Music: Rock and Clasical music fan Literature: Non-Fiction and History, Fiction of the Wolfes (Thomas and Tom) and The Russians (Dosteyevsky, Tolstoi, Turgenev, Checkov, Pushkin, Nabokov), Andrew Greeley Sports: USC Football... "Fight On for old SC!" SF Giants... North Carolina Men's Basketball

I had been meaning to post a blog on the criminally neglected Cinderalla Man, and I just may do so still. The movie is making it's basic cable debut this weekend (December 7-9, 2007) on TNT. Quickly, I believe it is the best boxing movie since Raging Bull. "The Great Debaters" is the best debate movie of all time, being that there is only one other debate movie in the history of cinema, not much competition. But it is a very good movie. As a former collegiate debater, having Forest Whitaker and Denzel Washington in a debate movie is good for the self-esteem just has journalists felt better about themselves with Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, and Jason Robards in "All The President's Men."

In college I became a rock critic, writing that rock and roll was a "spiritual medium." I have since adapted one of my favorite rockcrit aphormisms (Rock and Roll is private obsession and communal experience) to Catholic worship (The Catholic Mass is the church's attempt to reconcile the faithful's desire for private salvation and communal praise, worship, and communion). In my 20'a I suspected that Springsteen was one of popular culture's great hidden religous artists. After undergoing RCIA and listening to The Rising, it is clear that Springsteen's catholicism is not hidden at all. The overt "9/11" imagery and themes mask on first hearing pleas for hope. The context of the barely covert catholic doctrines within the lyrics make this song cycle songs of grief feel more mysterious and important than suggested by mass media critics at the time of the release of the album five years ago. What we have here are paens, anthems, meditations on unexplicable loss, reconciliation, forgiveness, communion with saints, joy and redemption wrapped in varied, memorable, melodies that are a return to "Darkness on the Edge of Town" or "The River" E-Street Band Bruce; without sounding like reheated leftovers or simplistic radio fodder (i.e. "Born in the U.S.A."). I surmise that "My Sacrifice" on the Creed album is a noisy and melodic meditation on the joy of returning to The Blessed Sacrament.

Charles Chaput, author of "Living the Catholic Faith", is the archbishop of Denver, Colorado. I am finding it a fine book to follow up Confirmation and enter into Mystagogia. "Would You Like to be A Catholic?" is a small (98 pages) book, but denser and more sophisticated than the title or length would suggest. Recently re-read When Pride Still Mattered, the great (truly great) biography of Vincent T. Lombardi. The insights on Lombardi's Jesuit education, devoted practice of Catholic Christianity, and the Ignatian principles he brought into his approach of life and football is completely and compellingly documented in this book. One of the rare recent general interest biographies to show how the subject's religion shaped their life beyond Sundays. City of God, well, because ever since reading Confessions in college St. Augustine has never let me down. The Wolfes (Thomas and Tom) are the most consistent literary influence on my writing. Wild, lyrical sentences impeccably punctuated; describing the longing and promise of America (along with Whitman and the second half of The Great Gatsby) better than anyone in the history of our literature.

The Journey Home (EWTN), Good Eats (Food Network), SportsCenter (ESPN), The West Wing