October 2010
Wait for Me — Spencer Russell
Narrative Over Data
The dangers of preserving narrative over data often lead to the first inklings of fascism. For the mythological conservative, Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” poses a major threat to the classical Christian narrative found in Genesis. If the universe is only a few thousand years old, so says the myth, then Darwinian evolution is nonsense. There simply wouldn’t have been enough time for...
Watchsnuh:
sleepy time (33 seconds)
WatchZombies Invade D.C.
“Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind — even if your voice...”
– Maggie Kuhn (via ageofreason)
Russian Bears Eat Corpses →
Recontextualizing the Past: WWII Ghosts →
Stirring concept art that blends the horrors of the past with the present: same locations, angles, etc. Quite moving actually.
On Truth
“What is truth?” asked jesting Pilate.
There are no truths, said Nietzsche, only interpretations. Logic cries out against it though, for is the statement true? Well, only if there are no truths. In other words, only if the statement is false. Nietzsche is widely prized for his iconoclastic epistemology, a great writer, a genius in his own right, and someone whom we should be grateful...
WALL-E: Dehumanization and the Übermensch
In a time when we like to imagine that we are something special, what with our large and intricate brains, our flat-screen televisions and laser surgeries, our capacity to conquer the atom and space-travel through the course of distant stars, too few of us worry about what wing-nuts and screenwriters have forewarned against since the age of modern industry—the rise of robots. We like to believe...
WatchMy Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts (1999)
Treating history as a fabric woven from childhood experience, the author Torill Kove spins a fanciful tale about her grandmother’s occupation during WWII that in some ways reaches a mythical status. It blends together history and fantasy and does so without apologizing for its inability to reconstruct the past factually; interestingly, however,...
pretending to look busy on set…
fake conversation w/ our fearless director, Brandon Ho
Intriguing Possibilities — Trent Reznor...
The Internet Never Seems to Forgive or Forget →
“…their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed”
D&C 1:3
We live in an age where social security and privacy venues are becoming less of a refuge and more of a public display. New media devices, especially the Internet and its vast array of search engines and social-networking sites, have made it so virtually anyone can look up our...
“I see nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core...”
– Rationalist Sam Harris Believes in God
file under: Why I Adore Sam Harris.
(via danielholter)
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I find it fascinating that Mr. Harris feels ostracized from his own community,...
Apoplectic Skeptic: Awesome God! →
danielholter:
wherethehellisgod:
Rich Mullins. One of God’s most devoted servants, shuns fortune and fame, writes songs praising God and describing how he is an Awesome God, lives with and serves the poor… What does God do with him? Runs him over with a truck.
Rich was a friend of mine (we worked together on his Canticle project), so I’d be remiss if I didn’t post a little something in his...
Avant-garde Media →
The feature film gets us a long way down the road, uncovering practical infinities of possibility and profundity. But it also, in some ways, is quite limiting. There is more to movies than has been dreamed of in our philosophies, or touched upon by our viewing itineraries. This site offers a wealth of cinematic jargon, patterns, definitions, and histories related to how substantial the obscure...
Let Forever Be -- The Chemical Brothers →
No one invents the codes of cinema: we play with preexisting codes borrowed from theater, music, literature, painting, and still photography. Collectively these codes are then coalesced into what hipsters might call “mash-ups” to create something visually, as well as aurally, pleasing or significant. The Chemical Brother’s “Let Forever Be” is a perfect example that acts as a sort of cinematic...
apoplecticskeptic asked: ha! well, I meant to save your post 'On Organized Religion' as a draft, for me to formulate a response worthy of your fine writing at some point later today, but I inadvertently hit 'post now.' :(
so, I pulled it for now, and hope to include my thoughts later...
so, I pulled it for now, and hope to include my thoughts later...
On Organized Religion
One of the most pressing philosophical concerns, it seems to me, is to understand the nature and significance of the force which once held our world together, and which is now losing its grip—the force of religion. It may very well be that religious belief will soon be a thing of the past, and, unfortunately, a thing of regret. Many are puzzled over the need to congregate weekly, over the...
Watchageofreason:
Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions
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I salute Mr. Harris for his ability to articulate clearly, and I believe truthfully, a topic that has needed addressing for some time. Plato and the ancients were often far too nebulous when writing on...
The Great Paradox
The rapist. The pedophile. The axe-murderer.
These crowds are the least deserving of love.
And yet they are also the ones most in need of it.
“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your...”
– The Buddha (via ageofreason)
“Pain (any pain—emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it...”
– Peter McWilliams, (via xdove007)
Emerson's "Beauty" →
One of the most awe-inspiring essays ever written. Simply beautiful!
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Favorite Passages
“What a parade we make of our science, and how far off, and at arm’s length, it is from its objects!”
Goethe said, “The beautiful is a manifestation of the secret laws of Nature, which, but for...
Us versus Them
Sometimes when viewing a culture that radically differs from our own, we get this tendency to belittle, to dismiss, and to look upon it condescendingly without appraising its more positive aims and doctrines. Instead of seeing what is good, we see only what is other than us. It looks funny, sounds strange, wears unfamiliar clothes, and shelters its children from the “real world,” we say. Sadly,...
And it came to pass...
The most oft repeated scriptural passage found in The Book of Mormon is one so familiar to LDS folk that it probably slips by them unnoticed. It begins nearly every other paragraph, seems somewhat arbitrary and petty, and yet is one of the more reflective passages there is in the book. Simple and profound, it reads: “And it came to pass…” One day, no matter what reason we may have for...
Life like unto a Labyrinth
It’s full of all sorts of strange and forbidden paths, never-ending stairs and trap doors, each which wheedle us with obscure signposts that read: “This way,” or “Enter here,” or my personal favorite, “Eat me.” The experience taken as a whole leaves one feeling at times a bit blue and phlegmatic. What’s it all mean? What is this tidal wave that drowns me in a sea of information but starves me of...
