing, they are certainly missing the point.

And with regards to missing the point, it's hilarious to me that so many people don't understand that Sadie is in on the joke. That she is doing an imitation of Rebecca Black. And what does it say about the church culture in general that the pagans assume that a parody of something from a church "actually means it" and doesn't understand how Rebecca Black's song and video is perceived globally?

But enough on that for now. If you want to read the interview I did for Christian Post about the video, you can do that here.

Now for more important matters: AMERICAN IDOL. Why the face?

I am surprised that people are surprised that Pia  was voted off. It's the first week that she did something other than what she's great at. She showed everyone (except the judges, who except for J-Lo continued to worship the ground she walked on) that she can't move. Her voice is not connected to her body, no matter how shapely it might be. And while she hit all the notes, to go for Tina Turner when what Tina does is SO CONNECTED from head to toe, it just was too much for her. This was one week where Simon's criticism would have been welcome to wake up the judges to what was actually going on.

But the other thing that I thought about at the end of that show was how it must have felt to be one of the other eight, knowing that EVERYONE thinks that one of you at the very least (and at the most, all of you), deserved to go home more than Pia. In all that shock and awe last night, I was waiting for one of the judges to turn on the other eight and ask for Barabbas instead.

Have a great day! Recording a podcast today to try and make sense of all this viral-ness...!

As many of you know, I started a podcast recently called the "Pop Culture Pulpit." And this past week's episode (Ep. 53) was called "I'm Bringing Serving Back" and focused on the power of parody. It was on my mind because we were in the middle of building a parody music video to the tune of Rebecca Black's internet sensation "Friday."

You can subscribe to the podcast here - I cover a bunch of topics surrounding pop culture, with the pastor in mind, though it's certainly not "just for pastors." But in episode 53, I interview my daughter Sadie who had just begun working on the vocals for the parody song.

I'm pleased to announce that the video is completed, and you can watch it right here! We had a great time making it. Much thanks to Matthew Paul Turner over at Jesus Needs New PR for posting it on his blog and "being nice" to my daughter!

If you don't know that which we are parodying, well... you should probably start by watching the original. Watching our video without knowing about the original would kind of be like hearing Weird Al's "Eat It" without knowing anything about Michael Jackson. Still funny, but funnier if you know... So here's the Rebecca Black song "Friday:"

And here is our parody - obviously, we're looking to invite people to Easter Weekend, and this is a fun way to do it - enjoy, subscribe to the podcast, live laugh and love!