Buzz About This Album Began in 1994. On May 6, It's Here.
Music reviewer extraordinaire Andy Whitman has already heard it, and he's posted some comments at ArtsandFaith.com.
I Flew, I Got the Flu. Plus: Myers Crashes *Another* "Expelled" Event.
On my way home from New Orleans, I felt a sore throat and a fever come on quite suddenly. The six hours of flying were most unpleasant I've ever endured. I don't recommend flying with the flu.
So I'm home, and I'll probably be asleep for the next 24 hours.Read more
A Notable Follow-up to the Dawkins/Expelled Post
After the "letter to the editor" post regarding Richard Dawkns, P.Z. Myers, and Expelled -- the post that suddenly doubled my previous "best-day" record here at Looking Closer (10,000 visitors in less than 14 hours) -- I'm still recovering from the mountain of angry mail that came in.
Most of it consisted of people taking cheap shots at Stuart Blessman for his post. (He later went on to blog about it here.)Very few actually dealt with the movie itself. Most of it argued that Blessman was "lying" ... and yet the people saying so had not been present at the screening, like Stuart was, so they had no alternate evidence to offer. It would have turned into a ridiculous shouting match, with one side shouting hysterically and the other, except that there was only one side shouting. On the other side, there was only Stuart, who never shouted but simply offered his man-on-the-street perception of what happened.
Some, after unleashing hateful, hysterical, and condemining responses went on to say that Christians are very hateful and condemning. What's a stronger word than "irony"?
Anyway, after all of that, it was nice to receive this:
I wanted to thank you for posting Stuart's comments on the Expelled issue and -- most of all -- for noting and complementing his gracefulness in reply.
He is a student of mine this semester in a class I'm teaching about Biblical arguments. He is more conservative than I am, too be sure. All the more reason for me to note that in person he is as civil as his postings to you were.  Very even tempered person. He tells me he has received a large amount of hate mail and threats that he should be expelled and so on. Amazing.
I used to cover some of the Harris and Dawkins books in my Analysis of Argument class, but they are so shoddy and mean-spirited it hardly seemed worth the time. Hans Kung wrote a "does God exist" book and you could take his set-up of the various anti-God arguments, combine that into one book and you'd have something far superior to Dawkins' effort.
Again, thanks.
--
John Nordin
Lecturer, Communication Studies
Update from New Orleans
It's a warm, sunny, breezy day here in New Orleans. And I'm enjoying it immensely. I had a tasty, huge meal of crawfish (four different ways), crab (stuffed), and barbecue shrimp pasta last night at Deanie's Seafood.
Last night's stroll down Bourbon Street was wild and crazy. I first heard the term "Storyville" when, as a much younger fellow, I first heard Robbie Robertson's album of that title. I'll have to revisit that record now. While that nickname apparently has a colorful history, and relates only to a section of the city, it strikes me as a good nickname for the town... insofar as its blend of styles, cultures, old, and new are a storyteller's dream. Every block is so full of personality -- dazzling style, exquisite disintegration, boisterous new growth. The sublime and the sinful. I could write a book of short stories here, because every block is lined with buildings of such disparate style and character. And it's alive and bustling.
My colleagues Jennifer and Reece walked with me all over the downtown area, and what we saw made our heads spin. A brass band blasted the biggest most joyful noise I think I've ever heard, and they did it for free right on the street, for a dazzled crowd. So much spirit... and stamina too. They were still playing two hours later when we walked back after dinner. That stroll felt like reading the Divine Comedy in one sitting. Glory and porn, white tablecloths behind polished windows and a guy in a sandwich board that said "Big Ass Beers to Go!" A kind local guy who gave us recommendations, and a beautiful woman who suddenly bent over and puked in the street. 
I had a few minutes to walk along the waterfront and check out some of the beautiful old-fashioned riverboats. Wish I'd had time to learn more about the history of what I saw there, but it was inspiring, nonetheless. I've been surprised at just how many friendly folks I've encountered along the way here, people who really want to be here and are passionate about this place. They've been generous in their storytelling, and quite welcoming. I want to come back and spend a good long time exploring, sometime when I don't need to sit in air-conditioned conference rooms all day.
But the conference has been inspiring so far. This morning I had the privilege of hearing famed sportswriter and NPR commentator Frank Deford speak about his career, and about the soaring glories and the disgusting lows of the sports world. And I attended a motivating seminar on finding great story material on your college campus.
