Name that film:
A white man is born fatherless in the south with birth defects that lead many to think he may never walk nor live a normal life. His saintly mother believes in his potential anyway. (more…)
“Their skulls are full of electronic chips instead of brains,” I said.”Maybe they’re immortal,” Fat said.”…They can travel backward in time.”-Philip K. Dick, VALIS
RECIPE FOR HEAVEN
Pt 2: Steps
Step 1: You’re going to want to set up your heaven’s space first before you start adding souls to it. This means getting out your solutions to suffering, your solutions to spacetime limitations on populations, and your transcendental bodies. Fold these together in an infinitely expandable mixing bowl and set aside. (more…)
“When I’m at the pearly gates
This will be on my videotape, my videotape
Mephistopheles is just beneath
and he’s reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days
and i have it all here
In red, blue, green
Red, blue, green” — Radiohead, “Videotape”
If ever there were an overburdened term, it’s “real,” or its aggregate, “reality.” We obviously find it important to discuss whatever we’re discussing when we ask if something is “real,” but we mean so many different things by the term, agreement on the reality of an object of discussion is hard to arrive at, and once we agree we’re not often too certain that we agree on how the object at hand is real. Therefore I suggest breaking down any discussion of the reality of an object into a discussion of seven related qualities of that object, seven qualities that most often underlie any discussion of an object’s reality. (more…)
“What’s love got to do, got to do with it? What’s love, but a sweet old-fashioned notion?” -Tina Turner
I’ve previously spent a lot of digital ink exploring the nature of love. And I’m fairly confident that most of what I wrote holds together and offers a nucleus of wisdom or ethical knowledge, with a platinum and golden rule at the core. But humanity has been discussing the nature of love for millennia; the real task seems, to me, not just to establish a firm and credible and inspiring sense of what love is, but also to establish some firm theoretical connection between this wisdom and the realm of hard science and analysis and math. (more…)
So I live with this person who likes to watch Titanic, as well as the Wolfgang Peterson remake of Poseidon, over and over and over again. And over again. And so I too have watched over and over again as Mlle. Titanic the debutante munches thoughtfully on an icecube and decides to emcee a rousing round of King of the Mountain for her 2,223 guests. And I’ve watched over and over again as a rogue wave rolls Lady Poseidon over on her back as if to see what happens. Answer: She gets screwed. (more…)
The key to Robert Zemeckis’s recent film Beowulf is to understand that it’s an old man’s story. Not so much a story about an old man, as the sort of story an old man would want to tell the youngsters around him. And not a story told by just any old man, but by one with a great sense of humor, a great sense of regret, and a great memory of what it’s like to be young. (more…)
“While we scoff at them, what we don’t realize is that these shamans, in speaking of ’spirit,’ are using ’spirit’ to describe a highly complex and technical reality, much the same way that physicists use the term ‘quark.’ ” -Terence McKenna, reconstructed from memory. (more…)
Dave Toschi: And man is the most dangerous animal of all?
Arthur Leigh Allen: That’s the whole point of the story. (more…)
Hornless Unicorn Studios, in coordination with Human Dwarf Productions and Virgin Rum & Coke Entertainment, presents a Wingless Fairy Film. Several, actually. If you read the following and realize you’d like to turn one of these ideas into a living breathing movie, by all means go for it. (more…)
If you were bound by blackmail to represent an insane cult for the duration of your natural life, but you had regular access to audiences numbering in the millions, you’d sneak out a few hints about your desperate situation, just like these folks. (more…)
“A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company.” - Charles Evans Hughes (more…)
“Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.” -Hermann Goering (more…)
“Joy is the serious business of heaven.” -C.S. “Not Carl” Lewis
“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” -Jesus “Not Quintana” Christ (more…)
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” -Jesus “Not Quintana” Christ (more…)