…but over the last few years this has become less and less true. I’m a pretty rabid atheist, but when someone makes Dawkins look like a moderate on religion, they might have gone a bit too far, you know? And ever since he went pro-war on Iraq, his writings on foreign policy have taken on a continually more defensive and… Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
A Guide To Grown-up Thinking
I read a lot of magazines–oddly more offline than on. I think this is because my online reading tends to be wide-ranging, shallow, and driven by references from other sources–there are few “online magazines” that I find myself reading “cover to cover”, as it were. Interesting magazines tend to be composed of pieces that are longer, more indepth, and thus… Read more →
New Danny Michel: Preorders Open Tomorrow
Here’s the press release: PRESS RELEASE – MARCH 05/08 DANNY MICHEL GOES BACK TO HIS ROOTS WITH HIS 1st INDEPENDENT RELEASE SINCE 2001 Taking the reigns firmly into his own hands, a new reenergized Danny Michel is proud to announce “Feather, Fur & Fin”, his first 100% independent release since 2001. Sprinkled with tubas, full horn-sections, glockenspiel, harmonicas, synthesizers &… Read more →
I am a child
So we’ve pretty much established that I’m 35, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m basically still a child. When I see something like the page of “revenge” items at Spymall, I just laugh like an evil ten-year old, and spend time coming up with ill-advised scenarios in which I could use that stuff. (And I do mean ill-advised–I should… Read more →
An inscription in the sand
In any event, the point is that unforeseeable circumstances that call into question an existing understanding of life, function to progress and move humanity forward. They prevent the rigidity of custom and tradition by forcing outdated modes of thought to be discarded in favour of those that more accurately represent the times. In this way, those moments of critical insight… Read more →
The correct answer is 7 (or “God did it”).
The ass hamsters are at it again, this time in Oklahoma, where House Bill 2211 has just passed the state House of Representatives. If you don’t want to read the Bill, here’s the summary from the Edmond Sun: The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in… Read more →
This stuff is deadly and it is spreading
You are about to hear Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (sallykern@okhouse.gov) speaking when she thought that only 50 highly-targeted people were listening. Every time I start feeling good about humanity, something like this comes along to remind me that we’re basically ten minutes away from hitting each other with sticks. How can people this hateful still manage to exist in… Read more →
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
The Wire has ended. And ended well. And hey, stories that don’t end, ultimately don’t mean anything. I’ll miss the show, but there’s nothing sad about five years of making God Damned Art. And with this in their portfolio, I suspect that many of the creators involved (writers, cast, etc.) will have more opportunities going forward to make more of… Read more →
They come with bragging rights
I see Collen Doran has made a couple of posts recently about some pieces of her art that I now own. Not only do I get to brag about owning the pieces, I think this formally connects me to the Swordspoint universe in some nebulous way. Read more →
You can put data in…
I’ve read all of Christopher Buckley’s satires, and have almost uniformly enjoyed them. I only recently got caught up, reading the latest one, Boomsday, just before the holidays late last year. I enjoyed it, too. However, there was one thing in there that really caused me to lose my suspension of disbelief. It wasn’t the idea of a platform based… Read more →
Portraiture and Literature
Got a little time to spend crawling around on the web? Allow me to recommend that you use some of it to check out the archives at Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s clobberin’ time!!! You might ask “what the hell is that”? Well, in the site’s own words: This website, now in its ninth incarnation since being launched in 06.1998, is… Read more →
Hypocrisy, cynicism, and (of course) religion.
Here’s an example of the difference between someone with an optimistic outlook, and a cynic like me. It’s pretty easy to imagine someone reading this news story: Vatican recants with a statue of Galileo Four hundred years after it put Galileo on trial for heresy the Vatican is to complete its rehabilitation of the great scientist by erecting a statue… Read more →
The moral is…
Hmm…
That looks pretty good. I really hope that the inkblots move around dynamically after post-production, though. Read more →
It’s been a while since this happened…
I am completely ensorcelled by A Wild Sheep Chase. I’m not sure to what extent that’s down to Murakami, and to what extent to Birnbaum, though. I suspect that I am on the brink of disappearing into at least eight Murakami novels and not coming up for air until I’ve devoured them all. I can not yet explain why I… Read more →
