Living All In

This year’s ICRS (International Christian Retail Show) was a tad different than last summer’s since last year, Hayley and Addy both had Strep Throat and stayed home.  In Atlanta in 2007, I had a ton of meetings scheduled and pinch hit for Hayley MC-ing The Chocolate Cafe. 

This year was way more relaxed.  We had a few meetings and interviews, but many of the appointments were of the social, ‘keep up the relationship’ type.  But that’s to be expected I guess since last year we were shopping for publishers for about 18 new titles (yeah, I said it.)  Since we found homes for all but four (we shelved some fiction titles for later,) there was little to no ‘pitching’ this year.  And I think that’s why I felt like I wasn’t working.  When you’re self-employed in the publishing business, if you’re not pitching, you’re not keeping the pipeline filled.  I just had to remind myself that I had just completed an insane amount of pitching over the last 12 months and we were set for awhile.

I do love seeing guys like Kinneman, Nienhuis and Ferebee.  Just wish I had more time to hang.  On the lighter side, we did do one day at Disney with Addy.  Man did she soak it all in (while I sweated the humidity out!)  I don’t think Hayley has pics up yet, but I’ll post one when I can.

Last, it’s always a tad awkward when you see publishers that took a pass on book proposals or you took a pass on their offer after the fact.  On our flights to and from Orlando, the guys from B&H were all over that plane.  GREAT guys, just didn’t see the cost/benefit of working with us.  It was good to see Gary and Carol Johnson too, even though they didn’t catch the vision we have for YA fiction.  All things worked out great though. 

We’re thrilled with our new friends/publishers of adult non-fiction at Tyndale, and excited to work with Allen Arnold and his team at Thomas Nelson on YA fiction.  And the projects we’re getting ready to launch in YA non-fiction couldn’t have a better home than our long time partner at Revell/Baker.

We’ve got so many exciting projects in the pipe right now, I guess I’ll just have to save the pitching for the next ICRS.  Though I might have some ideas between now and then…

Tags: ICRS, publishing, Hungry Planet, travel

From The Record (Ont, CAN):

Adele Reinhartz is vice-president (research) at the University of Ottawa. A Conservative Jew, she worked as an adviser to film producers in the mid-1990s and on Garth Drabinsky’s 2003 production, The Gospel of John.Her book Jesus of Hollywood (Oxford University Press) has just been released. It’s an academic study of the depiction of Jesus in popular movies.  She makes observations from these Jesus-themed movies (among others):

THE KING OF KINGS (1961)

The King of Kings was produced less than two decades after the horrors of the Holocaust.

At the beginning of the film, a narrator tells the audience that in the year 63 BC the Romans invaded Jerusalem. The wording evokes memories of the Second World War.

"It’s clearly reflecting on the history of the Jewish people and on the creation of the State of Israel," Reinhartz said in a telephone interview before her lecture.

The wording is evidence of society’s growing sensitivity to Jewish issues after the Holocaust, she said.

Michael says: Never saw it.  It’s already clear to me that this book is ‘clearly’ written through a Jewish filter, something I can’t relate to nor can I assume I’d draw the same conclusions.

JESUS CHRIST SUPER STAR (1973)

While most movies depict Jesus in a reverential fashion, some don’t.

Jesus Christ Superstar, the campy 1973 musical that was directed by Norman Jewison, shows Jesus as a whiny celebrity, Reinhartz says.

In the scene of the Last Supper, Jesus complains that His disciples won’t even remember Him when He’s gone.

Instead of dramatizing a highly theological moment, Jewison depicts Jesus as a whiny celebrity who wants to be remembered.

In a sense, Reinhartz said, the movie is a mirror of our times.

"It’s really a critique of the cult of celebrity. It reflects our own pre-occupation with celebrity."

But it’s one of only a few films that challenge traditionally reverential depictions of Jesus, she said.

Michael says: Saw the play (not the movie.)  I’d agree with the author’s observations here.

LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)

The Monty Python comedic film Life of Brian is also a critique.

"It’s a spoof of the genre itself," Reinhartz said.

"It mocks, makes fun of all of the stereotypes that we normally associate with Jesus in the media and in popular piety."

The movie depicts a fictional character named Brian, a mindless stooge who gets caught up in plots to rebel against the hated Romans.

In one scene, Brian comes home to find a Roman soldier waiting to be sexually satisfied by his mother. She tells Brian that his father isn’t really Mr. Cohen. Rather, dad is a Roman soldier.

At this news, Brian takes a tantrum and spews anti-Jewish stereotypes.

