{"id":28488,"date":"2015-06-25T18:50:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T22:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=28488"},"modified":"2015-06-25T18:50:39","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T22:50:39","slug":"a-ride-with-a-trickster-and-a-javelin-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/06\/25\/a-ride-with-a-trickster-and-a-javelin-man\/","title":{"rendered":"A ride with a trickster and a javelin man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2022\u00a0Perhaps you\u2019ve started watching season 2 of True Detective<\/em> and you are, maybe, wondering if you\u2019re quite prepared for a full season of this much intense, cinematic brooding by flawed, haunted protagonists.<\/p>\n

Allow me to recommend a tonic\/alternative: Terriers<\/em>\u00a0is streaming on Netflix. This one-season-wonder was the lowest-rated show in the history of the FX channel. But it was terrific.<\/p>\n

The character-driven, surf-noir Terriers<\/em> could be seen as a\u00a0laid-back cousin to the new season of True Detective.<\/em> It offers everything HBO\u2019s prestige show has, but with more schlubby charm: Seedy underbelly of Southern California as setting for Chinatown<\/em>-type grand conspiracy? Check. Divorced, alcoholic, self-loathing anti-hero as protagonist? Check. A\u00a0self-deprecating sense of dark humor\u00a0and a bulldog named Winston? Check.<\/p>\n

\""No,<\/a>
\u201cNo, man, YOU\u2019RE a flat circle.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those last two are things Terriers<\/em> has that True Detective,<\/em> so far, seems to lack. I think the HBO series would benefit from a dash of dark humor\u00a0and\/or a bulldog named Winston. But then, on True Detective,<\/em> it would probably turn into a bulldog\u00a0smoking<\/em> Winstons, in a dimly lit bar, French inhaling in slow motion while staring into the existential abyss.<\/p>\n

I like both shows because I like stories that give us something to ponder. But I prefer when they can do that without becoming ponderous.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cScientists Finally Decide Which Bit of This Weird Animal is the Head<\/a>,\u201d Ed Yong reports.\u00a0The weird animal in question is the aptly named Hallucigenia<\/em>, a prehistoric creature found in the Burgess Shale.<\/p>\n

Now that our best minds have sorted out which end is which for Hallucigenia<\/em>, maybe they can do the same for, say, ____________.*<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cWe are up against Netflix and porn, people!<\/a> The bar is low<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Darrell Dow<\/a> shares a survey question used by fundamentalist author David Cloud for his book on \u201cmodesty,\u201d Dressing for the Lord.<\/em> Cloud asked fundie men to tell him:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn your opinion, which of the following items of female dress cause a real potential for lust?\u201d<\/p>\n