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Notables: A lot of folks went to see May Payne last weekend. Movie critics were all in agreement that those folks should have stayed home. There just isn’t much to pursue here.

I also don’t think there’s much to pursue with the adventures of a chihuahua who lives in Beverly Hills. I’ve said it in the last two roundups—this is nothing more than mindless escapism in the midst of an economic crisis and an increasingly nasty presidential election.

I didn’t think there was much to pursue about The Secret Life of Bees, but then I read this article. It appears that “The Secret Life of Bees…is being marketed to Christian audiences with a ‘Bible study’ decidedly lacking in evangelical content—or even any Scripture references.” Interesting. The concerns raised in the article are justifiable. It is a little odd to offer a Bible study without the Bible. I’m not sure what they mean by “evangelical content”—are we to look for issues of substitutionary atonement in this film—but I suppose that’s justifiable, too. But here’s my issue: could it be that the Bible study is decidedly lacking in evangelical content and Scripture references because the author of the book the film is based upon wrote a book that was decidedly lacking in evangelical content and Scripture references? The book is about forgiveness. Big deal—so are a lot of movies that have no business having a Christian/evangelical worldview forced upon them. There’s a nice little scene of forgiveness in Pulp Fiction involving the characters played by Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames. Bible study, anyone? There’s a deeper issue here at play concerning the appropriate use—and inappropriate use—of pop culture. I think the whole Bible study premise itself that’s based on this film and its book is faulty. Is it really any surprise they couldn’t find a way to weave in lots of Scripture and theological development?

I’m feeling feisty today…

Another thing of note in this week’s list of movies: Oliver Stone’s controversial look at the life of our current president took the fourth spot. I’ve not seen this one—it sort of screams rental—but if the reviews are accurate, it seems Stone feels all the “issues” with Bush are “daddy issues.” For example, Bush senior’s inability to win a second term probably had to do with a tumbling economy and a war in Iraq that never snagged Saddam. Stone spins the narrative to show how Bush junior launched a war in Iraq in an effort to gain his father’s ever-elusive love. All this to support a theory that Bush is who he is and has done what he’s done because he has profound “daddy issues.” Now, there’s a lot here to unpack. I really only want to tackle it from one angle. I don’t know if Bush has “daddy issues.” Perhaps he does. It’s a little audacious of Stone to assume he knows the inner workings of a man, but that’s the way Stone often works. I do know this: if we actually think we’re going to step into booths on November 4th and elect a person who doesn’t have any issues at all that will affect his or her decisions—including, but not limited to, mommy or daddy issues—we are in a sad state of mind. We all have issues, and we all often make an idol of those issues, allowing them to drive us here, there, and everywhere. Now, again: I’m not saying Bush has “daddy issues.” I’m also not saying I know the set of issues that fueled the war in Iraq. For all I know, the issues may have been strictly defense issues, security issues. But yes, Bush has his issues as much as the next person—as much as the next McCain or Obama. To rush a film out, pre-election, in an effort to warn us to vote for the person without any issues, is somewhat funny to me. To think we might actually fall for that thinking and suppose we will vote in someone pure and pristine and perfect without fault, is terrifying.

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

Notables: If I could add a little sound file to this section of the round up, it would be an audio file of me letting out one big sigh. Meyer. Meyer. Meyer. She’s going to be around for a long time, if only because the first movie based on her series is about to be released. Oh—and perhaps everyone feels like reading about vampires because it’s Halloween time.

Top Five Albums
1. Lucky Old Sun, Kenny Chesney
2. Paper Trail, T.I.
3. Gossip in the Grain, Ray LaMontagne
4. Death Magnetic, Metallica
5. Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson

Notables: Fans of country music—and even some music fans in general—love Kenny Chesney, so it’s not big surprise that he has another #1 album on his résumé. I don’t really know that much about the Chesney or his new album, but one thing caught my attention: Chesney clearly wants you to think about heaven and your going to it. Right in the middle of the line-up is the first hit single off the album: “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.” The title of the album is based off of an old country hit: “That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day).” In fact, that’s the song that closes the album. See what I mean about the heaven theme and your going to it? I don’t know if I’d do anything with that. I would be careful if I did—especially after seeing the lyrics to “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.” But the human longing for something better, something “other” is intriguing.

The only other newbie is Ray LaMontagne. I like LaMontagne a lot. I don’t know if you will. He’s awfully melancholy. I tend that direction, so I don’t bat an eye at it (but I have to watch it). His new one is quite good (growing on me more and more), and it actually has a few happy little tunes. In fact, the whole thing kicks off with a feel-good song filled with horns and gospel singers.

Top Singles
1. “Whatever You Like,” T.I.
2. “Live Your Life,” T.I.
3. "So What," Pink
4. "Womanizer," Britney Spears
5. "Hot N Cold," Katy Perry

Notables: All the same songs are here from last week, just in a different order. If you listen closely, you can hear me sighing again…

Top Five Web Searches (according to Google Trends)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. limit down
2. engaged.mtv.com
3. nbce
4. arrested for virtual murder
5. startup delayer

Notables: Limit down has to do with the economic crisis. Boy, we’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this thing—and I’m pretty sure I see a few people gathering tools to remove the kitchen sink from the wall for a game of toss. Here—read this for a really thoughtful spin on our economic past, present, and future.

The second item has to do with Engaged and Underage, a show on MTV that looks at extremely young kids who are engaged to be married. The show has been around for a little while, so I’m not sure what’s driving the renewed interest. Maybe a new season has begun? I’m sure they haven’t had any trouble finding young kids willing to do anything to be on TV. I’ve caught an episode of this. It’s a little scary at times.

NBCE? I don’t know. It’s either a chiropractic thing or an NBC affiliate. Move along. Nothing to see here.

Item #4—now this is interesting. After a virtual divorce in a virtual reality game, a Japanese woman was arrested for killing off her virtual husband (his avatar). However, she wasn’t arrested for the murder (because, well, it wasn’t really murder). She was arrested because she hacked into his computer to kill him off. Check it out. Note the last paragraph in the story. The whole virtual world stuff is getting creepier by the minute, isn’t it? And speaking of virtual murder and other virtual vices, check out this piece that Out of Ur ran a few months back (look for the entry from May 2, 2008, “The Passion of the Heist”).

Does your computer take forever and a day to get warmed up in the morning? Mine too! Maybe you should get a a startup delayer. A startup delayer “lets you set delays for the various applications you load when you boot your computer, so that they don’t attempt to load all at once, slowing you down.” That way you can hit the ground running when you get to work. Though I looooove the sound of that, I can see that it exposes our obsession with work, with the bottom line, with speed, with having to wait, with instant gratification.