Buzz Bin

Movies' Rampant Morality


Is it possible to practice one's faith in Hollywood without becoming like that Gibson bigot? Barbara Nicolosi -- screenwriter, consultant, fund-raiser and professor, all in service of her mission as a Christian working in Hollywood (and a formerly a nun-in-training, too) will deliver a lecture entitled "Why Movies Matter: A Pastoral Approach to Hollywood" on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 pm at the Barbieri Courtroom in Gonzaga's School of Law. "The goal of Christians in the arts is not to make stuff that is only for Christians," Nicolosi says. "The role of Christians in a secular world like Hollywood is to say there is beauty, and people long for it. There is truth. There is goodness." Call 323-6720.





Why Fiction Matters


John Nelson had finished reading from his Inlander Short Fiction Contest-winning story at Auntie's the other night -- it's about a Gulf War vet contending with flashbacks -- when an audience member raised his hand to say that he'd served in the Guard himself, and had observed changes in those who returned from war, and had been so moved by Nelson's story that he'd e-mailed it to a couple hundred vets. And had received many grateful and emotional replies. A wonderful moment: a writer's audience expanded, readers' lives enriched.





And Scooby Wept


"Iwao Takamoto, dead at 81." Who? Just a man who spent most of World War II interned at Manzanar, drawing sketches to pass the time; who got himself hired by Hanna-Barbera; who helped animate The Flintstones; and who concocted a rather famous klutzy dog by taking everything that makes a Great Dane great, then reversing it.





Carves, Elbows, Glides


Sandpoint's Nate Holland took the bronze medal in the men's boardercross event at the World Snowboarding Championships in Switzerland last weekend. Look for him in three years at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.





Beloved of God


Nobody else around here is celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth; somebody's got to do it. Allegro complies by presenting a divertimento; "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"; and arrangements of the Magic Flute overture and C minor Wind Serenade on Friday, Jan. 19, at 8 pm at the Bing. Call 455-6865.