INSIDE OF A CATHOLIC, IT’S TOO DARK TO READ: Summer reading recs 2011; I am involved. Read more

DOCTOR, MY EYES: Unequally Yoked is holding a contest-type thing where atheists and Christians attempt to answer relatively basic apologetic questions without letting on what they really believe. Then, you guys (yes, you, the viewers at home, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea) get to vote on which responses you think are from real atheists and which are from papists and snake-handlers dressed up in ghost suits. This seems fun! So I figured I’d let you... Read more

SOME SAY THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES. I SAY BARACK OBAMA IS HOT! This may, of course, be merely a selection effect (as opposed to a selection effect which nonetheless says something important), but it seems to me that I’m much more likely to run across liberals who really like Democratic politicians and feel proud of them or protective of them, and conservatives who really dislike Republican politicians and hold their noses in the voting booth. If I’m right about... Read more

CINEMA PARADISO: So there’s an atheist film festival. Reading about it, I found myself wondering how a movie could really represent one worldview over another. I think what a lot of atheism-vs-theism debates miss (more on this soon) is that you can work with the exact same evidence and come to radically different conclusions about the meaning of that evidence. And since film is such a visual medium, I’m fascinated by the difference between films which present a basically godless... Read more

SHADES OF BLACK: Akashic Press has a demi-fascinating series of books called _________ Noir, where ________ is the name of a city or area. The idea is that each volume has stories which are in some sense “noir” and which capture some essential element of the setting. I’ve read almost all of Moscow Noir (didn’t finish it because I somehow lost the book in a Whole Foods in Tenleytown, which is pretty much the least noir place in the entire... Read more

“I THINK THAT BAKING IS KIND OF LIKE… PARENTING.“ There’s a new My Drunk Kitchen! Read more

UPDATE: Oh yes, this “Mountain Goats of Base” video is immensely endearing. With hand gestures! Read more

AND SOME WE DO FOR LOVE, LOVE, LOVE: Some brief comments by me on that NYTM cover story about Dan Savage and adultery-for-your-marriage. Let me know if you see any interesting commentary on the Times piece. Read more

SOMEDAY ALL THIS WILL BE PICTURESQUE RUINS: Final Mountain Goats post (for now). First, some links from others. Light on Dark Water talks about the gallows humor of Tallahassee. AM suggests that Goats fans check out Wovenhand, and offers this ferocious, Soviet-surrealism video as evidence. (He says it “would fit well with your ‘so far from God so far from the United States’ tag.”) Well worth your time. I haven’t read this interview yet. And both CR and HEAR pointed... Read more

ALWAYS COMING HOME: The tally, Independence Day 2011: Drunken renditions of the national anthem on the roof of our building: two. Plus another song I genuinely couldn’t even understand, but the people singing it seemed very patriotic!Number of people assigned to bring knives for the watermelon: two.Number of watermelon-capable weapons achieved by our party: zero.Number of heart-shaped fireworks: even one is too many.Wine on my keyboard: not mine.Books lent: …I think, seven?Books borrowed: one.Things spilled on a book by Raymond... Read more