Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens cites Peter DeVries’s Slouching Towards Kalamazoo for the picture of an atheist “who could not conceive a deity that created every species as predatory and then issued a terse commandment against killing.” Hitchens then plays along with this maxim that is supposed to help to “lay waste to the illusion of faith”: “Created sick, and then commanded to be well.”

That is pretty good, but, of course, the Christian religion is stronger than that, for does not Christianity teach that we live in a fallen world, because of man’s original sin of turning away from God? So, yes, we live in a violent and evil world, and we are sick; therefore god says rise above your inherent corruption and evil and be well!

Just saying. I am not playing with faith again. I also appreciate the mention of De Vries. I recall becoming acquainted with his work during my undergraduate days at UTSA, thanks to the movie “Reuben, Reuben”, which was based on his novel of the same name, featuring Kelly McGillis before her “Top Gun” days. I enjoyed the movie so much that I read the book and went on to a couple of his other works. I suppose he is a secondary, or even tertiary, talent, but not uninteresting. It takes me back.

(Source: Christopher Hitchens, “Arguably”)

Rita Moreno: Marlon and Elvis

Rita Moreno has come out with a memoir. I imagine the name does not ring any bells for the under-thirties. In truth, the name doesn't do a lot for me. However, the big selling point seems to be that a good part of the book is the revelation of her long-term affair with Marlon Brando, and there is also a fair mention of Elvis.

I used to disdain books about celebrities, with the exception of Elvis. However, since reading Porter's "Marilyn at Rainbow's End", I seem to have acquired an appetite for the juicy tidbits of celebrity stories, the juicier the better. I imagine that the thrill is that we all know these people to one degree or another, and so one is touching upon common themes, shared lives and shared stories. There is a communitarian aspect to it. It's fun.

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'To say that [Brando] was a great lover — sensual, generous, delightfully inventive — would be gravely understating what he did not only to my body, but for my soul. Every aspect of being with Marlon was thrilling, because he was more engaged in the world than anyone else I’d ever known,' she wrote.

Their intimacy did not lead to mutual respect, however, as she writes that Brando cheated on her frequently in order to try to meet his 'insatiable' sexual appetite. In order to stand her ground, she would date other famous men in order to make him jealous, including future Oscar-winner Dennis Hopper. She tells a story about how a man that she didn't know made aggressive eyes at her while his 'regal' wife sat beside him, only to later learn it was then-Senator John F. Kennedy. The paramour that drove Brando the most insane, however, was when she went on a number of dates with pop star Elvis. Little did he know that Elvis and his famous pelvic thrusts did not match up to the sexual chemistry that she had with Brando.

'My dates...nearly always concluded in a tender tussle on my living-room floor, with Elvis’ pelvis in that famous gyration straining against his taut trousers. I could feel him thrust against my clothed body, and expecting the next move...but it never came,' she said of the singer.

-- ONTD

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cable guy

Damn it!

Over the past week, a cable guy has come to do some work in our back yard, causing some havoc with our cats. I was able to get Coco and Ash inside, but Sammy still won't trust me worth a damn and has scrammed god knows where.

I trust Sammy will make it back, but AAAARRRGHHH!

To Map the Brain

The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics.

-- New York Times

Don't say that Obama is light of ambition! He wants to be able to say that he has done some things with his time and his opportunities.

Daimon says, "And the Republicans might even approve, thinking that the project might eventually enable them to create their population of robotic slave-labor."

There's always that.

Pop

I get up a little after 4:30 in the morning for a bathroom run and to check on the cats, and I see that Pop is just leaving his office to go to bed. This is not the first time. It has actually become a pattern. He used to stay up until two and three. I hoped that he would get better with age, that he would want to sleep a lot more and end up going to bed early. But that is not the way it has worked out obviously. At least he is not bothering me and hurting my sleep, but what a case study! Though, he is getting his sleep. It's almost 11:30 in the afternoon, and I think he is beginning to rouse himself from bed. I guess it's just a phase shifting of his day. In a sort of adolescent direction.

On Selecting the Next Pope

Here is some interesting advice on selecting a new pope: how about someone a little younger?

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For starters, my experts generally agree, it would help to have a pope with the drive and charisma to reboot the mission, someone with the gift of persuasion, a bit of media savvy and enough years ahead of him to follow through. “I don’t want to make it all about age, but wouldn’t it be nice to have somebody who was closer to 60 than to 80?” said a consultant who has helped reverse the fortunes of a major airline and a global fast-food chain. (Like some of my experts, he preferred to speak on background.) Pope John Paul II became pope at age 58, and before his papacy sank into scandal and Parkinson’s, he was a beloved, globe-trotting dynamo. Benedict XVI was 78 at the start, and he felt a bit like a caretaker.

-- Bil Keller at The New York Times

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There's an idea. Though, Christianity itself seems to be in its dotage, but it can only help to have a little energy in the leadership, someone who can also strip away some of the layers of collected rust, so as to recognize the equality of women and gays, as well as the reality of sex, including the allowance for priests to be able to marry. It can only help if the faith can be made more relevant to our lives.

This Game Plays You

Is this real? The idea is a little chilling, though I don't suppose we have the technology to do very much along these lines. It does suggest the fascinating prospect of what our video games can look like in a few generations down the road.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob speaks on tattoos and the changing culture.

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TMZ: What was the feeling that you had when you got your first tattoo?

BILLY BOB It was so long ago, in 1974. Back then, people didn't get tattoos. It was just people in the Navy or bikers. Now you go to the dentist and the dentist has a tattoo.

TMZ: When a woman has a tattoo on her lower back, it's called a tramp stamp. What is it called when a man has one on his lower back?

BILLY BOB Let's see... stupid? Wrong. I think it's called wrong.

-- ONTD

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As with so much of society, the tattoo culture left me behind. Though, I have grown to fancy those tramp stamps, as if it were the height of slut-walking.

Mr. Flagg

Mr. Flagg, the old rake, posted a debate, a forum which has gone silent for a good few years. He writes, "Is it more important that we have hate speech laws to protect marginalized members of society or free speech laws to protect an honest and open exchange of ideas and emotions?"

I take a chance to reply. Remember, there has been a question whether by account has been marked as a 'spammer', and I wasn't sure that my comment would be posted successfully. But my comment made it. Maybe it is only problemsome if one includes a link in one's comment, but that would render a debate forum pretty useless, no?

In any case, I said, "You have grown serious in maturity?"

Mr. Flagg was true to his old form: "Nah, I was gonna come back later after 100 comments appear and change it to Meatspin." Which I think is a gay-porn site.

I was going to respond again and even typed out: "100 comments? Ah, those were the days." But I decided that it was better to let sleeping dogs lie and quit while I am ahead and I closed the page without posting. And these were the only two comments made on the post.

Sammy

Sammy will still study the kitchen sliding-door when I open and close it, as if he understands that life would be a lot easier if only he could figure out how to open the door on his own. Of course, it's never going to happen.

And, yes, Sammy has made it back. I would have bet that he wasn't going to make it in until dark, but it is a happy surprise.

Daily Fun

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