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Today's cuppa: English breakfast tea

Surprisingly enough, this isn't the first time that former Florida Gators and current Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow has made an HCTV appearance -- click here for proof -- but I have to be truthful in saying that I'm a recent member of Team Tebow and will assuredly be watching him take on the New England Patriots and QB Tom Brady tonight on CBS.

I was vaguely aware of the pro- and anti-Tebow factions out there since he began starting for the Broncos, but it wasn't until my Twitter stream started exploding during his recent six-game win streak that I really started to pay attention.

How could I not love a big, good-looking, hard-working, well-mannered kid who pulled off crazy, upset, nail-biting underdog victories in the fourth quarter or overtime -- a k a "Tebow Time" -- and drove self-important, cynical egomaniacs like Bill Maher and Charles Barkley absolutely bonkers? His unabashed public faith and especially his charitable work -- outlined here and here -- are just the cherries on top. Even the New York Times kinda likes him.

Recently, I was on the set of "Justified" talking Tebow during a break with a couple of the writers, and one of them suggested that he was like Matt Saracen, QB2 of NBC's Texas high-school football drama "Friday Night Lights."

Kicked to the top spot when the Dillon Panthers' hotshot QB1 Jason Street, played by Scott Porter (currently of my beloved "Hart of Dixie," on The CW), was permanently sidelined, Saracen may have lacked Street's natural gifts, but he made up for it with hard work, determination, heart and leadership.

Every "FNL" fan I shared this theory with liked the analogy, along with "FNL" executive producer Jason Katims, whom I saw at the NBC party during the current Television Critics Association Press Tour.

(And by the way, wouldn't it be awesome if Tebow did a cameo on "Hart of Dixie"? Along with Porter, the show also features a former NFL linebacker, played by Cress Williams, as the mayor of Bluebell, Ala., so it seems like a natural to me that Tebow might drop by for a visit.)

But in the real sports world, human heroes are increasingly hard to find.

Back during the Great Depression, when the nation was at a psychological and emotional low, the underdog racehorse Seabiscuit came on the scene and helped lift the spirits of the country. The 2003 movie "Seabiscuit," based on Laura Hillenbrand's book, made that point strongly, weaving in documentary footage of bread lines and WPA projects.

Then, in the 1970s, during another economic downturn, we had a string of Triple Crown winners, beginning with the first in 25 years, the big chestnut Secretariat. In the 2010 movie "Secretariat," director Randall Wallace leaned on the themes of people -- and a horse -- accomplishing things that naysayers claimed they never could.

A Christian, Wallace also layered in a faith element. In an interview, he said of Secretariat, "It's as if God whispered in his ear, 'Go,' and he went." Over footage of Secretariat's stunning Belmont Stakes victory, he played Edwin Hawkins' rousing version of the gospel song "Oh, Happy Day."



It's one thing to allow a horse to become an icon of athletic achievement and hope. Not being a flawed human being, a horse can only do what he or she was built to do -- run. It can't get drunk, end up in a mugshot, have a marriage go on the rocks or say something stupid in the press.

A horse can only be honest and pure and clean in victory or noble and sympathetic in defeat.

It's quite another thing to dare -- especially in these days, when it seems inevitable that everyone, no matter how well they start out, will wind up being spattered with muck -- even for a moment, to allow a human athlete to inspire us.

And for that athlete to be all of 24 years old, hardly more than a rookie, standing in the vortex of a cultural firestorm ... well, who knows how today's game will turn out, let alone next season or the rest of Tim Tebow's career and life?

I just know that he made football fun for me again, that he seems determined to do well and to do good, and that I'm endlessly amused by the people he endlessly irritates.

Good luck, Tim, and God Bless.

Tebowing with pride ...

UPDATE: Alas, the Broncos' playoff dreams ended in a decisive loss to the mighty New England Patriots, with Tebow remaining as even-tempered and classy as ever. Can't wait until next season!

