THIS JUST IN. Homer has turned over in his grave. The Greek poet just learned that his epic poem The Iliad had been made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. Who'd a thunk it? Well, it could be worse. It could star the whole cast of Friends (the thought line here, by the way, is that Brad starred in an episode of Friends), with Jennifer playing Helen and Matt playing Hecktor. Maybe at the end they would all sing "Smelly Cat".

I guess some good might come from this late trend of filming classic stories. It is certain very few Britney Spears fans will read the Iliad. They will see the movie, however, which might, at least, make them aware of it and the themes in it. Hopefully, Snoop Dog will not make a rap song out of the poem.

Actually, speaking of trendy, I hear the theme song of the movie is sung by Josh Groban, that young and classically trained tenor who sings "You Raise Me Up", a short, but rousing song with high tenor notes. My wife, who likes young classically trained singers, has the CD. It was too good to last, however, as all things classic. A contemporary Christian group recorded it, adding some white soul sound, a new verse, and a choir to make it sound Christian.

That brings up another pet peeve, Christian artists who record non-Christian songs, usually love songs, and have them played on Christian radio stations. The first one I remember is "Love Lift Us Up", the old Joe Cocker song. Being old enough to remember Joe Cocker, I cannot bear anything of his being played under the guise of Christian music. He always looked stoned and about to have a seizure. He really did not sing well, either. I like him for that, as we have that in common. I just don't like his music on Christian radio.

I finally quit listening to KLTY here in the Metroplex when they began playing remakes of Beatles songs. I was afraid they would move on to the Rolling Stones. They could do "Get Off My Cloud".