Stories Are Soul Food

It's Severance SZN! Like many in the Canon office, Brian watched Ben Stiller's new show "Severance" and, amidst the story-grip that Severance caused, has many questions...mostly having to do with goats. Nate answers them emphatically as usual -- and this provides viewers with a nice lesson in thematic film-viewing. (Think of it as a sneak-peek at the SASF LAMP club viewing of "The Fabelmans" coming at the end of February...you can now subscribe the SASF newsletter to be notified.) There will be some SPOILERS in this episode, so be an adult about your spoiled expectations. "Severance" feels like a show that exists in the same universe as "That Hideous Strength" -- if it were written by Christians. But there's an argument to be made for it being an apostasy story. You will enjoy. #Severance #BenStiller #ThatHideousStrength #SASF #NDWilson

Brian bothers Nate with balloons for the big episode (and a big pod announcement). Happy ONE HUNDREDTH birthday to SASF! How does that math check out? Well, folks, listen to find out.... But before we get to the big announcement, the guys heard from enough of you regarding A.I. and ChatGPT that they spend awhile de-fanging your objections to last episode. Then -- you get to find out about the SASF LAMP. Want to know what that acronym means? Well, folks, listen to find out.... #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #ChatGPT #SASF #MovingPictureClub #LAMP #HappyBirthday

You may have seen the new robot making waves: ChatGPT is sort of a glorified search engine which (who??) can perform detailed reasoning and compose answers to complicated topics. For example, it can give researched, chapter-length answers to questions like "Explain quantum computing in simple terms" or "Explain why 'The End of the Affair' a classic -- and use scholarly sources." This raises many questions -- mostly about so-called "artificial intelligence" and creativity. To explore these, Brian tries to get the robot to write a never-before-seen N.D. Wilson novel, and the results are hilarious: prepare to be dazzled by "The Last Mortician." (Spoiler: Nate was not dazzled.) But the discussion wends its way to the real problem behind technology such as Tesla's self-driving cars and robot policedogs -- the idea that humans aren't involved from start to finish. There is no such thing as Artificial Intelligence -- we're puppeting ourselves at this point. At least there's no such thing, Nate argues, until the demons get into the system. #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #ChatGPT #Tesla #Puppets #Computers #creativity #technology

Merry Christmas! Nate tells Brian about a recent trip to Manhattan and the experience of watching Handel's Messiah at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Mecca for aspiring secular artists. The guys break down the universal, global appeal of the performance and what it means for Christian art. Contrary to some claims, what makes "Christian" art good or bad is not whether the Christian message is too overt. After all, Handel's Messiah is straight Scripture. It's whether that art -- overtly Christian or not -- sets a benchmark for excellence that even god-haters will recognize and applaud. Graham Greene and Flannery O'Connor provide more examples for this important discussion. #Christmas #MerryChristmas #Advent #TheMessiah #Handel #ChristianArt #GrahamGreene #FlanneryOConnor

Warming to a familiar SASF theme, the guys discuss why Die Hard is, indisputably, a Christmas movie. But first, they discuss the Grinch, and why we like him more than Cindy-Lou Hoo, and why Tiny Tim is  so very annoying, and many other Christmas movies (usually filtered to a greater or lesser degree). Christmas is ultimately the story of subversion -- not to be confused with perversion -- and understanding that is the true spirit of Christmas. #Christmas #MerryChristmas #Advent #ChristmasMovies #DieHard #Elf #Spirited #TheChristmasCarol #subversion

Nate wishes you Merry Christmas by means of a New Saint Andrews video he narrated, titled "Let Joy Erupt" (listen to it in this episode). After the rush of appearing in that video's B-roll with his family, Brian opens up about his sense of style being criticized as "hipster trad" by one of the video's critics. A discussion of what it's actually like to live in the Pacific Northwest ensues -- there are wolves and coyotes. This allows Brian to segue into a discussion of whether Noah and Jacob were "not really very good people," as per Twitter, and to talk with Nate about how best to tell the stories of the Patriarchs to your children when, for example, you celebrate Advent with a Jesse Tree. #Christmas #MerryChristmas #Advent #JesseTree #Noah #OldTestament #PrimevalSaints

Why hasn't there been a SASF episode for weeks? Because basketball coaching. But turns out sports is a fantastic metaphor for life -- if handled correctly. But if your kid isn't getting the point, better to have them play video games. In this context, Brian asks Nate about his 10 year goals. Nate waxes eloquent on setting ambitious goals -- but then counters himself with an argument that being able to recognize failure is perhaps more important. Not moving the goalposts, recognizing failure, and moving on after disaster are all key skills to develop for parents, employees, bosses, and pastors. #SASF #StoriesAreSoulFood #NDWilson #BrianKohl #Failure #FailForward #SetGoals #basketball #lifelessons

Say you met a highschool kid who was confused about the biblical view of gender: would you give them a book or a movie? The answer to this question is probably not what you expect, and it highlights the way that conservatives get the gender and sexuality conversation wrong. The guys begin this discussion with a related question: in a hot Thanksgiving dinner, is it the nutritional content that contains the value -- or is the goodness in something else? The discussion which follows discusses the relative merits of painting with a broad brush, and the (almost complete) worthlessness of an idea when it has been reduced to nutritional goo. Yes, they also talk a lot about Children of Men and Enemy of the State. #SASF #StoriesAreSoulFood #NDWilson #BrianKohl #ChildrenOfMen #EnemyOfTheState #NutritionalGoo

Parenting isn't easy, and Rachel Jankovic's "Sir Badalot and the Cranky Danky Dragon" gives parents the tools to talk with their fat-faced toddlers about emotional self-control. Most parents do that by resorting to the poor parenting tactics of 1) emotional distraction, and 2) emotional reaction. Turns out, your child's response to a "fussy dragon" should include actually pretending to kill it! But the self-control vitamins are not why Sir Badalot is a good book -- that's just an added benefit. The SASF guys host Rachel Jankovic to talk through this parenting advice and how her fun new book, illustrated by Hello Ninja's own Forrest Dickision, is really just a fresh chocolate cookie for a hungry child. (Oh, and you'll also get a nice long stretch of Nate's dark take on relying on real-life vs fictional friends.) #SirBadalot #CanonballBooks #SASF #StoriesAreSoulFood #RachelJankovic #ForrestDickision #HelloNinja #FussyDragon

This episode juxtaposes abortion and hospitality. We live in a post-Roe v. Wade world -- can we apply those lessons to storytelling now? How do evangelicals do with that cultural fight? Does fiction have a place in it? (Not the way you probably mean it.) The guys dig deeper into the themes of Episode 90, exploring the meaning of "proof" and poor ways of obligating belief. Familiar SASF themes emerge in this episode -- specifically, the importance of a good meal outweighing the value of "good" propaganda. Comparisons between October Baby and Juno are made. And you'll get to hear about grandmothers and the random acts of kindness that inspire the next generation more than all the political sloganeering in the world. #StoriesAreSoulFood #SASF #RoevWade #hospitality #Juno #OctoberBaby #Stories