So-So City
Did you ever catch yourself dreaming, adrift in la-la land—only to wake up to your own, personal so-so city? A consoling (but sophistic) thought: The number of…
Love Story
In war, sitting out protects one’s bodily safety. Sitting out of the morally messy struggles typical of adult human life protects one’s sense of superiority and innocence…
Manchester By the Sea: Dark, Beautiful, and Real
Every person undergoes traumatic experiences. Their quantity and quality vary, but once suffered, these experiences are incorporated into the person, usually invisibly to the rest of us…
Our Big Picture Problem
Cultures show their substance by what they make easier and what they make more difficult. A true, illustrative story: Me: “Hey, Siri, find me a Catholic Mass…
Relativists Get Their Favorite Movie Wrong
Final grades were due a few days ago, and for those of us who teach, grading season has just come to a close. With visions of student…
The Decline of the Western
Tired of rants about how awful capitalism is? Here’s a fun trick: ask the people you’re discussing it with not to use the term “capitalism.” Politely suggest:…
Moderately Marginalized
Sure, as a teenager, I experimented a little—rock, but also blues, jazz, standards, alt country. Never pop—that cesspool of cheap, predictable noise shunned by all who take…
Secret Cinema: Gnostic Visions in Film (Part III)
Films that Partake of Gnosticism, Cabballa, and Alcehmy Films self-consciously inflecting these esoteric visions — films like The Matrix, A.I., and Dead Man — partake of this…
Secret Cinema: Gnostic Visions in Film (Part II)
Film as Sophisticated Expression of Gnosticism Directors seem to be realizing that film, counter to expectation, might be the most sophisticated medium possible for expressing the Gnostic…
Secret Cinema: Gnostic Visions in Film (Part I)
Gnosticism in the Post-Modern Age: A Prologue This is about the old problem, the virus that will not go away: the relationship between appearance and reality. After…