Elsewhere, 5/16
Not only is Douglas Wilson corresponding/debating with Christopher Hitchens over on ChristianityToday (read part one, read part two), but he’s also tackling Hitchens’ latest book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, chapter by chapter on his blog/website. From a recent entry, regarding Hitchens’ statements concerning totalitarian regimes (emphasis mine):
All” class=“redactor-autoparser-object”>http://www.dougwils.com/index.… cultures are the incarnational outworking of a religion or combination of religions. When you deny a transcendant God, this does not eliminate the need for a god at the top to make the system coherent. It just means that the applicants for the position of deity are all, to use one of Hitchens’ favorite words, mammals. It can be just one mammal, as in North Korea, or it can be fifty million mammals with a system of primary elections, a general election, topped off with an electoral college election. If there is no God above the system, then the system is god. All societies are religious organisms, not just the ones with a religious exoskeleton.
On a related note, part three of Douglas and Hitchens’ debate has just been posted.
Pitchfork interviews Arcade Fire’s Win Butler. On a sidenote, I recently helped lead a discussion at church using Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, and so I delved pretty heavily into the lyrics, band interviews, etc., and my appreciation of Arcade Fire and their latest continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
And here’s yet another Arcade Fire interview by Michael Barclay, in which the band walk through various songs on Neon Bible and talk about religion, politics, and the “Google generation.” Via
This interview with Starflyer 59’s Jason Martin might go down as the most taciturn interview ever.
Daily Film Dose has posted a list of some of the best and most famous long tracking shots in film history. Movies featured include Touch Of Evil, Goodfellas, Hard Boiled, Children Of Men, The Passenger, and Serenity.
Reason #1 why I wish I was at Cannes this year: Wong Kar-Wai’s new film, My Blueberry Nights, is screening. GreenCine is all over the film, with a host of reviews and other articles. Via
Smashing Magazine has compiled a list of “70 Expert Ideas For Better CSS Coding.”
One of my favorite JavaScript utilities, Cody Lindley’s Thickbox, was updated earlier this month.
Twitch has some news on the latest film from Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Ploy, including a trailer. I’ll admit to not being that enamored with his last film, 2006’s Invisible Waves, but Last Life In The Universe is still one of my favorite films.
Stylus loves on the latest from Swedish psych-rock outfit Dungen, with the help of some odd Back To The Future references: It’s an album that you can loop endlessly, letting you sink into a brighter world, one far removed from the Biff Tannens of everyday existence. With summer drawing near, it’s the perfect thing to play loudly, with a pair of good strong headphones. Let it split your skull and take you to a different time. DeLorean not included.
Tulsa Drone have released a new album entitled Songs From A Mean Season. You can download several MP3s from the site, listen to a track or two on their MySpace page, or listen to clips and order the CD at CD Baby.