Scientific studies have shown that when times are good, people act bad. Morality becomes an afterthought in times of peace and plenitude, perhaps because bad behavior often pays off when the world is otherwise stable.[…]
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Category: Reality
I’m Not There
Reposted from 2007 I knew even before the house lights went down that I needed to approach this film in the right frame of mind. I knew not to expect a rational or linear plotline,[…]
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Synecdoche, New York
Originally posted in 2008. Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut is a fractal hallucination. I’ve been a fan of Charlie Kaufman for years, and it’s been interesting to see how his work transforms under the guidance of[…]
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MJD’s “Turing Test”
One of my first websites was a collection of stories from around what was then the much-smaller World Wide Web. Some of my favorites were by future Perl guru and Dischordian Mark Jason Dominus. I’m[…]
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Science, Faith, and the Silver Chair
Of all children’s authors who have integrated their Christian beliefs into their writing, C.S. Lewis is perhaps the most famous and well-respected, both within and outside the faith community. His celebrated Narnia series is uncompromising[…]
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Thought versus Meditation: The Philosophy of Moon Hooch
This week brings something a little different for me, an original interview with a philosophically inclined band. Full disclosure: I will be attending their New Year’s Eve show in Columbus as their guest. Q: I’ve[…]
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Sylvie and Bruno
As one of the most popular and enduring writers of children’s fantasy, Lewis Carroll is much revered for his two titanic bestsellers, Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, each dealing with a young[…]
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The Marianne Trilogy
I recently revisited what I consider to be one of the most critically underappreciated works in modern fantasy fiction, Sheri S Tepper’s Marianne Trilogy (Marianne, the Magus and the Manticore; Marianne, the Madam and the[…]
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God of the Gaps
The “God of the Gaps” argument –that God is the explanation for all the things we don’t (yet) understand –is more popular among atheists than believers, because of its apparent weaknesses. Yet is it as[…]
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The Mind of Murakami
As some of you know, I’m a huge, long-time fan of Japanese surrealist novelist Haruki Murakami, even having written a well-known parody of his work. Check out my review of his latest over at Partially[…]
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