American Freethought – Intro
Here’s some interview footage my friend Andrew Bush did of David Driscoll and me, talking about our experiences as nonbelievers. This was part of never-realized project to produce a documentary about atheism in America.
Statement on Prayer before the Roswell City Council
[In early 2010, Roswell, Georgia’s then-City Councilwoman Betty Price floated a proposal to begin City Council meetings with prayer. This was unanimously rejected by the rest of the Council; nonetheless, in advance of an open forum on March 20, 2010, Mrs. Price had invited public comment on the prayer issue (hoping, apparently, that a groundswell …
Top 10 Sci-Fi Films of the 2000s
I was tapped to write this for the January 2010 “Decade in Review” issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly. The challenge: do so in 500 words of less. Here’s a scan of the original article, trimmed so it’s easily legible. Enjoy!
Camel Fishing in Idaho
Did you know that it’s illegal in Idaho to fish while riding on the back of a camel? This bit of “intelligence” came to me by way of my wife’s secretary. Apparently, a local radio station did one of those occasional segments about “crazy laws.” My wife passed the info along, not so much because …
Carpe Diem and Good Luck
As you may have read, celebrated novelist John Updike has died at the age of 76. Honestly, I’ve never read any of his works, but while reading his obituary I was struck by his comments about science and faith: “I remember the times when I was wrestling with these issues that I would feel crushed. …
Random Thoughts on Election 2008
[I wrote this essay on Election Day 2008. While I still agree with many of the things I wrote here, I very soon ended my years-long flirtation with libertarianism. After seeing how the Republicans treated President Obama, after seeing the increasing and steady takeover of the GOP by the nincompoop faction of the party, and …
Documentary Review: Religulous
Here’s a review I wrote for comedian Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous for the October 2008 issue of INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly.
Movie Review: Blindness
Here’s a review of the movie Blindness, which I wrote for the October 2008 issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly.
Interview: Tom McCarthy and Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor)
Here’s an unusual double interview I was lucky to do for the May 2008 issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly. Tom McCarthy went on to direct Academy Award-winning films like the animated Up (Best Original Screenplay) and Spotlight (also Best Original Screenplay), as well as the recent Matt Damon vehicle Stillwater. Haaz Sleiman …
Movie Review: No Country for Old Men
[Originally posted on April 4, 2008 at AmericanFreethought.com.] Or as I like to call it, This Territory Is Unsuitable for Elderly Gentlemen. No Country for Old Men is that other most-talked about film of 2007, the first being There Will Be Blood. They’re both bleak and brutal films – so bleak that the Vatican newspaper declared that “Hollywood was …