March 13, 2012 Members of the Church Team, a professional blackjack team made up of Christians, worked through the morality of card counting
By day, Mark Treas leads worship and baptizes new believers. By night, he plays blackjack at Caesars Palace and other Vegas casinos.
March 6, 2012 A new documentary follows world-famous sushi chef Jiro Ono on his quest for perfection
Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a new documentary opening in select theaters this month, follows the personal and professional life of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo, and considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef.
February 14, 2012 Lisa & Mo, a young baking company, aims to create delicious gluten-free desserts
Grinchy green avocado cupcakes drizzled with chocolate, cinnamon, and nuts. Dense, moist black bean brownies coated with caramel and sprinkled with coarse salt. Chewy double ginger cookies zinging with sweet spices.
February 14, 2012 Six quality films to celebrate the many facets of love this Valentine's Day
Ah, love! The celebration of St. Valentine's Day lends love a special focus each February. But for believers, love can be a celebration every day - and hardly limited to romance. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul compels us to examine love's many faces. Film makers as well have dug deep to provide some luminous portraits of love.
February 9, 2012 A new project on Olympic Blvd. brings cultural identity to Koreatown
Thirty years ago, at the first annual Koreatown parade, Anne Kim remembers that little set Koreatown apart from its urban neighbors. It was just an ordinary collection of streets with a smattering of Korean businesses.
February 8, 2012 New silent film is both a box office and artistic success
In an age of ceiling-to-floor IMAX 3D blockbusters, it takes serious guts to front $15 million for a silent black-and-white melodrama. Yet the producers ofThe Artist have financed both a box office and an artistic success.
February 2, 2012 Fancy some tea? Check out Hwa Sun Ji, Bricks and Stones, and Shutters on the Beach.
Teatime has never been written into the American routine as it has for Brits or Hobbits. But maybe we also need to take an hour out of our hectic day to relax with a pot of tea. Los Angeles has dozens of personalized teashops that are perfect for conversations with good friends, catching up on studies, or quiet reflection. These are not your typical chain coffee shops, these are places to sip earl grey (or lotus) tea while reading a novel. To get you started, here are three teashops in the Los Angeles area that may be worth your while.
January 31, 2012 Angelenos of all backgrounds celebrated the lunar new year with a parade and festival in Chinatown
The staccato of firecrackers popping in alleyways filled the air. Tourists bought large confetti guns from hawkers on the sidewalk, spilling colored paper into the street. With the sun shining bright overhead, thousands lined the streets of Hill and Broadway in Los Angeles's Chinatown Saturday afternoon to celebrate the 2012 Lunar New Year, the year of the dragon.
January 18, 2012 A renovated Indian restaurant in Silver Lake combines modern Indian cuisine with California flavors
Walk through the towering arched gateway of Naya, an Indian restaurant with a California spin in Silver Lake, and you'll feel like you left Sunset Boulevard and entered the Ottoman Empire.
January 16, 2012 The David Crowder*Band releases its final album, giving listeners a vision of judgment, repentance, and heaven
In A Collision, the David Crowder*Band's third major studio album, Crowder compares art to a lark which "rises on wing from earth to fill the heavens pulling the rest of us with it... as the lark rises so do we." It is no accident that the David Crowder*Band's sixth and final major studio album released Tuesday, Give Us Rest (or a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]), also features a bird on the cover. The band's 100-minute magnum opus is a soaring achievement, a challenging musical journey that takes its listeners from the bowels of judgment to the heights of paradise.
December 23, 2011 A new trailer for next year's Hobbit offers hints about the latest film adaptation of Tolkien's beloved series
It's been eight years since the last Lord of the Rings film graced the big screen, but this week fans were thrilled to get a quick glimpse back into Middle Earth when the first trailer for the first of two upcoming Hobbit films hit the web (see below).
December 20, 2011 Against the backdrop of a post-Christian worldview, this murder mystery is powerfully and disturbingly portrayed
On the surface The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a gripping murder mystery. The first book in Stieg Larsson's international mega-selling trilogy has been adapted for U.S. audiences following a Swedish language adaptation from 2009. Looking deeper, the mystery happens against the backdrop of Larsson's post-Christian worldview, which is powerfully and disturbingly portrayed.
December 13, 2011 LA considers lifting a ban on murals in the city
Los Angeles was once known the mural capital of the world, with hundreds of public paintings on crevices, freeway underpasses, and alleyways from Hollywood to Skid Row. They displayed the history, roots, and ethnic diversity of one of the most colorful cities in America.
December 5, 2011 The new Muppets movie caters to both veteran Muppets fans and a newer, younger audience
To many Americans born between 1960 and 2000, the Muppets were childhood icons - plastered on lunch boxes, watches, and backpacks. But the last decade has seen the near disappearance of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and the rest of the crew from popular culture. That is until last week, when Disney released "The Muppets," the franchise's first theatrical release in 12 years, and the first Disney-produced Muppet film since "Muppet Treasure Island" in 1996.
December 5, 2011 Middle and high school students get a taste of ballroom dancing and manners
It's Tuesday evening, and 13-year-old Ellie Bruner-Welch trades her usual skinny jeans and t-shirt for a long, flowing gown. She's going ballroom dancing, and the wardrobe change makes her "feel like a lady." Her brother, 15-year-old Kyle, dons a suit, tie, and polished dress shoes.
November 23, 2011 The Tituses celebrate Thanksgiving by frying rice pancakes in the morning
This is the second part in a series looking at how different cultures celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. At the end of each story is a recipe for you to try. Read the first story here.
November 22, 2011 The Chuols celebrate Thanksgiving with large gatherings, story time, and sambusas.
This is the first part in a series looking at how different cultures celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. At the end of each story is a recipe for you to try.
November 22, 2011 The storyline is often inexplicably mystical with characters coming and going without much explanation of their motives
November 17, 2011 After a trip to the Dominican Republic, 13 Biola students write a book on the country and its love for baseball
Last Thursday, 13 Biola University students released their book, "The Dominican Dream: A Passion for Baseball, a Love for Family, and a Hope for the Future," which follows the stories of the people they met during a nine-day trip to the Dominican Republic last spring.
November 7, 2011 It's not enough to pray through adversity, says author Ann Voskamp, but be grateful in it
It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving, so it's time to publish edited excerpts of an interview with writer Ann Voskamp conducted last month before students at Patrick Henry College. Her best-selling (and extraordinarily good) One Thousand Gifts (Zondervan, 2011) is about giving thanks even in-especially in-adversity.
