It’s Halloween! As such, here are my picks for some of the best Halloween episodes of TV out there to watch this season.

The US Government works really hard to keep their secrets safe from prying eyes. And sometimes bored writers with a quirky idea will just go and reveal those secrets to the world without even meaning to.

Prepare to investigate the secret history of country music sequel songs!

Three recent releases serve as great examples of how to make necessary sequels or unnecessary sequels. Guess which two serve as the examples of unnecessary sequels.

Everyone on the Internet is talking about why Top Gun: Maverick never explicitly names the enemy nation. That’s because it doesn’t really matter.

Authors, artists, and creators of all kinds spend hours considering how their words and their work will affect an audience. Shouldn’t the audience take just as much care considering their interpretations?

Our world is living under a shadow right now. And we are prone to fear living under that shadow. But there is a greater shadow that reminds us who is in control and who scares away our fears.

There is a common rule in storytelling that says “Show, Don’t Tell.” However, sometimes doing neither one is actually much better.

In some instances, Hollywood writers have used the search for aliens as a metaphor for the search for faith.  The three most prominent examples help us learn quite a bit about how culture and ourselves view faith: Contact, Signs, and Ad Astra. 

We hardly ever think about how the character receiving the benefit of the main perspective in a work matters, but that one simple detail shapes everything about how the audience experiences the chain of events that makes up the plot. 

What’s a Mary Sue? Am I one? There’s a lot of confusion about this topic, and just as much anger. So I will definitively answer the questions surrounding two recently accused Mary Sue’s by saying…maybe?

I want to talk about Endgame. I want to talk about all the incredible moments that will make fans stand up and cheer or want to weep. Both exist. And perhaps in a couple weeks I’ll delve into a more spoiler-unfriendly review. This isn’t a review so much as it is a letter of appreciation.

Sure, sci-fi needs to look cool and show us something new, but truly legendary sci-fi needs to show us something human.

Mary Poppins Returns is a very silly, predictable movie, but it is the right kind of silly and predictable, which makes it a great musical. And like all great musicals, it is quite delightful.

It’s a harsh reality to get slapped in the face by disappointment when someone we love lets us down. It’s even harder when that person is fictional.

Truth be told, George Lucas’ later mistakes in the Star Wars prequels were all our fault. We should’ve seen it coming.

Sequels are like playing the lottery and, just like in the real lottery, you have better odds of being stabbed in the eye by a passing pirate captain than you do of winning.

There are several characters in pop culture who died and left us feeling…well, nothing. So how exactly do you make a character’s death matter?

I’m not sure if firing James Gunn was the right decision by Disney, but there is a lesson to be learned from this episode: Don’t say dumb stuff.

Marvel's follow-up to Avengers: Infinity War seems to come from the 22 Jump Street school of sequel filmmaking: just do the same thing as the first time.  

From countless visual callbacks to intriguing new plots, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" is exactly the type of movie needed to follow up this back-and-forth franchise's return to pop culture dominance.

So let me tell you a story about the time my mother bought the same movie not once...not twice...but three times. 

In days gone by, older cultures had epic tales of great warriors and mythical beings.  Today, we have Star Wars.

As long as Star Wars wants to mine the past for these new stories…you're going to keep on seeing these sort of narrative hoops get unsuccessfully navigated. 

The simple fact is that you can always find better preaching. You can always find better music. However…you just can’t replicate the true value of a church through remote means.

When we reflect on the birth of Jesus at Christmas, we realize that nothing is more important than how we respond to the person of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

People tend to have some unique images and concepts of Satan. The one image we never ascribe to Satan is our own, but that is exactly what we run the risk of becoming when we oppose the will of the Lord.

Have you ever stopped to consider what you want to be known for as a follower of Christ?

Every Christmas, people come out of the woodwork to proclaim that Christmas is really a pagan holiday. Christmas is clearly and obviously a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. And yet, maybe they have a point?

Sometimes we get so focused on the greatness of God that we forget to consider the goodness of God.

