This isn't exactly Christian movie related, but I wanted to share an interesting story.

DMX, aka Earl Simmons, says that he wants to start a television outreach program and eventually preach from the pulpit.  He says he wants to "reach people that the average person can’t reach."   

The article goes on to say:

"I came here to meet somebody,” said the rapper. “Don't know who it was, but I’ll know when I see him. And I came here to give him a message. And that message is Jesus loves them."

For those familiar with DMX, the rapper's latest statements sound not too different from what he claimed in March 2003, when he said he planned to retire from rap and turn to preaching.
What most will likely find odd, however, is the explanation he offers in defense of the profane and violent lyrics that lace his songs and how he even encourages his children to listen to them.

"It's just slick talk; it's not something to be taken literally. Evidently, if I was doing that, I wouldn't be rapping,” he said."

DMX is currently serving a 90 day jail sentence.  Lets hope he's serious.  I'd love to see DMX team up with a guy from England or Australia or New Zealand & do something akin to Kirk Cameron's "Way of the Master."
(Christian Post)

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SuperCandid Games: Heavenly Harmony Gold totally PWNS Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

Remember Guitar Praise: Solid Rock ?  Well, fugedabout!

In the battle for Christian computer games inspired by hit video games like Rock Band & Guitar Hero , Heavenly Harmony Gold by Cloud9 Games is clearly ahead in terms of features!

Feature 1:
6 players simultaneously!  Not even Rock Band manages this!  4 singers at one time!  That''s 'Bear is driving car' crazy!

Feature 2:
Full compatibility with xbox 360 and Playstation 3 USB-based Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers! No need to have any extra fake guitars hanging around your house!

Feature 3:
Actual graphics of singers and a performance venue!  Click here for video!

Feature 4:
Only $49.95!  & That includes a USB microphone!  Plus free upgrades for owners of the original Heavenly Harmony!

The only real advantages that Guitar Praise: Solid Rock brings are a bigger song list(but see below), and an OS X version of the game.  The Guitar Praise: Solid Rock bundled controller is wireless, but Heavenly Harmony Gold can use the wireless Guitar Hero controllers from the xbox, since they use a usb dongle to get their wireless functions.

You can check out a partial songlist for Heavenly Harmony Gold here , and they promise that in addition to adding full instrument compatibility for tracks from previous releases(backwards compatibility!), they have an all new game coming out in 2009!  This is an exciting year for Christian video games!

(The Christian Post)
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Trailer, gameplay footage & an excellent article on Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

If there is one thing that Don & I like as much as movies, it is obviously video games.  Despite my lack of any sort of musical skills, I even like Guitar Hero  & Rock Band,  mainly because they are the best way to experience video games with a group of people who don't necessairly play a lot of video games.

We were both interested in Guitar Praise: Solid Rock  when it was announced, and we both hoped that it would buck the trend of Christian video games being either awful or bizarre.  I felt that a good precedent had been established by Left Behind: Eternal Forces , because no matter what you think about its content a good amount of production value was put into that game.

The few reviews that have come out have been pretty positive , but I think that it would be pretty simple to make a knock-off of a popular game.  Especially when there is already an open source knock-off  who's code you can peruse at your leisure.

GameSetWatch has a fantastic opinion piece  about Guitar Praise: Solid Roc k, which puts it in perspective with other Christian video games (although they leave out Left Behind: Eternal Forces ),  and comes down with some strong thoughts about what it means to have "Christian" video games.  Much of what is said can also be applied to "Christian" movies, so it is a great read.

(GameSetWatch Opinion Article)

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Guitar Praise to have sequels?

Guitar Praise , is, inconceivably, a huge hit.  I shouldn't say inconceivably, because I knew it would be a huge hit.  I should say, it would have been an even huger hit if they had released it on the the Playstation or Xbox instead of the PC & Mac. 

But, apparently it was such a big hit that now they are considerng doing what they should have done in the first place.  They are also considering adding multiple instruments, bringing them in line with the latest Rock Band & Guitar Hero games.  This game was apparently created mostly in house at Digital Praise, with the help of 2 dozen contractors, and has gotten positive write-ups, and even incorporates innovative features like Rock Band 2's 'no fail' mode.  



All of which begs the question:  why was this released on PCs again?