"I’m not a Roman! I’m a kike! A yid! A heebie! A hook nose. I’m kosher, mum. I’m a Red Sea pedestrian and proud of it," he exclaims before storming off to his bedroom.

Jesus, on the other hand, is shown only at a distance in this movie and is treated with traditional reverence, Reinhartz observed.

Michael says: Saw this movie when I was 20.  It made me extremely uncomfortable unlike the MP Holy Grail movie (which I can come close to quoting verbatim.)  Once again, this observation is Jewish-centric while the movie’s central theme revolved around Brian being misidentified as the Christ.  As a Christian, I could easily put forth the main offense of this movie was the gullibility of anyone that looked for the Son of God and its comical bashing of people of faith.

JESUS OF MONTREAL (1989)

The 1989 Canadian production Jesus of Montreal is her favourite Jesus film, Reinhartz said.

In it, she said, filmmaker Denys Arcand used the Gospel stories to criticize the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec during the late 20th century.

The story is about a Catholic priest who enlists an underemployed actor and his band of similarly unemployed actor friends to spruce up his church’s annual Christmas nativity play.

Instead of creating a reverential interpretation of the Gospel, the director of the play departs from Scripture.

He challenges Christian belief in the Virgin Birth.

He also reinterprets the Gospel of Matthew, which repeatedly calls the Jewish Pharisees hypocrites.

"It’s one of the key passages that’s been used in anti-Semitic rhetoric since the first century," Reinhartz said.

Instead of showing the Pharisees as hypocrites, Jesus of Montreal casts the Roman Catholic Church leaders of Quebec as the hypocrites.

It’s another example of a post-Holocaust filmmaker being sensitive to the role of Christian Scripture in anti-Semitism, Reinhartz said.

Michel says: Didn’t see it.  A regionalized retelling casting the RCC of Quebec as pharisees?  Makes sense.  Still, if Jesus called a group of men whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones, should we really whitewash over those statements?  Besides, his twelve disciples were Jews.  Was that anti-Semitic?

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988)

Controversy surrounded the 1988 release of Martin Scorsese’s film, The Last Temptation of Christ.

Some Christians were outraged by a dream sequence in which Jesus and Mary Magdalene had sex.

But few people picked up on Jesus’ physically close relationship with Judas, said Reinhartz.

"It’s a homo-erotic relationship . . . Not one that’s consummated sexually. But they have a much closer physical relationship than Jesus does with Mary Magdalene."

In one scene, Jesus sleeps cuddled up with Judas, Reinhartz points out.

"They love each other. There’s no question."

Reinhartz said the physical closeness can’t be explained as just a non-erotic relationship between two men — a relationship that could have been culturally appropriate in Israel at the time.

The movie plays with contemporary issues and doesn’t try to be historically accurate, she said.

"Here you have a Jesus and a Judas with New York accents."

The role of Pilate is played by David Bowie and Pilate’s patrician accent lords over Jesus and His New World, New York accent.

The scene plays on the contemporary cultural relationship between Britain and the United States, Reinhartz said.

Michael says:  Saw parts.  Same feeling as The Life of Brian.  Made me queezy.   All the observations made by the author created disconnects for me: New York accents, David Bowie, and ‘liberal’ ‘artistic’ license.  Bleh.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004)

Filmmakers have used different approaches when depicting Gospel accounts of Jewish mobs who demanded that Pilate crucify Jesus.

In Germany, the silent film Der Galilaer (The Galilean, made about 1921) embellished the Scriptural condemnation of Jews.

The Jewish mob accepts Jesus’ blood on their hands, and on the hands of their children, not only once — as in the Gospel of Matthew — but twice.

Films produced after the Holocaust have downplayed the chanting mob.

In Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus is alone with Pilate when they speak. There simply is no Jewish mob calling for the crucifixion.

So some viewers may think that the sensitivity of filmmakers to Jews has increased as time has passed.

But that’s not the case, Reinhartz said.

In Mel Gibson’s blockbuster movie The Passion of the Christ (2004), the mob repeatedly calls for Jesus to be crucified.

All of the movie’s dialogue is spoken in Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin, which is translated in the English subtitles.

There are no subtitles on screen during the mob scene, but they are not necessary for viewers to understand what’s taking place, Reinhartz said.

"The visuals say it all. You don’t need the translation."

Michael says: Saw parts.  Can you believe it?  My wife Hayley and I decided not to see it in mini-protest to a church we were visiting not only actively promoting it, but the pastor recommending taking children over eight to see it.  Knowing my wife, she would have been seriously messed up for who knows how long if I took her to that movie.  I couldn’t imagine if she was eight years-old and saw the film.  Side note:  I know Jim Caviezel’s brother Tim pretty well (tho we haven’t seen each other since I moved from the West Coast to Nashville.)