When Jesus died on the cross, He shouted, “It is finished!” But that doesn’t mean that all of the work of Easter is finished.

War is carried out by governments, and it may have political motives, but that doesn’t mean our response to a moral, humanitarian crisis should be political.

The Jesus of John 11 weeps with His loved ones and mourns with us. Does the Jesus of Matthew 8 do the same thing?

My youngest child knows me for red hats, trucks, and country music. While that’s adorable, what does God say I should be known for?

I have spent most of my adult life defending Christianity and jumping to disagree with anyone who says that Christianity is oppressive. Perhaps I was too hasty to make that argument.

What’s the difference between a Mormon temple and a Christian church? Aside from the obvious theological differences, there is one particular architectural difference that stands out above all.

My oldest child and I have been having some very serious conversations lately about life and death and Jesus. This story is about one of those conversations where I almost made him cry.

Our world is living under a shadow right now. And we are prone to fear living under that shadow. But there is a greater shadow that reminds us who is in control and who scares away our fears.

Theron Sapp is famous for what he did in exactly one football game. Pete Rose is famous for one mistake that cost him everything. Somewhere in the middle, we find a truth about faith that’s elaborated in Hebrews 11.

My grandmother died about two weeks before Christmas a few years ago.  That’s not exactly a happy way to start any story, especially a Christmas story, but it’s the truth. And if Dickens can start the most famous Christmas story ever written with a death, I suppose I can, too.

In some instances, Hollywood writers have used the search for aliens as a metaphor for the search for faith.  The three most prominent examples help us learn quite a bit about how culture and ourselves view faith: Contact, Signs, and Ad Astra. 

I realize that you’re probably expecting to read an uplifting, encouraging post about how God will use you to do great things. And yes, I am generally a very encouraging, uplifting person, so you can be forgiven for making such magnanimous expectations of me.

However, that’s not exactly what I want to talk about today.  You’ll see.

That’s the unanswerable question I bring to you today: What should American Christians (or Christian Americans) do about religious persecution in this nation?  

The disciples are just a couple weeks removed from witnessing the greatest miracle the world had ever seen. So why are they so content to go back to the lives they had before?

Jesus is easily the most important person involved in the Easter story, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a lot by looking at the other people around Easter and how they responded to Jesus.

Celebrating Palm Sunday is a wonderful part of Holy Week, but we have to stop and consider something when we talk about Palm Sunday, and that’s the fact that you don’t actually want to be like the people who were bowing with palms on Palm Sunday.

Without the power of Jesus, then the power of scripture is reduced about a thousand times.  Sure, the Bible might still have political or social power.  It might still have persuasive power.  But milking the Bible for anything other than the Holy, saving power of Jesus Christ is a mockery when it comes to the Word of God.

So much of everything we do today revolves around branding. Especially when it comes to cementing your “personal brand.” But how does "building your brand" really fit into God's plan? Is that what we are called to do? Is that who we are called to be?  

It isn’t popular to talk about sin, and I’m not surprised. People don’t like to talk about sin, and I don’t blame them for that, but that doesn’t give us a pass on discussing it.

What amazes me about the stars is that the longer you look at the night sky without the pollution of other distracting lights, the more stars you can see. The hidden, unsung constellations start to come into view.

History is riddled with people like Neville Chamberlain who prioritized their own peace over justice and right actions. Are we walking in lock-step with them?

We all have what we would consider the best portion of the Thanksgiving turkey, and we all want that best portion. But how often do we consider the best portion of ourselves when giving to the Lord?

When Irma hit Athens, it was quite a sight to behold.  The rain and wind blasted against windows while people took shelter in their homes, most of which were without power eventually.  Of course, my wife and I were at St. Mary’s Hospital dealing with a storm of our own.

It hurts when the people we care about die. That pain is in no way lessened when it takes us longer than normal to learn the horrible truth of a loved one’s passing.

The US Government works really hard to keep their secrets safe from prying eyes. And sometimes bored writers with a quirky idea will just go and reveal those secrets to the world without even meaning to.

Prepare to investigate the secret history of country music sequel songs!