Now that the PS2 is officially an open platform, there should be nothing holding them back.

(MTV Multiplayer via Kotaku )
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The Imposter to premiere in October

The Imposter, the film starring Kevin Max of dc Talk, will premiere in Texas this month!  No word on the eventual DVD release where most of us will see it, but if you live near a Studio Movie Grill  location, you can see it starting this weekend.   This film looks interesting, and I'll keep you posted on its availability.  Keep an eye on the official site  for more. (TitleTrakk Movie News) (Official Site) (Studio Movie Grill Home Page) Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

Sunday School Musical

Wow.  I never thought I would see the day.  But it happened.

Someone made Sunday School Musical.

There are no words, only the sound of cash registers ringing in Christian bookstores across the nation.

At least, that's what they are hoping I guess.

I have no idea if this movie is any good, but it is certainly lacking in the originality department.  I suppose it could be very well done and have a completly unique take on the whole thing, and, in concept, I think that a Christian musical is a great idea.

But the title, and packaging, and everything else about this, just screams rip-off cash-in by greedy opportunists who smell money.

This is not what the Christian movie industry needs if it wants to be taken seriously by Christians or anyone else.

Just look at this. Look at it!


(Christian Film News)
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Episode Twenty Nine - The Wager

This week we tackle the latest Randy Travis masterpiece 'The Wager'... Michael Steele (Travis) has it all, fame, fortune, but in a strange turn of events, his world comes crashing down on him. This is his story of loss, love and things unseen. Or something. We had a time deadline looming and a bizarre set of circumstances clouding the show. Also, Don had his mic on the wrong setting. Enjoy awkward pauses and poor audio! *** Here's the new Bon Voyage album cover Don mentioned. *** The intro and outro musics can be heard in their entirety on our muxtape. ***

You can find out more about the Jesus Anime that we talked about at the website for the project, and the video we're talking about is right underneath this.

***

supercandid@gmail.com Contest Win your very own (preowned/SC reviewed) copy of 'The Oath of the Desormeau'! Just leave a comment on this post naming your favorite Christian film. If you do not have a blogger account, you can comment anonymously, but make sure to leave your name. Also, it would help to leave your email address. We will randomly select an entry and announce the winner on our next episode. Apparently, Duckbill is really, really, really on the ball, and entered the contest before we even made a post about it. Nice job!

***

ps.  Sorry for the late post, but I didn't realize that Don was so on top of things. *** Direct Download Save This Page

Spirit West Coast Video Contest

I don't know anything about Spirit West Coast.  Nothing.  

Apparently it is some sort of Christian music festival.  I recognized a band called Skillet.  

But, I'm interested because they are having a amateur video contest for videos to be played on their JumboTron during the festival.  Sounds like a fun opportunity to get some home-made short films seen.  I'd recommend films that don't rely upon sound to get their point across, since no one can ever understand anything broadcast over a PA system.

(news release at Christian Examiner)



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The Impostor

Coming soon, Christian movie The Impostor, a story about a government agent involved in finding an alien spy on Earth, only to realize that he might be the spy himself.  Starring Gary Sinise, Vincent D'Onofrio...wait a second.  That's not The Impostor.  That's Impostor.  Right. 

Well, it's about time they did a Christian re-make.  Hopefully the old Starship Troopers costumes they used in the original are still available.  

Wait.   It's not that kind of movie either.

This movie stars Kevin Max(of dcTalk) as a Christian rock singer who suffers some kind of breakdown and realizes that he, himself, is the impostor.  The movie's not done yet, and the editor just posted on the Christian Filmmaker Yahoo group that they're hoping to finish the editing this week and get the film done completely by June.    