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Dec. 22, on HBO2, the documentary "Top Ten Monks" profiles the Cistercian monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria, who have been praying for 900 years. But is is their rhythmic, musical Latin prayers, called Gregorian Chant -- named for Pope Gregory I, who served in that office from 590 to 604 A.D. -- that turned them into international pop stars.

Their CD, called "Chant: Music for the Soul" (or, as it's known outside the U.S., "Chant: Music for Paradise") was in the top 10 for two months on U.K. pop charts, and has sold nearly a million copies worldwide (in the interests of full disclosure, there's a copy in the CD player of my car, where it helps me avoid blowing my top while negotiating Los Angeles traffic).

(Apparently there's now a holiday edition of the CD, with added tracks.)

What I enjoyed is learning about the individual monks, especially the one that used to work for a motorcycle magazine and didn't really go through his early life with "Be a monk" on the top of his bucket list. These guys are also pretty tech-savvy, including producing a YouTube video -- not sure if this is the one, but it's a nice video of them anyway -- that got them their record contract with Universal Music in the U.K.

"Top Ten Monks" is a Perry Films Production, produced and directed by Dana Perry; Hart Perry is director of photography; and Michael Bacon wrote the original score.

The documentary repeats on HBO2 on Saturday, Dec. 25, a k a Christmas Day, and on different dates throughout January.

Below the picture, find email Q&As with Dana Perry and with Father Karl Wallner of Stift Heiligenkreuz Abbey. Perry's is in italics; Father Wallner's is not; all questions in boldface type.


Producer/Director Dana Perry

What, if any, preconceptions did you have about the monks that may have been
changed or challenged by what you saw?  

I was certainly aware of monastic tradition, but I applied that to a spectrum of orders, including Buddhist. I loved that one of my favorite artists, Leonard Cohen, had spent five years in a cloistered Zen monastery. My preconceptions included the idea that they would be somehow grim-faced and dour, suffering in some self-imposed way.

But that idea could not have been farther from the truth.  They were full of joy.

What did you find most compelling and most enigmatic about monastic life?

Life at the monastery was compelling in the sense of peace and dedication to community and hard work.

They live by the words Ora et Labora, prayer and work. Their joy in this life is infectious and charming. They manage to have fun and live spiritually.

As far as enigmatic, I found their commitment to celibacy (as if they have a choice) to be completely out of whack with reality. But that begs a longer discussion of church doctrine, history and recent headlines, so we won't go there. Blind faith may have its downsides.

Why do you think Gregorian chant has such a strong effect, even on nonbelievers?

It's so deep and elemental, and feels like it emanates from the soul.

The scales obviously predate our present-day conception of tonal music. Some think the chant grew out of its usefulness as a mnemonic, as texts were rare and churches dark. Somehow this prayer evolved over time, even as it was being preserved through repetition.

And let's not forget the video game "Halo." The faux Gregorian chant they use for game levels is reaching millions of young ears every day after school.

How did this experience differ from working on other films ­or did it?  

This was a very different film-making experience. I didn't have the chance to go there beforehand, so everything was set up over the phone and email.  And we only had six working days there. Contrary to many of my other films, which evolved over time, this required military (or Austrian Monk) precision.  I love a precise schedule, and they delivered. But I really wished we could have spent more time there.  I feel like we only scratched the surface - there is so much more to explore there.

What lasting impressions have you taken away?

It's great to believe wholeheartedly in something! I was struck by their peaceful demeanor, humor and kindness.  They live in a calm, healthy and contemplative way, awaiting death, upon which they will finally go to heaven, a monk's ultimate goal.

Father Karl Wallner of Stift Heiligenkreuz Abbey

What's been the effect, if any, on your daily life since you achieved worldwide prominence?

