Cosmetic surgeries are down these days. It’s no wonder. Who can justify botox injections when their 401k is circling the drain? Nothing like an economic meltdown to reveal the real worth of something. But if that’s the case, then storytellers oughta be pretty jazzed. During one of our previous financial downturns, from an article entitled [...]
It’s par for the course that aspiring presidential candidates frame themselves as “Christians.” Throughout the recent campaign, President-elect Barack Obama repeatedly fended off charges that he was a Muslim. This interview provided a window into our new president’s “Christian” faith. But it also reveals the inherent difficulties politicians face in making absolutist religious claims. The [...]
Speaking of “soft thinking”… Last month, Lisa and I spent a weekend away at one of our favorite coastal hangouts. To my surprise, In the Land of Retinal Delights was in its last weekend at the Laguna Art Museum. I’ve long been a fan of Juxtapoz Magazine and it surrealistic, pop art. The show drew [...]
Hey, I got me a Bloggy Award! Their review is especially effusive, what with a perfect score of five 10’s. Who knew?! Now, if I can only convince Yahoo Directory to shine the $300 sign-up fee and let me join for free. Anyway, thanks, Noemi!
Roger von Oech, author of A Whack on the Side of the Head, introduced the concept of soft thinking as a necessary ingredient to creativity. In contrast to academic thinking, which is typically ‘hard,’ ingenuity and imagination is the result of ‘soft thinking’. Soft thinking is more playful, spontaneous, unconstrained, and much less concerned with [...]
An interesting article by Karl W. Gilberson in the latest Books & Culture expounds the oft-stated charge that evangelicals are wary of, if not hostile toward, science. Gilberson is the author of four books on science and religion, the most recent of which is Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution [...]
Back in ’06, after I’d finished my first (still unpublished) novel and was shopping for representation, a Scripture came to me in a dream. The verse was so vivid, I immediately woke up and wrote it on an index card. “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it.” — [...]
Paddy Power, an online betting outfit in the UK, is currently offering 4-1 odds that God exists. So far, about $5000 has been wagered on the question. Apparently, interest has increased as the result of an atheist ad campaign on London buses with the slogan: “There’s probably no God.” Initially, odds that proof of God’s [...]
Boy, am I glad this election’s over! Okay, so it isn’t quite all the way over. I’ll be voting this afternoon, but I’m anticipating certain outcomes. America will elect its first black president, Democrats will be in total control of the House and Senate, the media will embark on a lengthy, orgiastic, love-fest with the [...]
So, last year, I won our NBA pool. 80 bucks, hombres! Being the glass-half-full kind of feller I am, I’d picked the Lakers to tank. (Remember, ’07 was the preseason of Kobe’s discontent.) Course they won the West. My saving grace? New Orleans Hornets (no one picked them for the playoffs), and Miami Heat (I [...]
