Ah, the Summer 2008 Blockbuster Season continues…

The first trailer for The Mummy 3 is up now. (Anyone else growing bored with the “10,000 arrows flying at once” scene?)

Jeremy Zehr has restored my faith in movie reviews with his take on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Also, don’t miss the Speed Racer Review “Freak Bite” on his Freak Accident podcast.

As for me? So far this year, I have yet to see anything beyond Horton Hears a Who.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Wilson covers all the major concerns of shaping boys into real men: laziness, sex, secret sin, courtship, girls, friends, fights, school work, and sports to name a few. Each section is written with that ’serrated edge’ he is known for, so you need to read with a smile and not take offense if you are to gain from many of his good insights. —Paul W. Martin @ kerux noemata

Interestingly, Wilson notes that the abandonment of the Psalms in worship means that the church has discarded a songbook, that is throughly masculine in its lyrics, in favour of the effeminate hymns of the 19th and 20th century. The result being that the church is dominated by females as men are put off attending divine worship. The author also has lots of helpful advice on how parents should instruct their boys with regard to work, sports, education, friendship, sex, courtship, fighting, bearing firearms and the use of money; which, all in all, makes for a very stimulating read. —Daniel Ritchie @ Reformed Covenanter

This is a book on raising boys? Wow, I think I came away from reading Future Men with more instruction on raising myself! Not that it was necessarily Wilson’s aim, but his lessons are of the sort that I need to put them into practice myself before I can raise my own boy in them. This one is so insightful that I need to read it again; there’s just too much to soak up in the first reading!

Popularity: 3% [?]

There is much in this book that is edifying. It helped me understand Mark Driscoll and showed how he grew a megachurch in a largely unchurched city in only eight years. He is clearly a passionate, focused man who is genuinely seeking hard after God. He has much to offer the church. I wonder, though, how long his message will be heard as long as it is wrapped in a sometimes vulgar, always sarcastic, package. It may endear him to some, but it will surely alienate him from far more. —Tim Challies @ Challies.com

Driscoll seems very reflective on the way his church runs. He writes about his epiphanies he has and how things in the church needs to change. He certainly is dynamic, not in his writing, probably in his speech, but more so in the way he kicks the church into movement. —Kevin @ Tension Treatises

After the firestorm that erupted among Godbloggers last year over some of the contents of this book, I’ve been following Mark Driscoll (and listening to his sermons via podcast). The guy who I used to know only as “Mark the Cussing Pastor” (thanks to Blue Like Jazz) is quite a character, but this book showed me just how much he’s gone through. This ain’t no spring chicken on the church growth scene; he’s perhaps been through fiercer battles than most small-town preachers will ever see. In and through all of that, he’s being forged into a pillar of the Church, mark my words.

And that’s what this book is all about: it’s an autobiographical take on Mark’s work with Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. He walks us through the good an bad times he’s experienced during his tenure there. I’d say not only is this book great for pastors looking for some inspiration or encouragement, but church members would do well to read this and understand just how rough it can be to pastor a church.

Some people have complained about how Driscoll talks about some things in the book, but honestly? I consider the transparency in here a breath of fresh air—it’s a level of authenticity rarely reached by clergy, who all too often seem to prefer erring on the side of hypocrisy. I mean, the way I see it discretion is just plain way overdone among pastors these days. (It’s worse than the upper management in large corporations, where every little statement has to be scrutinized by a team of lawyers before it’s released to the public.) Driscoll just isn’t afraid of the potential backlash for telling it like it really is, and I respect him for that.

Popularity: 3% [?]

It’s not every day that I stumble upon something with such wide-ranging appeal that it can bring together people with interests as diverse as those held by my brother Nick and Russell Kilbane, a guy from my church.

But today, I have found just such a something. Go, read this analysis and commentary on Mims’ This Is Why I’m Hot. (HT: Seth Godin) This is what music reviews ought to be.

Happy Friday!

Popularity: 3% [?]

More than anything, I would have to say that Folgers’ Gourmet Selections Morning Café blend is smooth. I’ve searched and searched, but I haven’t been able to find even a hint of bitterness in it. Now, I’m one of those guys who just doesn’t like Starbucks (if you know someone who does, though, here’s a nice Christmas gift idea), and the bitter taste of their coffee is the main reason why… so obviously, a smooth coffee is going to be right up my alley!

This was the first of Folgers’ Gourmet Selections^TM that we tried, and I think it may be my favorite! In particular, this is the only coffee I’ve had in the past five years that doesn’t provoke a bout of acid reflux (YMMV). That alone is enough to win my heart–or at least my esophagus.

While this might make its name a bit of a misnomer, it’s especially nice served after dinner with dessert. (Nicole likes to put a scoop of ice cream in the coffee instead of creamer.) And because it’s such a gentle blend, Morning Café is now our semi-official “serve to guests” coffee.

I give it 5 stars!

Popularity: 10% [?]