Jamie is new in town, so he doesn’t really know the legends of Old Man Zahn’s house. He doesn’t have years of terror built up in him. Perhaps that’s why it was so easy for him to walk into the house that terrified the other boys and see first-hand the terror that is the House of Zahn in this new short fiction from Adam Wynn.

Three recent releases serve as great examples of how to make necessary sequels or unnecessary sequels. Guess which two serve as the examples of unnecessary sequels.

Everyone on the Internet is talking about why Top Gun: Maverick never explicitly names the enemy nation. That’s because it doesn’t really matter.

Authors, artists, and creators of all kinds spend hours considering how their words and their work will affect an audience. Shouldn’t the audience take just as much care considering their interpretations?

Journalism without objectivity is journalism without credibility, and that is journalism that does not deserve to shape the future.

Some people get their pleasure in life from pretending to throw a tennis ball for a dog.  Those people are horrible human beings.  Don’t be that kind of person. 

There is a common rule in storytelling that says “Show, Don’t Tell.” However, sometimes doing neither one is actually much better.

We hardly ever think about how the character receiving the benefit of the main perspective in a work matters, but that one simple detail shapes everything about how the audience experiences the chain of events that makes up the plot. 

What’s a Mary Sue? Am I one? There’s a lot of confusion about this topic, and just as much anger. So I will definitively answer the questions surrounding two recently accused Mary Sue’s by saying…maybe?

I want to talk about Endgame. I want to talk about all the incredible moments that will make fans stand up and cheer or want to weep. Both exist. And perhaps in a couple weeks I’ll delve into a more spoiler-unfriendly review. This isn’t a review so much as it is a letter of appreciation.

So much of everything we do today revolves around branding. Especially when it comes to cementing your “personal brand.” But how does "building your brand" really fit into God's plan? Is that what we are called to do? Is that who we are called to be?  

Sure, sci-fi needs to look cool and show us something new, but truly legendary sci-fi needs to show us something human.

Mary Poppins Returns is a very silly, predictable movie, but it is the right kind of silly and predictable, which makes it a great musical. And like all great musicals, it is quite delightful.

It’s a harsh reality to get slapped in the face by disappointment when someone we love lets us down. It’s even harder when that person is fictional.

Truth be told, George Lucas’ later mistakes in the Star Wars prequels were all our fault. We should’ve seen it coming.

Though his side of the bed was normal, Willard quickly realized that his wife’s side of the bed was horrendously shredded and slimy.  Willard did not focus his energy on that side, though, as he continued to scan the room for the cause of the sound and the damage to his wife’s side of the bed. Standing by the window, watching the moon as if looking out from an aquarium, there stood a great horror.

Sequels are like playing the lottery and, just like in the real lottery, you have better odds of being stabbed in the eye by a passing pirate captain than you do of winning.

There are several characters in pop culture who died and left us feeling…well, nothing. So how exactly do you make a character’s death matter?

I’m not sure if firing James Gunn was the right decision by Disney, but there is a lesson to be learned from this episode: Don’t say dumb stuff.

There really is a perverse pleasure in killing a character you’ve created, but death in fiction needs to mean more than just death for death’s sake.

Hushed murmurs were the order of the pre-ceremony conversation with farmers and teachers and salt-of-the-earth Americans from rural Kansas struggling for words of casual civility in the midst of such somber proceedings.  Reverend Zachariah had called them all in that evening with the once-dormant church bells, and those who remained knew why they were coming together.

One of the most maligned rules of writing fiction is this idea that you can only have one thing – one single thing – that was changed about your fictitious world if you want to tell a good story.  

A writer who can’t write is, by definition, useless.

While the Power 5 conference offices don’t control the outcomes of games (allegedly), we can imagine they probably have a team they would prefer win the conference title for various reasons. Here is a list of who the Power 5 conferences would each pick to win, if they could. Even though nobody would ever think of putting their thumb on the scale. Of course not!

Leading up to the 2022 CFP National Championship Game, I was a ball of nerves. I was terrified. But this time? This time feels different.

