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Notables: This last weekend's box office returns were the worst since 2001. The top movie pulled in less than $8 million. As this article points out: "The weekend after Labor Day is traditionally one of Hollywood's slowest, thanks to kids returning to school and the start of the college and pro football seasons." While I'm sure the start of school had something to do with low viewer turnout, I'd say most of this was due to the NFL kickoff. Football has the power to bring everything to a halt. Even churches feel like they have to set their clocks according to game time. Why all the love? This guy offers a few thoughts.

Then again, maybe school and football had nothing to do with the bad box office. It might just be that all we had to choose from was something we'd already seen or Bangkok Express. I've gotta be honest: if Nicholas Cage is in it these days, it's probably lame.

Top Five Books (according to USA Today research)
1. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
2. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
3. Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Shack, by William P. Young
5. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer

Notables: Meyer, Meyer, Meyer, and more Meyer. I'm running out of ways to get you take notice of this phenomenon with vampires. And it is a phenomenon. Between these books, the movie version coming out, and two new television shows that revolve around vampires, this isn't going to go away. Meyer knows it, too. She was poised to write even more vampire adventures - until her first draft of the next book was leaked on the Internet. Look: I'm very particular about what I address pop culture-wise from the pulpit. I don't like to hop on every bandwagon and ride it like mad. I also want to pull my hair out over our tendency to wildly violae the "author's" intentions for the pop culture item (be it song, movie, or television show). But this probably can't be ignored. It's probably not series worthy or even full sermon worthy, but it is worthy of a nod of acknowledgement and a little cultural exegesis. I ran into this short article about the phenomenon. An English professor at Montana State University-Bozeman says our current obsession with Dracula and his ilk "shows that people still hunger for immortality even though they live in an atheistic age. It indicates that people want to avoid responsibility for their actions."

Top Five Albums
1. The Recession, Young Jeezy
2. The Block, New Kids on the Block
3. LAX, The Game
4. Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock
5. All Hope Is Gone, Slipknot

One article I read identified Young Jeezy as "he Dan Rather of the hood," serving as "hip hop's number one rapping analyst, reporting directly from the front lines of traps in his hometown of Atlanta and abroad." And what does his report look like this time around? He "[encourages] blue-collar workers to keep their heads above the economy's high waters?endorses Barack Obama, rides Lamborghinis, smooth talks women, and of course, says hello to a bevy haters on the 18-track set." In many ways, this album actually is about the recession - it's just that I don't know how many people actually drive Lamborghinis in times of financial strain.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the New Kids on the Block being back. My sister loved these guys back in the day. In fact, that eighties-driven demographic is exactly what they are counting on to drive their album and subsequent reunion tour. Looks like a lot of folks are ready for seconds. More nostalgia. It's sort of like the Mama Mia! Phenomenon - which I'm really trying to wrap my head around.

Top Five Digital Downloads
1. "So What," Pink
2. "Whatever You Like," T.I.
3. "I'm Yours," Jason Mraz
4. "Paper Airplanes," M.I.A.
5. "Disturbia," Rihanna

Notables: If you follow the weekly roundups we do, most of these songs are pretty familiar to you. So, for the sake of making things interesting, check out this article on the top songs of the Billboard era. We've been charting songs for 50 years now, and guess which one comes out on top as the most popular of all time? Chubby Checker's "The Twist." When contacted about his victory, Checker was pretty bold: he said his song was as groundbreaking as the creation of the telephone. What made it so groundbreaking? "It was the first time people were dancing ?apart to the beat.'"