Reinhartz said she can’t predict what future Jesus films will look like.

But she was willing to speculate.

Gibson’s movie doesn’t challenge established theology — and it was highly successful at the box office, she said.

So in the near future, other filmmakers might follow Gibson’s approach.

The evangelical Christian community in the United States is large and influential, Reinhartz noted.

"I think we have a climate now where it could be quite difficult for filmmakers to get production money for a mainstream iconoclastic film."

So, Reinhartz supposes, future Jesus movies will likely lean toward mainstream evangelical Christianity.

"Probably most of the films that will come out won’t be as challenging as Scorsese’s or Jesus of Montreal."

Michael says: Oh darn.  I think I’ll survive.

From FBW: 

Feminists and egalitarian proponents often interpret Scripture through a gender lens, but editors of a new commentary offer a conservative woman-to-woman approach to Scripture interpretation. The Women’s Evangelical Commentary New Testament from LifeWay Christian Resources’ B&H Publishing Group offers verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible for women, by women.

With the help of more than 15 contributors, editors Dorothy Kelley Patterson and Rhonda Harrington Kelley systematically explain the purpose of the New Testament texts. The commentary is designed for women to use when teaching a class, directing a small-group Bible study or studying Scripture.

"Although the commentators are all women and write from that perspective, the Word of God is not to be interpreted through the ‘gender lens,’" write Patterson and Kelley. "God’s Word is for women and men, but this particular resource, without apology, is prepared primarily for women to use."

Conservative and scholarly, this resource uses the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation to accurately exegete Scripture and steers clear of predisposed bias toward 21st century social agendas, say the editors.

"Some Christian women have been influenced by gender issues today. Women often forsake the biblical role of women in the home and church and follow personal desires," Kelley said. "There also is a trend toward speculation or guessing what might be implied in the Scripture. Careful interpretation of the text will ensure accuracy in understanding the truth of God’s Word as applied in our lives."

Kelley serves as professor of women’s ministry and director of the women’s ministry and student wives programs at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where her husband, Chuck Kelley, is president.

From The Times (UK):

Here’s the typical eBook/Google intro…

GOOGLE and some of the world’s top publishers are working on plans that they hope could do for books what Apple’s iPod has done for music.

The internet search giant is working on a system that would allow readers to download entire books to their computers in a format that they could read on screen or on mobile devices such as a Blackberry.

With 380m people using Google each month, the move would give a significant boost to the development of e-books and have a big impact on the publishing industry and book retailers.

Jens Redmer, director of Google Book Search in Europe, said: “We are working on a platform that will let publishers give readers full access to a book online.”

And here’s the non-standard, new stuff from Google’s eUro eBook cHief:

He did not believe taking books online would mean the end of the printed word but it would give readers more options when it came to buying. “You may just want to rent a travel guide for the holiday or buy a chapter of a book. Ultimately, it will be the readers who decide how books are read,” he said.

He added that after many years of setbacks the electronic book looked poised to go main-stream. Commuters in Japan were already reading entire novels on their mobile phones.

See, at least Jens has a realistic view that eBooks add options but don’t come close to replacing books from trees.  I can envision some people renting a travel guide for a holiday, I just can’t see most people doing so.  Same with buying a chapter of a book for reading.  As much as people tout their multi-tasking skills, I doubt many people will toggle from paper/digital/paper when reading chapters 1, 2, & 3 of the next Ted Dekker novel just because the person’s traveling for the weekend.

In a previous post about Microsoft and eBooks, I mentioned the scanner that Google and Logos Bible Software uses.  It’s very cool.  Check out a demo here.

As for the Japanese reading novels on their cellphones, Japan is a literal graveyard littered with failed ‘cutting edge’ devices and digital lifestyle changes never adopted by the West.  Somebody tell Google it’s a cultural thing.  Scanning for reference is one thing, but the future is not now.  It very well may be coming, but eBooks are still the fodder of breathless reporters and eInk manufacturers.

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week outlined online uber-community MySpace’s proposed efforts to appease those that see the site as a trolling ground for degenerates.  The now Fox/News Corp entity’s solution?  Offer free spyware for parents to install on their home computers that logs when anyone signs on to the site and the profile name and age registered.  Content posted and viewed is not recorded.

The twist here with this spyware is that the MySpace user is notified when logging on that their information is being recorded.  So it’s spying with notification.

