Echoes on the Road
“Reading is like the execution of a musical score; it marks the realization, the enactment, of the semantic possibilities of a text.” – Paul Ricoeur, From Text to Action
Author: Kyle Cupp
Friday Morning Film Reflection: Willow
I saw Willow in the theater when it was released in 1988, and I thought the world of it. On the car ride home, I hummed the musical themes I could remember and tried...
The Bechdel Test, Female Presence in Film, and Buffy’s Abortion
Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency revisits the Bechdel Test, a simple gauge of female presence in film. For a film to pass the test, it must have at least two named female characters who...
The Erasing of Memories
Should people be allowed to erase their memories? Amanda Marcotte thinks so. She gives three reasons: 1) memory isn’t as sacrosanct as people think, 2) just because a memory isn’t stored in your brain...
Zombies Show the Limits of Our Ethics
I’m glad to see Rose Woodhouse giving philosophers a good name by discussing the permissibility of killing zombies. It’s an important question, not because zombies might actually exist, but precisely because they represent what...
Secularism Needs Pluralism
Michael Brendan Dougherty, in response to my cheers for a pluralist, secular state, presses me via Twitter on what happens if secularism isn’t pluralistic. When that happens, society risks suffering from a problem similar...
A Pause to Listen: Katie Melua
Today we begin A Pause to Listen, a reoccurring series this blog will typically feature on Tuesdays. The theme: musical performances, of course! We lead off with the sublime, enchanting Katie Melua, singing...
+1 for Secularism
Must thank Rick Santorum: he gives me so many opportunities to write relevantly about my pet topics. In the news today: secularism gives our wannabe national savior tummy troubles and an acidic burn in...
Introducing the Boy to Video Games
I take it as a given that my children will be corrupted by the world, so I intent to do everything in my power to corrupt them myself. I’ll want to refrain from imbibing...
Echoes on the Road
“Only man as a living being introduces law and order into nature, not from a rational, but from a biological necessity (that is, in order to be able to act) by virtue of the...
