BACK… AND ON THE ATTACK! Read more

Too many people say step out on de word. But all dem words don’t say preach. Sometimes God writes and just as soon as God git to de letter P–they run off and go preach. God wuz gointer say “plow,” but they don’t wait tuh see.–as told to Zora Neale Hurston by Eugene Oliver; Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf States Read more

FACTORIES THAT MAKE FACTORIES: I really loved (Untitled), even though I went in to the theater with a lot of skepticism. Basically, I expected the movie–no wait, I mean “film”–to beat up on experimental art from a fairly basic “my kindergartner could make that” perspective. Instead, I got a complicated, even humanist (not my favorite philosophical stance–I’m a personalist, not a humanist–but still) fable in which both commercial success and boundary-pushing were simultaneously celebrated and interrogated. So here are three... Read more

YOUR ORCHID-RELATED PUN HERE: Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal... Read more

FLOW MORPHIA SLOW…: This is pretty amazing. Click on the YouTube link. Read more

“HEAVEN CAN WAIT”: Me, at Inside Catholic, in which I discuss Hell, American character, slapping your mama, and the centurion who speared the side of Christ: There’s a terrific moment in the TV show House, in which the irascible and brilliant Dr. Greg House is explaining to a lapsed Catholic subordinate why he doesn’t believe in the afterlife. House, with all the self-lacerating irony that actor Hugh Laurie can impart to the character, says, “I would hate to think that... Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: LIKE A GOOD PENNY! Today I cooked with turnips for the first time, for a warm salad. I can confidently say that this vegetable will be making many repeat appearances in my kitchen. Turnips are just as creamy and blank-slate as all the best comfort food. So here’s what I did: I heated the oven to 400. I chopped up some cute turnips with a Japanese-sounding name I can’t remember, into big chunks. Imagine approximately a smallish button... Read more

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!: Two reviews of The Descent… Final Girl. The Horror Blog. Read more

YOU WILL GO DOWN IN DARKNESS BEFORE YOU DIE: Wow, I loved The Descent. edited!–I’ve moved this review to the other blog, the one where I post spoilery stuff. ARGH edited to add actual link! Sorry! Read more

HURRY UP DAY JOB: MarriageDebate! This week, IVF mistakes and what we mean when we say a child is “ours”; adoption and parental investment; fathers, and whether family-resource centers tend to assume that they’re irrelevant. Last week, marriage in the movies, a CNN debate about monogamy, a chewy Newsweek piece on the future of abstinence-only sex ed, libertarianism and culture, “your brain without Dad,” Stephen Colbert, and much much more. I know I don’t post there regularly enough. But believe... Read more