Here are today’s Top 10 items from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

1. And that’s the way it wasn’t. The world didn’t end on Saturday. Here’s how CBS News reported the non-Apocalypse.

2. Volcanic rupture — but not quite Rapture — in Iceland. From The Christian Post:
On Saturday, a small island in Iceland witnessed its most active volcano, Grimsvotn, erupt around 5:30 p.m. local time, close to the hour that Harold Camping predicted Judgment Day would begin.

3. Oops! From International Business Times: Camping’s wife said her husband was “somewhat bewildered” and “mystified” after his prediction proved a dud, said Tom Evans, who belongs to the inner circle of Camping followers.

4. Raising Cain. From the Des Moines Register: Former pizza CEO and conservative radio host Herman Cain made it official Saturday, joining the small but growing roster of candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination.

5. What else is new? From NewsBusters: Bill Maher on Friday once again spent much of his “Real Time” program on HBO bashing conservatives.
During his final “New Rule,” he accused Republican primary voters of wanting a presidential candidate who’s misogynist, racist, and homophobic.

6. Conservative producer Jerry Bruckheimer says his views haven’t hurt him in the entertainment industry. From Fox Nation: “I think Hollywood is pretty fair about that. I mean, I really do. It is always about the work and if you do good work, people will honor you and work with you again. It is never about your politics.”

7. But conservative actress Patricia Heaton reports a different Hollywood experience.
From PopEater: “We know for a fact there are some people who have said they wouldn’t want to work with us because of our politics,” she said, with her husband David Hunt adding, “We get lumped in with lunatics.”
Also: “My feeling is all these things come from God and as long as I know I’m staying in line with Him, I don’t have to worry if there is backlash…God will open any doors he wants to open and if he closes doors that’s fine to.”

8. Tree of Life takes top Cannes award. From Hollywood Reporter: After a tight race, Robert De Niro’s jury planted Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life in Festival de Cannes history by awarding it the coveted Palme d’Or at a closing ceremony Sunday night.
Malick took his time to finish the highly anticipated project, which the festival had originally hope to screen last year, but it proved worth the wait when Tree was crowned victorious among the solid titles in this year’s lineup. A meditation on topics ranging from family life to the creation of the universe, the film starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain will be released Friday stateside in exclusive engagements by Fox Searchlight.

9. Joseph Brooks, wrote the song You Light Up My Life, apparently commits suicide.
From The Wrap: Brooks, 73, was facing trial on 82 counts of sexual abuse. He is alleged to have raped 11 young women after luring them to his residence with the pretense of auditioning them for movie roles.
It was a rather difficult fall for a man who not only wrote the tune “You Light Up My Life, which singer Debby Boone turned into a syrupy pop hit, he also wrote and directed the eponymous movie, which starred Joe Silver and Didi Cohn. (actually Didi Conn).
Note: Debby Boone has been quoted as saying that she was thinking about God when she sang the song.

10. TV Fall Trailer Review: The Playboy Club (NBC, Mondays, 10:00 P.M. E.T.)
It may not be a favorite of the faith community but the show has hit written all over it. I’m not as much concerned over the subject matter (which could actually be enlightening if handled honestly) as the likelihood that the show will become a marketing tool for Playboy Enterprises and for a sexist, unhealthy  lifestyle.  I’d rather see a show with a similar theme but set in a fictional men’s club and, therefore, freed from the pressure to present Playboy in a positive light.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11