Why I was 100 percent correct about Georgia’s mistake firing Mark Richt…just for the wrong school.

Glory, Glory! The Dawgs are National Champs, and it took me two weeks to get my thoughts sorted well enough to write about things.

Sure, the future is bright for the Braves. The NLCS champs will return several key pieces next year and have a chance to be even better in 2022. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to win right now.

Ever since Stetson Bennett had a video game-like performance against UAB in Week 2, some people have been trying to start the narrative of a quarterback controversy in Athens. But does the hyped up controversy really exist?

All but a handful of Georgia’s regular-season contests against Auburn University have been played in November. If the SEC wants to preserve the unique quality of their best rivalries, then this game and the ones like it need to keep their special place on the SEC calendar.

Last season, it was cute to watch the little Razorbacks play football and maybe win a few games. This season, the Hogs are a real threat. Can they threaten Georgia between the hedges on Saturday?

Theron Sapp is famous for what he did in exactly one football game. Pete Rose is famous for one mistake that cost him everything. Somewhere in the middle, we find a truth about faith that’s elaborated in Hebrews 11.

Mullen is having his fun and trying to crawl under Georgia’s skin in the offseason. After all, the Cocktail Party is one of the SEC’s most enduring rivalries. It’s a game that includes division and national implications quite frequently. It’s a heated game between two traditional powers, so the environment surrounding this game has always been pretty wild. Still…what’s this guy’s problem?

This is it. The Enemy. Tech. Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Here’s the real question. Will they put up more of a fight than South Carolina?

Now that the cupcake is out of the way, it's time to start with some protein.  You guys like chicken?

Here's everything you need to know about our opponent, Austin Peay, heading into tomorrow's game: Nothing. This game isn't about Austin Peay. This game is about Georgia. 

The Georgia women’s basketball program is just a shade shy of elite and one name proves that point better than any other: Olivia Nelson-Ododa.

I know we're all feeling pretty good in Athens, since the Dawgs are coming off of a National Championship Game appearance and the team seems to be as talented as ever, but that doesn't mean the 2018 season will be easy sailing. 

As great as sports can be, I’m afraid that we are living in a world that lets sports take priority over doing the right thing.

I'm going to make a statement that shouldn't be shocking, and yet somehow I think a lot of people have missed this idea: You can love Kirby Smart without bashing Mark Richt.  

Watching the World Cup has me thinking one agonizing thought: How great would it be if we could enjoy an international competition on this scale for football?  

The primary reason for Tech to keep Paul Johnson around right now is simply because he's the best option for the Yellow Jackets.  

In days gone by, older cultures had epic tales of great warriors and mythical beings.  Today, we have Star Wars.

It hurts when the people we care about die. That pain is in no way lessened when it takes us longer than normal to learn the horrible truth of a loved one’s passing.

War is carried out by governments, and it may have political motives, but that doesn’t mean our response to a moral, humanitarian crisis should be political.

My oldest child and I have been having some very serious conversations lately about life and death and Jesus. This story is about one of those conversations where I almost made him cry.

Some people get their pleasure in life from pretending to throw a tennis ball for a dog.  Those people are horrible human beings.  Don’t be that kind of person. 

My grandmother died about two weeks before Christmas a few years ago.  That’s not exactly a happy way to start any story, especially a Christmas story, but it’s the truth. And if Dickens can start the most famous Christmas story ever written with a death, I suppose I can, too.

So much of everything we do today revolves around branding. Especially when it comes to cementing your “personal brand.” But how does "building your brand" really fit into God's plan? Is that what we are called to do? Is that who we are called to be?  

When Irma hit Athens, it was quite a sight to behold.  The rain and wind blasted against windows while people took shelter in their homes, most of which were without power eventually.  Of course, my wife and I were at St. Mary’s Hospital dealing with a storm of our own.

I look back on all of these great moments and I wonder...how can a place so full of memories feel so empty?  

It is important to understand that the legal term free speech only applies to potential government interference.  That is true.  However, I don't believe it's enough societally that our free speech is only important to the government.