The Good, the Beautiful, and the Grotesque: An Interview with Schuy Weishaar
I’ve recently had the lovely pleasure of reading an incredibly smart, crafty and erudite book, Masters of the Grotesque: The Cinema of Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Coen Brothers and David Lynch. This is the kind of book that most of us want to write, but very few of us could actually write. Schuy Weishaar pulls it off. Like a champ. Like the champ of all champs. Like THE... Read More
Book Notes of Note (Puppets, Crows, and Tim Burton)
‘Sup. Yeah. I just said, ”Sup’. Okay, so, in the past few weeks I’ve received a number of books for review, general edification, a place to rest my head, something to throw at my enemies, blahblahblah, and because it’s taking me forever and more to get to all of them, I wanted to at least draw your attention to each one. More to come on them later. I... Read More
Mad-Farming with Fred Bahnson (and the ecological perks of public urination)
I met Fred Bahnson back in grad school. We’d spend our lunches sitting on the steps of Duke Chapel playing chess. We were fairly even-matched. That is, we were both pretty bad at it. Nevertheless, it got us out of the classroom long enough to talk about Duke basketball–which is a lovely thing when you’ve made the mistake of taking a seminar on Immanuel Kant. I’d... Read More
That Holy Anarchist
I have such cool friends. I really do. You will, therefore, have to forgive me (literally–just ask Jesus) if in the next few weeks I spend some quality time highlighting their stellar work. From farming to animal liberation to books on the grotesque, I’m going to show you just how awesome I am due to my proximity to other awesome people. It’s a win/win situation. This... Read More
Nine is Better than None (5 Questions with Shawn Peters)
No time for a lofty introduction this week, here’s all you need to know: -Shawn Peters, from Catonsville, MD, is a scholar who has been on PBS, CNN and featured in Time Magazine and The New York Times. He has written the authoritative book on The Catonsville Nine. -Daniel Berrigan, in his early 90′s, is far cooler than you can ever hope to be. Seriously. Far cooler. -Shawn... Read More
Slightly Back
I took this past week off from the internet. Kinda. Well, mostly just from Facebook and The Amish Jihadist (I did check email on occasion . . . I have students . . . students are needy). But, it was lovely. I surfed. By surfing, I mean I surfed waves–not channels or the internet. I wrote some script for my upcoming comic book, which is pretty much all I want to do these days... Read More
‘A Faith Not Worth Fighting For’ May Be Worth Reviewing
In the past two weeks we’ve landed a sweet number of reviews for A Faith Not Worth Fighting For. So, I obviously have to share them with you. No, seriously, I literally have to share them with you. My publicist told me so. And she plays mean when I don’t listen to her. Think ‘Judas Cradle’ mean. “Recant, heretic! (And help us sell some of these crappy... Read More
God is a pain, or is in pain, or is pained . . . I don’t know
First of all, be sure to support the good people at Englewood Review of Books. It’s a great magazine/journal, and you should be all in the ‘in’ with them. Subscribe to their print magazine. Now, please. With their kind permission, they are allowing me to re-print my review of Zizek and Gunjevic’s new book, God in Pain: Inversions of the Apocalypse. We figure... Read More
A Nude King Takes it By the Bit: Five Questions with Becky Garrison
Becky Garrison may very well be Christianity’s most interesting court jester. What is a 'f@#k'? Kids today, what with their weird lingo and all. And yes, that is a compliment. I like to fancy myself quite the juggler (and I have all kinds of funky hats–striped tights, too), but I have nothing on the writings of one Ms. Becky G. She represents well the ever-growing... Read More
Dracula, Dexter, and Dostoyevsky (Five Questions with W. Scott Poole)
W. Scott Poole, PhD, is Associate Professor of History at the College of Charleston and likes to spend his time researching our fascination with things that go bump (or ‘bomp bah bomp bah bomp’) in the night. Unlike most academicians, Scott’s the kind of guy you actually want to hang out with outside of class. This may or may not have something to do with his awesome... Read More
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