by Erin Franklin | Jul 2, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Although it wasn’t quite “grizzling or horrigust,” The BFG just might be categorized as a “grunicous” (as BFG would say) film to sit through for anyone who’s graduated from elementary school. Moviegoers can’t help but to expect an E.T.-like film upon hearing Steven Spielberg was directing another story about a child developing a friendship with a fantastical being, but The BFG (The Big-Friendly Giant) falls short of the storytelling magic E.T. possesses that we’ve come to expect from Spielberg. The film focuses on Sophie, an orphan, who is snatched by a giant from her bed. The tale continues with an unlikely, yet lovable friendship between Sophie and the giant, whom she dubs “BFG.” BFG isn’t the only giant in the world, though; there are several other giants, who have terrifying names, “Bloodbottler” and “Maidmasher,” for example, who eat children such as Sophie. The rest of the story tells Sophie’s and BFG’s quest to end the terror the other giants inflict upon “human beans,” and even BFG himself. BFG is not entirely without merit. The budding young star, Ruby Barnhill, delivers an admirable performance as Sophie, the orphan who travels to Giant Country. Mark Rylance also provides a wonderful voice performance as the title character. The CGI in the film is striking as well; however, this year’s The Jungle Book’s imagery is much more so. With today’s CGI possibilities, it seems that the scenery could have so much more depth — “Giant Country” is dull and lacking compared to the intricate and detailed jungle in The Jungle Book. Despite Barnhill and Rylance’s performances, older filmgoers may begin to suffer from boredom...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 29, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The importance of building relationships with members of the team and staff is just one of the things Lipscomb women’s basketball coach Greg Brown learned during his years coaching on the staff of legendary coach Pat Summitt. Summitt, the long-time coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols and a pioneer in the world of women’s athletics died Tuesday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was buried Thursday in a private ceremony in Clarksville, near where she grew up. From 2002-2004, Brown was the assistant coach for the Lady Vols while the legendary Summitt was head coach. Brown got his start in coaching college basketball at the University of Tennessee, thanks to Summitt. “I really appreciate her taking the chance on a young high school coach to join the staff,” Brown said. During the time they coached together, Brown and Summittdeveloped a close friendship, like many others Summitt came in contact with. Brown reflected on this, stating that building relationships with others is what Summitt was best at. It’s something that he took away from the years of coaching with her and employs with his own team at Lipscomb. Strengthening relationships with his players even off the court is something Brown said he strives to do. “At the most, you’re going to play 40 games together, but you’re going to be together off the court the whole year,” Brown noted. “I think the first thing that you’ve got to understand is you’ve got to develop relationships. Before they’re going to trust you on the floor, they’ve got to be able to trust that you’re there for them.” Not only does Brown have fond memories of coaching...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 27, 2016 | Galleries
The Christ-centered youth camp Impact kicked off last week, celebrating its 25th consecutive year on campus with teens, counselors and adults worshiping God. Impact has two programs — Impact Junior, for grades 6-8, and Impact Senior, for grades 9-12. The Junior Camp is a weekend program and was held June 17th-20th. The Senior Camp is a week-long program and was held June 20th-25th. Senior Campus Minister Steve Davidson started the program after prayer and a lot of work nearly 30 years ago. Impact started in 1992 with 250 campers, counselors, and adults coming together to worship God. Impact 2016 had almost 3,100 students on campus....
by Erin Franklin | Jun 27, 2016 | News Slider
The Christ-centered youth camp Impact kicked off last week, celebrating its 25th consecutive year on campus with teens, counselors and adults worshiping God. Impact has two programs — Impact Junior, for grades 6-8, and Impact Senior, for grades 9-12. The Junior Camp is a weekend program and was held June 17th-20th. The Senior Camp is a week-long program and was held June 20th-25th. Senior Campus Minister Steve Davidson started the program after prayer and a lot of work nearly 30 years ago. “I really wanted to follow [God] and honor Him,” Davidson said, adding that he was “prayerful of a vision to spark my heart.” Davidson said God did give him a vision, and that vision was Impact. Impact has grown tremendously over the past 25 years, bringing people in from all over Tennessee. It started in 1992 with 250 campers, counselors, and adults coming together to worship. Impact 2016 had almost 3,100 students on campus. Most importantly, though, Davidson noted that “over the past 24 years, 2,124 teens have surrendered their lives to Jesus.” Most of these teens were baptized on campus in varying places, such as the swimming pool underneath McQuiddy Gym, to feeding troughs, above ground pools and in the fountain in Bison Square. Impact activities vary from worship with all students gathered together in Allen Arena to small-group studies to recreational activities such as “Frisbee football” to get to know fellow campers better. Recently-graduated high school senior Sarah Kate Robinson attended Impact for her first time this year. Robinson said the lessons she learned at Impact were “incredible.” “The theme of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ was one...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 18, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Many wondered if “Finding Dory” would sink or swim, but in typical Pixar-fashion, the animated comedy gets along swimmingly. Ellen Degeneres’ Dory, one of Disney’s most beloved characters, returns to the screen for her own feature film, providing lots of laughs and delighted squeals — from children, college-aged students who grew up with “Nemo” and adults alike — along the way and teaching some valuable lessons about family and focusing on one’s strengths. Among many good qualities, one of the film’s greatest strengths lies in its voice actors, brilliantly voiced by Degeneres (Dory), Albert Brooks (Marlin), Ed O’Neill (Hank), Ty Burrell (Bailey), Diane Keaton (Jenny), Eugene Levy (Charlie) and newcomer Hayden Rolence (Nemo). For moviegoers who are familiar with Pixar’s 2003 hit, “Finding Nemo,” Dory’s “short-term memory loss” ‘disability’ has often landed her in trouble. For example, she, on occasion, wanders off, then forgets where she has wandered off to — causing much despair for the fish who try to keep an eye on her. She forgets that Marlin has told her she’s not supposed to go on the class trip (making it a very awkward situation for Marlin to tell her in front of the class). She can’t even remember when she’s already told Marlin something in the night, so she repeatedly keeps waking Marlin up to tell him. For a moment, she even forgets why she and Marlin trekked across the ocean a few months ago (it was to find Nemo). It would seem Dory can’t remember much of anything important. One day, though, Dory does remember something important — something very important. She has a family. Somewhere out in the...