Nothing special: we are still monks in the same way as before. The media has given us the chance to show our life to people "outside" without destroying peace and harmony inside. Of course we are rather famous in Austria and Germany, and we have a lot of visitors. Many people write us about their problems. So we have learned that our hidden life and our prayer is precious to the whole world. We carry the sorrows of all people in our heart.

Why do you think Gregorian chant has such a strong effect, even on nonbelievers?

Because they are somehow empty in their hearts. Gregorian Chant is like a dialogue between God and man: we sing the texts of the bible, which are given by the Lord, back to him. So you can say there is God "in it" and people seem to feel this instinctively. They are certainly touched by the spirit of this music.

What do you feel while singing?

That God is close to me, that it is a very beautiful grace, that He called me to serve Him.

What is Christmas like at the monastery?
  
Beautiful. However Easter is the highest feast for us Christians, so our Easter celebration of the passion and resurrection of the Lord is many times more intensive and beautiful in the monastery than the feast of the birth of Jesus.

But of course Christmas is beautiful: we pray a lot, we have a peaceful coming together and the young brothers sing carols to the old brothers. Christmas is a feast of harmony, and our celebration is very similar to what European families do on Christmas Eve. I am looking forward to midnight mass in our big abbey church, when hundreds and hundreds of the faithful come to celebrate Holy Night with us.

What do you hope bringing your musical prayer to the world will do for those who listen to it?
  
Chant is music for everybody. Because God is a God who loves every human being, Christian and non-Christian, believer and nonbeliever, we think our music and our prayers can bring peace to everybody's heart. Gregorian Chant is pure harmony, the harmony between man and God, and thus harmony between all of us.

Are you optimistic about the future of monastic life?

Yes, of course! Where love of God is strong, there is a strong future! As we have seen in Heiligenkreuz, God can use communities and places where He is loved to share His love with a loveless world.

Today's cuppa: Iced peppermint tea

Texans Casey and Ethan Jones had worked very hard through a fertility treatment to add a daughter, Eliot, to the family. Then they decided that Eliot needed a brother or sister and returned to the same procedure.

Only this time, it produced fraternal quintuplets, five girls and a boy.

The quints were born in January 2009, and the Jones family first appeared in a Discovery Health special called "Too Many Babies," which aired in March 2010. Retitled "Quintuplet Surprise," it later re-aired on TLC, which decided to do a follow-up hour special and also picked it up as a series.

Now called "Quints by Surprise," the special aired on Monday, Aug. 30 (showing the Jones parents' efforts to sell a large house they could no longer afford), and the series premieres on Monday, Sept. 6.

Below is an email Q&A with Ethan Jones (below, with daughter Brooklyn), who also maintains the family blog, called Joneslife.net.

Enjoy! (Questions in bold)

Did the doctors explain how the same procedure produced one baby the first time and five the second?
 
Having multiples is always a possibility with the procedure that we did and that was explained to us both times, but the odds of having five is so incredibly low that it is really not brought up much.  We did the same procedure -- same doses and frequency of medications and Casey had the same number of follicles that were supposed to drop healthy eggs (4-5) prior to both procedures.  Our doctor was very apologetic to us when he gave us the news of the quints, but we knew it wasn't his hand that created these babies...God had other plans than all of us, I guess!

Are the girls sets of twins, triplets, fraternal?
 
The girls are all fraternal - none are identical.

How important is your faith in helping both of you stay on an even keel?
 
Our faith is HUGE!  It is our faith that led us down the path of getting pregnant in the first place, we firmly believe that every baby is created by the hand of God, and we rely on our faith to keep us sane through all of the mayhem that we face on a daily basis!

Through all of the challenges we have been through the last couple of years, our faith has been the constant that we have gone to over and over to help us keep our perspective on things and to keep us smiling through it all.

What made you decide to open up your lives to TV cameras (especially since it doesn't always turn out to be a universally positive experience for parents and kids)?
 