I understand the concern with keeping kids safe (you are required to be at least 14 to use the site) but MySpace would have been wiser to secretly contracted with a third party to develop and distribute the app instead of an ‘official’ MySpace spyware program.  Why?  Teens want privacy and independence.  Once MySpace ‘cozys up’ to parents, the start up, organic, ‘we make it - we own it’ feel will be gone, and teens with it flocking to the next recently discovered haven for mostly unfiltered conversation and independence.

The major underestimation here by MySpace (and typical of parents missing the motivations of the teenage mind) is that teens can mentally process parents being concerned with their safety; they’re the gatekeepers of the teen’s freedom.  But most teens want an ally in their pursuit of more and more freedom.  MySpace was once viewed as that ally, but the site could soon be moving to the axis of oppression.  Strangely enough, I don’t think a coalition of 33 state attorney generals should change (by threat of force) an online corporation’s business model because parents are checked out of their teens lives.  There are already a number of third party solutions to monitor your children’s activity online.  Squeeze the freedoms of MySpace too tight and watch it’s young members scatter.

This has its parallels in publishing in the Young Adult category as well.  Often times Christian authors and publishers are so concerned with answering teens questions with such completeness and precision on the ‘right’ answer or where to surgically draw the line, the content, while true, has the impact and penetration of a marshmallow thrown against a brick wall.  It comes off as less than real to a teen and, without connecting with their daily reality, the advice seems a tad removed from true.  And at worst it’s viewed as parental propaganda.  That’s why in the world of ’secular’ publishing, Young Adult fiction is so huge and in the CBA, Christian fiction sells less than YA non-fiction, because ABA fiction sounds like their world around them while sugary sweet, no-question-left-unanswered Christian fiction and non-fiction sounds, well, ficticious.

So when a corporate giant says "your parents and I agree it’s for your safety" many (but not all) will start to cast their patently disloyal consumption habits onto the newest, coolest, undiscovered country, no matter how raw and inelegant. 

Because raw and inelegant is real.  And to teens, for better or worse, real is true.

Which leads me to article number two. 

In a highly ‘techie’ six page article in an online mag for the IT community, Baseline examines the MySpace phenomenon by tracking the behind-the-scenes technical challenges from growing from just Tom to 26 million users and beyond.  If you’re into the techie crack of discussion on scalable architecture and database flexibility, click on through.  But the best part of the article lay here,  on page four entitled "Web Experts Grade MySpace": 

MySpace.com’s continued growth flies in the face of much of what Web experts have told us for years about how to succeed on the Internet. It’s buggy, often responding to basic user requests with the dreaded "Unexpected Error" screen, and stocked with thousands of pages that violate all sorts of conventional Web design standards with their wild colors and confusing background images. And yet, it succeeds anyway.

MySpace succeeds because teens don’t want rigid standards when it comes to personal expression.  While they do want a guiding force and moral code in their lives with reasonable boundaries, adhering to things like CSS and HTML standards is inflexible, cooked, and lame.  And as we all know, cooked is the opposite of raw.  And what is raw?  That’s right, raw is real.  So the talk around ‘cleaning up’ the visual standards and tweakability of MySpace is just another potential example of some insular OCD techies not ‘getting’ the teenage mind.

Once again, I can’t help but see the parallels in Christian Young Adult publishing.  It took a long while to ‘train’ the freelance editor of our Hungry Planet YA books.   I can’t imagine how hard it is for an English major to tackle our manuscripts.  The formatting is raw.  The grammar is raw.  Things are dangling, hanging, you name it.  After three years she’s a mostly breeze to work with, though I imagine it’s tough for her to switch gears to our projects.  I don’t really know if she understands why we’re doing it or just merely resigned to our methods! 

My point is that there are plenty of books on the shelves of teen sections in Christian book stores with fabulous content and truth.  But much of it reads like it was put through a web CSS and HTML standards committee; inflexible, cooked, and lame.  In three words, opposite of real. 

In one, fake. 

And that’s the real disconnect for the English majors and publishing gatekeepers, how can God’s truth be fake?  But it’s not the truth that’s fake to this Generation Next, it’s the delivery.

I think we’ve done a pretty good job on jumping the fake chasm in non-fiction.  And we’re making plans to do the same in YA fiction.  As I’ve said before, stay tuned.  By the way, for those that want a Christian version of MySpace, check out shoutlife.com.  Personally and corporately, I feel there are more kids to help on MySpace, so we’ll be there until teens are driven out to their next promised land of independence and freedom. 

Because one adult’s land of ugly layouts and unanswered questions is just another teen’s land of milk and honey.