You can watch the trailer below, and I hope that it lives up to the promise of not having one conversion/redemption experience and now everything is great:

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The Worst Best Of 2007

Favorite films of 2007:

Don:

1. The Host
2. There were others?

Favorite albums of 2007:

Don:

1. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
3. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
4. The Changes - Today is Tonight (2006)
5. Metric - Grow Up and Blow Away
6. Surrogate - Love is for the Rich
7. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
8. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
9. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
10. El Ten Eleven - Every Direction is North (and s/t)

Becca:

Marie Antoinette soundtrack
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The National - Boxer
Blonde Redhead
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Rob Crow
Patrick Wolf
Junior Boys
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
** honorary mention: Hot Chip ... wasn't released in 2007, but definitely my top most listened-to record of 2007

Jon's Movies, no order but The Host is the best movie of the year:
Juno 300 Transformers Superbad Enchanted The Host Across the Universe Shoot em' Up Hot Fuzz Volver

Jon's Music:
A Fine Frenzy - A Fine Frenzy
Across the Universe Soundtrack
Brandi Carlile - The Story
Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah"
Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
Paprika Soundtrack
NIN - Year Zero
Carly Binding - "So Radiate"
This will Destory you - "I Believe in your victory"
Mexico "Through the Sparks" -
The Great Spy Experiment - "Class A love Affair"
The Isles - "Eve of the Battle"
The Ark - "One of Us is Going to Die Young"
Skye - "Love Show"
Say Hi To your Mom - "These Fangs"
moi Caprice - "moi Caprice"
Iamx - "Spit it Out"
Goelm - "Warsaw is Khelm"

The first song I bought in 2007 was "Stay With Me" from The Fountain Soundtrack, and the last song was "Public Pervert (remix)" by Interpol. -jon


(ed note: I added in album titles for the ones I knew off the top of my head for Becca's list, as she didn't mention any specific titles. - Don)

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Walk the Line down the Gospel Road!

This week we're reviewing a movie I've been looking forward to for a while, Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus. Directed by Robert Elfstrom, and starring Elfstrom as Jesus and Johnny Cash as the narrator who guides you through the life of Jesus, this film is one of the most unusual films about Jesus I've ever seen. It also features the incomparable music of Johnny Cash, with help from June Carter Cash and Kris Kristofferson. Tune in to see how it measured up to our (high) expectations, and to hear a bit about what's coming up for the Super Candid Podcast!

Show Notes:

The San Antionio Christian Independant Film Festival(which we mentioned once before, here)

Across The Universe Official Website -Best Film I (Jon) have seen this year!

Delicious Monster - organize and catalog your books, music, movies, etc.

Halo 3 Theatre Information

Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier is free on !

The Game I mentioned playing with Don is the great Ticket to Ride.

Intro:"God's Gonna Cut You Down" By DJ Schmolli and the Johnny Cash AllStar Band Outro:"Must I Wait" by Phil Wickham from 'Cannons'

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Does beautiful music distract from God?

The New York Times has an interesting article about religious music, particularly Christian worship music. The author raises the question of weather simple music leads to simple faith, or if overly complex music actually distracts from God.

Author Bernard Holland brings up a couple of good points, particularly about the decline in Christian music being related to the decline in the Church as a patron of the arts and the shift of economics in general away from the Church. He also relates a telling personal anecdote of reciting a beautiful and deep liturgy that took so much concentration and was so stunning that he didn't think about God once during the song.

I'm on the fence about Christian music in general and worship music specifically. I really like some classics, like "Amazing Grace," but I'm hard pressed to think of recent ones that I like. "Awesome God" was great when I was 14, but I can't stand how repetitive it is now, and it's a great example of a good idea being killed by the conventions of worship music at the time(namely endless repetition). "God of Wonders" by Mac Powell (*cough Steve Hindalong - Don) is good, and I like Todd Agnew's "My Jesus" but it's not much of a worship song since it disses your church. The only recent song I can think of that I think is really great is "Blessed be Your Name," by Matt Redman. I can't get enough of that song.

My co-contributor Don read the book that gives this post it's title, Body Piercing Saved My Life by Andrew Beaujon, and he shared with me the author's description of worship music. I think it is funny, insightful, and evocative(everything most modern worship is not):

"[describing a Time-Life Songs 4 Worship video collection]...a bunch of dorky concert goers freaking out like Beatles fans at Shea Stadium in 1964 as some of the worst music you'll ever hear blasts out of the arena's speakers. The songs are a blend of folk-rock, country, and singer/songwriter blahness spiced up with the odd sampled beat. The first time I saw it I wondered if the audience had been paid."

(NYT Article "Does Simple Music Form Simple Faith?")

(Matt Redman's Myspace, where you can hear Blessed by Your Name, if you haven't)

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