We knew early on that people would want to be involved in this adventure along with us.  People love babies and they love to get to know families like ours - that hasn't changed. In spite of the negativity that has swirled around some of the other stories, we felt like there could still be some greater good that could be accomplished by allowing the cameras into our lives.

We had a really good feeling about the guys who are putting the shows together after we first met and so we decided it was worth the risk. Hopefully we are doing our part and will continue to do our part in a way which is pleasing to Christ and the rest will take care of itself from there.

Aside from all the other changes, how have the presence of cameras changed your lives?
 
I wouldn't say the cameras have changed our lives much at all. We still do the things that we would normally do (with a special little excursion from time to time), but now we are followed by a camera or two. We really enjoy working with these guys (and now gals) - they are good people and work hard to put out a great show while respecting our needs as a family.  It's a great relationship!

What's been the most fun of the whole experience - quints and TV - so far?
 
I'd have to say the coolest thing about the whole experience is getting to be involved with so many different people that we would never have known otherwise and watching how they rally around our family and these babies (and Eliot, too!). It is so fun to see how our kids have touched people's lives, to experience the love that people have for them, and to be impacted as well by their presence in our lives.

There are some folks who jumped in on this ride early on who we didn't know prior that are now as close as family. We have some truly amazing people in our life!

What's the most difficult thing?
 
I think the pregnancy was definitely the most difficult thing to deal with - it impacted everything.  We were trying to come to grips with what was going on in our life, we were on pins and needles with Casey's health and the health of the babies; we were very concerned about the impact this would have on Eliot (left); and we were in need of a great deal of help for the first time in our lives. It was overwhelming to say the least (and oh yeah, I was in my first semester of grad school)!

Logistically, every day was harder than the day before because Casey's health was deteriorating, the economy was slowing down...good Lord, those were some difficult times!

How do you keep a marriage strong under all these pressures?
 
Man, that is tough sometimes. When your family life begins to run like a business is run, it can take a toll on your marriage. Fortunately, Casey and I were blessed with a strong relationship and a deep understanding of each other's needs. We know that no matter the challenge, we are in it together and we have gotten really good at picking up for each other's slack when need be. In spite of the craziness, we make a strong effort to get out of the house together for date nights as often as we can. We really thrive on one-on-one time and depend on it to get things in our marriage reset and make sure it's running smoothly. Plus, my lady is amazing so who wouldn't want to keep a marriage strong when you've got her by your side?!

Forget selling a house with six kids, how do you shop for a house and move with six kids?
 
This is where those amazing people come in and really step up for us when the need is beyond the norm. A few of our regular volunteers have jumped in for extra shifts to take care of the babies so we can get out and find our next home.

However do you find time to maintain a blog as well?
 
The blog has become sort of therapeutic for me. It allows me to step back from the day to day and reflect on the bigger picture that is being created around us. The response has been phenomenal; I just wish I had more time to write! 

Any advice for new parents?
 
Enjoy every minute of it - even the not so enjoyable times! And have fun with it! Don't let the stress and worry of having a baby be an excuse for shutting down your life. Casey and I took Eliot everywhere we went - we didn't slow down much when she was younger. Things are a bit different with the quints simply because of the logistical challenges, but when we are able to be more mobile with them we are going to have those kids out all the time.

Having kids reminds me of how much fun it was to be a kid and the cool thing about being a parent is that you have an excuse to go out and do all of the fun things your kids want to do. Trips to theme parks and water parks, swimming all day long, riding bikes, regular visits to the ice cream  - that stuff is awesome, even as an adult, so jump in head first and enjoy it while your kids still think you're a rock star and want to do everything with you!

Tonight, Thursday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, The CW's "Supernatural" returns for another season, as demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles) deal with the rising of Lucifer himself and an impending Apocalypse.

There to help out, more or less, is their trusty angelic sidekick Castiel, played by the lovely and talented Misha Collins, who was kind enough to pen some replies to a few questions about his character and the upcoming season.

