The Pop Culture Philosopher

This is a repost of a powerful poem by my late uncle John Gilmore, who was a US Marine in Vietnam, a substance-abuse counselor in civilian life, and a gifted poet in both realms. A[…]

Image by Janet McKenzie

Christian Humanism – Is it a Contradiction?

April 11, 2019March 30, 2019 Chris SunamiChristianity

This is the text of an address I delivered in 2007 to The Ohio State University “Students for Freethought” student organization on the topic “Christian Humanism: Is it a Contradiction?” Good evening. I am here[…]

Long Division

April 4, 2019March 30, 2019 Chris SunamiLiterature

I first encountered author Kiese Laymon when I read his essay “You are the Second Person,” an unapologetically bridge-burning reckoning of his encounter with a assimilationist editor who tried to deracinate his work. What stuck[…]

Image by Nishant Goswami

Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest

March 28, 2019March 29, 2019 Chris SunamiCompetition

The second Pirates movie was an entertaining romp, with some great action sequences, featuring the always-compelling Johnny Depp. However, the film also featured a disturbing racial subtext.   Most blatantly, the film trafficked in broad racial[…]

Little Miss Sunshine

March 21, 2019December 13, 2019 Chris SunamiExistentialism

It is less accurate to say that this laugh-out-loud indie hit advanced a recognizable philosophical thesis of its own than to say that it delivered a big, fat, much-needed slap in the face to the[…]

Image by Nthinila "Conz" Phumaphi

The Incredibles

March 14, 2019March 13, 2019 Chris SunamiAnimation

In honor of the recent release of Incredibles 2, a repost of my look at the philosophical implications of the original movie. While I found it impossible not to like and enjoy Brad Bird’s animated[…]

Trump vs Obama: America’s A/B Experiment

February 28, 2019December 13, 2019 Chris SunamiPolitics

There’s only one lens through which the Trump presidency makes actual sense: As a self-organizing A/B experiment in sociology, carried out on the grandest of scales. The A part of the experiment was a man[…]

More Reconstructivists

February 21, 2019 Chris SunamiArt

Over the years my reconstructivist art theory has proven inspirational to a number of interesting artists, thinkers and academics. Here are a couple of the coolest ones I’ve come across recently: Above, painter Peter SmeethPeter[…]

Both Eyes Open: Remembering James Alan McPherson

February 14, 2019February 11, 2019 Chris SunamiPopular Culture

I first discovered James Alan McPherson when I read his masterful novella Elbow Room, in a collection of stories by black authors called The African American West. I traced it back to his Pulitzer-Prize winning collection, also[…]

The Pop Culture Philosopher

Books, Music, Movies and Philosophy (Updates Thursdays)

A Statistic of One

Christian Humanism – Is it a Contradiction?

Long Division

Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest

Little Miss Sunshine

The Incredibles

Trump vs Obama: America’s A/B Experiment

More Reconstructivists

Both Eyes Open: Remembering James Alan McPherson