I just got back from a reception where I never did find my coworkers, but oh well. I'm ready to head back out, find a quiet place to sip something, taste something, and work on Cyndere's Midnight. So, I hope your evening is as promising as mine.
I'm in New Orleans, Mes Amis!
I'm in New Orleans for the first time, with a view of downtown and the river from the 18th floor of a fine establishment.
There's an editors' conference here I'm attending with some of my colleagues, and let me tell you, it's a joy to see this place. My cab driver was full of passion for this city, and full of hope for its restoration. (He also didn't waste time explaining that the funds for restoring New Orleans were severely delayed because the Bush administration is punishing New Orleans for voting Democrat in the last election.)
I've always wanted to enjoy a late dinner in New Orleans, and that's where I'm headed, so... I'll catch ya later.
(P.S. Stay tuned. I'll have a few words about the new Sam Phillips album for you in just a few days.)
Michael Leary on Terrence Malick's Badlands and Days of Heaven
film-think's Michael Leary has just posted thoughts on Terrence Malick's work in Badlands and Days of Heaven
Big News for Auralia Coming Soon
Auralia's Colors is going into its second printing, and I received big news yesterday about an unexpected development for this book and the next. I'll have details as soon as they're official...
In the meantime, if you liked the previous cover design better, grab it before it's gone from the stores.
I've just received a new stash here, and so autographed copies are available once again.
Did Richard Dawkins Just Crash the Party at a Screening of "Expelled"?
UPDATE 4/22:
I'm so pleased with Greg Wright's balanced, non-hysterical review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, that I've asked permission to repost it here at Looking Closer. Greg consented. Here's his review!
UPDATE: 4/16:
Comments for this post are closed now, due to misbehaving participants. But further discussion is getting started at Mark Shea's blog and at Arts and Faith.
- - - - - - - - - - -
ORIGINAL POST:
Did Richard Dawkins just crash the party
at a screening of Expelled?
To one fellow standing in line for the movie, it certainly looked that way as things played out on the evening he caught a sneak preview of the film.
On Thursday night, I received this email report from Looking Closer reader and college student Stuart Blessman.
Please note: It was an email. It was not an essay, not a researched dissertation. Just a "Hey, I just came from a movie screening, and something unexpected happened! Here's my impression of what happened!"
Stuart thought I'd find it interesting, and as someone interested in filmmaking and the dialogue surrounding it, I certainly do find it interesting. I haven't seen Expelled, the documentary in question, and I have no opinion of it... "for" or "against." Not yet. But Stuart's account, as best he could relate it in a spur-of-the-moment email, was intriguing.
I asked him if I could share it with you. So he framed it as a sort of "letter to the editor."
In the next few hours, this blog post was visited by more than 10,000 new visitors. And many of them wrote to me, either via Comments on this blog, or by email. Almost all of them demonstrated clearly that they've already made up their minds about Expelled even before it is ready for theaters. And almost all of them seem to think that Stuart is launching some kind of nuclear attack on them and their evolutionist theories. They have risen up en masse and published character assassinations of Stuart, calling him "a shameful liar" and "a disgrace to his university," when in fact he was just a college student and a moviegoer who sent me an off-the-cuff email telling me about his memorable moviegoing experience.
Sounds like these reactions come from a community that feels threatened. If the film was easily brushed aside, why would they bother? It's not like objections to evolutionists' monopolies on higher-education classrooms are anything new. But with the exception of a few more civil and thoughtful defenders (whose posts I went ahead and included among the comments), this looked like a rather desperate, hysterical response. I've been buried in hate mail from evolutionists and athiests in the last 24 hours, much of it laced with obscenities and spectacular recommendations about sex acts that Christians should go and do with themselves. Ah, what fine representatives for their worldview. If they're hoping to strike a pose of sophistication and mature dialogue, well, they blew it. I've closed the comments now because I'm not going to weed through more of that trash in hopes of finding a few more civil responses.
It's rather surprising to see this kind of thing coming from folks who will, at the same time, write off Christians as judgmental and hateful. It's rather surprising to see such "moral outrage" coming from this audience especially. It's enough to suggest that maybe they *do* believe in moral absolutes, in a spiritual conflict of good versus evil. Otherwise, what foundation would they have to stand on for their objections? This is fine evidence of "eternity written in their hearts."
But first, here's the email that Stuart sent me within minutes of arriving back home from the screening.*