I guess you could say he's winging it, but I shouldn't have, and I hope you don't. Here we go:

Q: The show put you through the emotional wringer last year, playing a beleaguered Angel of the Lord - and made you wear the same outfit in almost every episode. Can we expect more of the same this season?

A: Well, according to the story, the angels aren't supposed to feel emotions. But my angel did always seem somewhat beleaguered and certainly a bit bedraggled, which in good part was due to the outfit I wear. When I got the part of Castiel on "Supernatural," the character was supposed to last a couple of episodes, so when I went in for the fitting, I was pretty cavalier. I think I said, "Yeah, this'll work fine" to the first thing they had me try on. If I had any idea I'd be wearing that damn suit, I'd have put a lot more thought into it.

The pants have big pleats; the shirt is two sizes too big; and the whole thing makes me look like (Peter Falk in) "Columbo." But to answer your question, the outfit has not yet been burned, and Castiel is being put through the proverbial wringer now more than ever.

Q: What's been the reaction of fans when they see you in person?

A: Because the other actors on "Supernatural" are misfits of nature - they're giants - fans usually think that I'm short. I'm actually six feet tall, but when I'm being filmed next to Jared 

Padalecki (left), who's 6'6" or something, I look like a tiny wood-elf. People who've only seen me as the brooding, ethereal Castiel, are also usually surprised that in real life I have the capacity to smile and blink.

Q: What's the most fun of playing this part, and what's the most challenging?

A: There's a lot that's fun about playing this character: exploring what it means to be human, having the power to travel through time and teleport myself, and being able to magically mend my suit.

I think the biggest challenge - aside from not laughing during takes - is taking something seemingly so fanciful as an angel with super-powers dressed as Columbo and making something real and empathetic about him.

Q: Has playing this role caused you do any extra Biblical or mythological reading? If so, what?

A: Yes. I've read a good deal of the Bible in the past year. The Book of Revelation was quite a revelation. Angels in the Bible are not there to help little old ladies across the street. They are not cherubic, and they do not employ harps.

In the biblical Apocalypse of Revelation, little things happen like, "the four angels were released ... to kill one third of mankind." So my angel was informed by this. I think he's from the reluctant-smiter school of angels. Beyond that, I went to the bookstore and bought three popular books on angels, which were sucky and useless.

Q: Given your druthers, what would you like your next, probably non-angelic role to be?

A: Yes, well, if I could have a corner on the niche market of film and TV angels, I'd take it, but it's a small niche and I might need to broaden my horizons a bit. Before playing the angel on "Supernatural," I had had a string of assassin and serial killer roles, so this has been a welcome reprieve. I don't know.

I used to want to go into politics, I even interned in the White House for Bill Clinton at one point. Now I think it would be fun to be cast as a lawyer or a politician, it would give me a chance to play out that fantasy without actually having to slog through law school.

Q: Considering we're in the middle of an economic meltdown, how does it feel to be playing in a storyline about the Apocalypse?

A: The apocalypse that "Supernatural's" writers are creating is not sudden or cataclysmic. It's more insidious and incremental. The apocalypse on our show is really just a worst-case-scenario modern life.

Today's cuppa: Inukshuk blueberry icewine tea (sort of like a blueberry muffin you can drink)

This dropped into my e-mail inbox today. I checked with USC and was told that that all the events listed are open to the public, but feature open seating, so anyone wanting to attend should arrive early. Events are free, but it will cost $8 to park on campus.

In the spring of 2007, I attended a fascinating and informative panel discussion held at the Museum of Television and Radio (now called the Paley Center for Media). Entitled "Arab and Muslim Characters in Prime Time TV: The View From Hollywood," Two of the panelists, Howard Gordon of "24" and Kamram Pasha of "Sleeper Cell," are also at the USC event. Click here for the original story.

So, if you're in the L.A. area, these might be worth attending.

If you are reading this in plain text format, details can be found on our website at http://uscmediareligion.org.