Since my son was born I realized: soon, he’ll be three-and-a-half. Soon, he’ll be able to see who I was. And shortly after that, what he’ll be reading in the oldest blogs will be closer to his age than mine. Now, I write for him.
When I lived in Christian places like Kansas and Texas, every so often I’d get a Christian trying to convert me. Now, though, I only get atheists trying to do the same thing.
I regularly receive emails from atheists who need to bring me to the truth and the light, and the most recent one came two weeks ago. “I feel sorry for you,” he wrote, which is always a good opener. “I feel sorry for anyone who continues on fantasies of Santa Claus or god past the age of 4.”
He wanted to save me through conversation and conversion. The thing is, I had just the week before written this, in my essay on polytheism for the Los Angeles Review of Books, now up on their site:
What a tremendous weapon pity is! If you can frame someone as “pathetic,” then it’s okay to take their land, destroy their language and heritage, steal their children and place them in “decent” homes, and kill off their gods and heroes. It’s for their own good, after all.
In duBois’s book, the language monotheist believers use to talk about the heathens is essentially the same as the language New Atheists use to talk about all believers: “pathetic,” “superstitious,” “irrational,” “a stupendous system of error.” (That last one was said by Scottish missionary Alexander Duff about Hinduism.) Those who believe in something else are not simply different: they are misguided and need correction. This has been the justification for any number of wars or cultural erasings. Religion and dogma as colonialism.
And I wanted to write back, thank you for the concrete example of what I had just been writing about in the abstract! That’s amazing! But his email continued:
“I’ve seen your picture, and I think maybe we could have some fun. :) If you would like to meet up to discuss further, I’d love to buy you a drink.”
Women! Do not fuck your colonialist oppressors! Starve them out until they see the error of their ways or at least die without corrupting any others!
I did not write him back.
Image: get it, St. Hildegard
Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler. This is at or near the top of my 2014 favorites. Gyllenhaal and Russo are great. A warning about the easy path from consumer to witness to amateur to professional to accomplice. Joblessness, economic precarity makes that transition even easier. Business theories unmoored from real flesh and blood humanity are worthless. Though the context here is metro network news, it also works as an indictment of CNN (et al.) and international affairs. Promote violence to sell more violence. Think globally, act locally. I love the moment during Bloom’s first monologue in the studio, where this laughably sentimental soundtrack eases in, cleverly undermining the creepster ravings. It’s a wink to the audience – “Can you believe this nut?“ Of course not. I think I might see this one again. It’d make a good L.A. nighttime adventure moral compromise double-feature with Collateral.
The front cover of the press book (“Exhibitors Manual”) for 1947’s Out of the Past.
OUT OF THE PAST insta-reblog rule in effect.
Write a Damn Blog (with tweets) · funkaoshi · Storify
Here I use Storify to make fun of needing to use Storify.
Vanguard after the Revolution: Bill James sparked a baseball insurrection, but he has regrets about the world he wrought
“I have to take my share of responsibility for promoting skepticism about things that I didn’t understand as well as I might have,” he says. “What I would say NOW is that skepticism should be directed at things that are actually untrue rather than things that are difficult to measure.”
Ten Short Rants About #GamerGate | Popehat
But here’s the thing: people will draw conclusions about your motives based on your timing and your chosen vehicle.
That Catcalling Video and Why “Research Methods” is such an Exciting Topic (Really!)
Without understanding research methods, you cannot understand how to judge what you see. […] The important methodological point is that the video, without further reflection, can support all three wildly incompatible propositions. In other words, if you just look at the video, you can believe any three, and you will likely choose whichever fits your existing conclusions and prejudices.
That Catcalling Video and Why “Research Methods” is such an Exciting Topic (Really!)
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
James Baldwin (via malevichsquare)
The Frighteners
The Frighteners. I feel like there’s a very, very good version of this movie lurking beneath the (kooky, stylish) one that actually exists. Good comedy-horror for the most part. The final act is exhausting (seems like many horror movies go awry when they give the villains too much screen time). Jeffrey Combs plays one of the best FBI agents in film history, and man, just imagine: what if – what if – Michael J. Fox had stayed healthy.
William Gibson Has No Idea How the Future Will See Us
“In time-travel stories, we tend to imagine that the people in the past are hicks and rubes. And when we imagine people in the future in time-travel stories, they’re always weak and decadent.”
China Moon
China Moon. Florida noir! I wish I remembered this one better, but I liked it. Fun to see such a young Benicio del Toro. Director John Bailey did the camera work for the excellent American Gigolo and also contributed to Two-Lane Blacktop and Days of Heaven.
John Wick
John Wick. This movie was much better than it needed to be. Oddly inventive, and I love the world they built, with the secret clubs, clean-up contractors, doubloons (!), industry hotel, etc. It’s been a while since a movie had so many judo slams. Also love the way Wick would disable a nearby opponent, turn his attention to more distant ones for a moment, then turn back to neutralize the close one. His fighting had a sense of style, a personality. I need to watch Point Break again.
Dark Days
Dark Days. A remarkable documentary about people – a community, a neighborhood you’ll see – living underground in New York City. One thing that many great documentaries have in common: just letting people talk. Heartbreaking, funny, heartwarming. Recommended.
Dear White People
Dear White People. Not what I expected, and in a good way. I was thinking it would be more of a gimmick comedy that would burn out. Lots of good stuff about identity and affiliation. But… it’s also insanely likeable. Like you’ve been watching some really charming people spit some talking points you already agree with. Part of me wonders if I should leave the theater feeling more uncomfortable than I did. The funny is never uncomfortably accusing, the drama feels like it pulls a few punches, too. It has a more distinctive cinematography than I expected. Also, gotta say that I’ve done a 100% about-face on Tessa Thompson. I hated her character in the Veronica Mars TV series soooooo much that it blinded me to her talent and how the camera can’t ignore her. Great turn here. I am reminded of my childhood crush on Denise Huxtable.
Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns
Key Takeaway #1: Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting.
Key Takeaway #2: High school students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90 percent of their classes.
Key takeaway #3: You feel a little bit like a nuisance all day long.
Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns
Inside Man
Inside Man. I like that you can hear the basic summary (detective vs. bank robber/hostage-taker)… but what you see is a little bit smarter and not as interested in basic genre trappings. On the other hand, it wanders when you might want a little more spark and plausibility. Ebert says it well: “It’s not that the movie is hiding something, but that when it’s revealed, it’s been left sitting too long at room temperature.”
Scream
Scream. I’d forgotten how sharp this was. I love the no-BS opening, just straight to a phone call. Lots of good visual storytelling hints early on – the phone, the windows, the knife block, etc. And some good meta touches, like the first phone call, and the TV in the opening scene is prepped for a movie. Also does a good job of introducing characters and suspicions simultaneously, briskly outlining the relationships and why you might want to worry about them. Love the silly touches like the conversation between the two cops, the older one smoking a cigarette, the junior one licking an ice cream cone. A gold mine for movie trivia, and I love the casual spoilers, too. Like many comedies, it stumbles to an ending, and especially struggles when the meta-commentary becomes more and more explicit, and the thing starts narrating itself. Still holds up pretty well, though.
A Knight’s Tale
A Knight’s Tale. Very historically accurate, and you can’t beat the “Golden Years” dance scene.
The Rise of the Fragmented Novel (An Essay in 26 Fragments)
The modern novel is falling to pieces! Ted Gioia looks at the rise of the fragmented novel in modern mainstream literary fiction. He includes a reading list of 57 ‘fragmented’ novels, with essays on each book in the list.
Mark Larson 