First of all, many thanks to all the priests below for giving me something to post. There’s one thing you can always count on from the church–we will find a way to be absolutely absurd, stupid, violent, and ridiculous. So, again, many thanks. (And you thought priests were ‘sissies’.) My only take on the situation […]
Some neurologists are convinced that they are finally closing in on proof that human brains are deterministic chemical mechanisms, more complex than a ticking watch but no more “free.” Civic-minded writers worry how we will keep on talking ourselves into behaving morally and meting out legal penalties if once we become truly convinced that everything […]
My first substantial brush with ‘atheism/agnosticism/I kinda wish I was a Taoist but I always collapse into nihilism instead’ did not come about via reading Nieztsche, Bakunin, God forbid, Dawkins (a little humor there). I was 14 and it occurred while I was in church singing a song composed by some ‘everyman’ from Contemporary Christian […]
I have always wanted to put an annual list of my favorite filmwriting together, but never actually get around to it. If I did make such a list for this year, Darren Hughes’ commentary on the Toronto International Film Festival at Senses of Cinema would be somewhere on it. His description of Low Life is thrilling […]
In this Advent reflection, Tom Ryan wonders whether we really want what Advent prepares us for.
These aren’t really sick book reviews. I’m just not that cool. Rather, these are reviews of books I’ve been reading this past week while I’ve been sick. And since I’m feeling so crappy, these are not even going to be reviews–more like snippets of a review. Kind of a less cool version of what Armstrong […]
There are a number of different directions one can go when reviewing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. We could protest (again) that Robert Downey, Junior is no Sherlock Holmes. He does not look like Holmes or act like Holmes. On the other hand, neither does any other portrayer of Sherlock Holmes, for in a […]
It is a pleasure to announce that director Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is worth every penny of today’s high ticket price. In this moviegoer’s opinion, it’s easily the finest installment in an otherwise mediocre franchise. Moreover, it’s leaves X-Men: First Class, Captain America, and the rest of 2011’s glorified Saturday morning cartoons in […]
The International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture has just listed two new CFPs for conferences in 2012. The Society’s annual conference, hosted in Copenhagen in 2012, will focus on “Cultures in Transition: Presence, Absence, Memory.” Here is the link to the Society’s new webpage where all the CFP info is located: http://isrlc.org/. The 8th […]