“He’s looking down and smiling”
Says the close of the obit…
The deceased man was an atheist;
That means… precisely… shit. [Read more…]
The Digital Cuttlefish
Since the music plays so briefly... Can you blame me if I dance?
“He’s looking down and smiling”
Says the close of the obit…
The deceased man was an atheist;
That means… precisely… shit. [Read more…]
I’ve never bombed a synagogue
I’ve never torched a church
No mosque has seen my violence—
Please, go ahead and search—
No meetinghouse, no temple,
Nothing anywhere you look
But still, they call me “militant”
Because I wrote a book. [Read more…]
Watching the media debates about Ferguson, about militarized police, about use of force, about all of it… I am A) depressed, and B) put in mind of C. P. Cavafy’s amazing poem “Waiting for the Barbarians“. Go, read it! (Ok, that’s the English translation; if you want the Greek, here it is.) [Read more…]
This was rubbish! This was horrid!
This was brain-insulting stuff!
This was far too complicated
Or, perhaps, not quite enough!
All the writers should be fired,
With about two-thirds the cast
They could never hold a candle
To the folks from seasons past—
Why, I still remember watching
[Insert favorite doctor here]
And [some previous companion]
From the best and greatest year
This new Doctor disappoints me
Most completely, it would seem
(And you mustn’t get me started
On the credits or the theme)
Yes, my utter disappointment
Makes it difficult to speak…
So expect me here, like clockwork,
To complain again next week. [Read more…]
In Ferguson, police are trying to control a situation. On twitter, you can see footage that is simply chilling (here, for instance, pay attention to the trivial detail of where the gun is pointed). More here.
On TV, Robin Williams has died.
In Ferguson, according to twitter, cops are telling people to go home. “We live here!” is the response. “This is our home!”
CNN and Fox are both looking at Robin Williams’s film career.
In Ferguson, according to twitter, police are firing rubber bullets to calm the crowd. To calm the crowd. Gee, and here I thought I’d never have another opportunity to post this lullaby… from a couple of years ago in Oakland… [Read more…]
On the tube or the net, the distraction I choose
Is to sample a bit of the national news
I look for the stories that tug at my brain—
The ones that are tricky, or hard to explain
But the story today? Well, we’ve seen it before;
Just another sad death in a long, bloody war;
A conflict that seemingly never will stop…
Just another black kid who’s been killed by a cop.
[Read more…]
You should never read the comments,
Comment veterans explain;
You should never read the comments
Cos they’ll irritate your brain
You should never read the comments
It’s too difficult a strain;
You should never read the comments…
But I’m reading them again. [Read more…]
When the townsfolk demand I resign
For a statement I’ve owned up as mine
For my honest opinions
Of Hussein and his minions
That I uttered out loud
(I’m not sorry—I’m proud!
See, the man makes me sick
So I turn him off quick
Cos he’s all that I see
when I turn on TV)
I respectfully, strongly, decline [Read more…]
So… I was looking at something else entirely, when this popped up as something I might want to read. That’s right, an article at the Christian Post… so you know it has to be true. There are commandments (well, one) against bearing false witness, you know. [Read more…]
Could “Noah” be a metaphor
For global climate change?
At first, the claim is ludicrous–
At second, merely strange
The people didn’t listen,
And the global waters rose:
Replacing “God” with “Scientists”,
The story likewise goes.
Our sins will lead to flooding,
That plot, too, remains the same–
A global warming metaphor
That dare not speak its name!
It seems odd, given that more than one US congressman has cited the Noah story as proof that anthropogenic global climate change cannot possibly be happening, but the cinematographer for Noah reveals in a Daily Beast interview that the new Noah movie is actually a Global Warming Epic, a movie with a strong environmentalist, pro-science message:
That was the largest theme of the film: environmentalism. In the marketing of the film they shy away from it. I don’t know why it’s a taboo thing to say “environmentalism” cause you’re going to scare off half the population because they’ve been told “environmentalism” is a bad thing? The idea that we have to stay away from the issue because we’re going to polarize half the audience speaks to how fucking dysfunctional we are.
We also find out that Superstorm Sandy caused serious damage to the ark set, on Long Island–of course, a true global flood in the time scale of of the Noachian story would dwarf Sandy, so I guess they just don’t build arks like they used to. Or never did, or whatever.
I have not been paying attention to the reviews of Noah–indeed, this interview is the first I have heard the environmental angle spoken of.
You?