If there's a God,

why'd he make me an atheist? Good question, Ricky. Thanks again, Dean.*



* And for pointing me to this blogsite, 3quarksdaily. Just below Ricky is an amusing/disturbing philosopher's lament as to the "discreditable" nature of his day job, "A World Without Why" ("I have what I have always held to be a mildly discreditable day job, that of teaching philosophy at a university. I take it to be discreditable because about 85 percent of my time and energy is devoted to training aspiring young members of the commercial, administrative or governmental elite in the glib manipulation of words, theories and arguments. I thereby help to turn out the pliable, efficient, self-satisfied cadres that our economic and political system uses to produce the ideological carapace which protects it against criticism and change...") Lots of other fun stuff here too.

"You lie!"

The new Ricky Gervais film The Invention of Lying debuts with perfect timing: we commence our discussion of the Truth chapter on Monday. But NPR's film critic says Ricky (or more likely the studio) pulls its punches, in abject fear of inflaming a reaction from an audience that won't be amused by the insinuation that religion would not exist in a world where lying was impossible.

Mark [Ricky] visits his mother in her retirement home (the sign reads: "A Sad Place Where Homeless Old People Come to Die"), and finding her frightened of oblivion on her deathbed, he makes up an afterlife, where he says she'll be happy.

Because no one lies, she dies with a smile. Then Mark looks up, and sees the doctors and nurses looking stunned. They want details.

So Mark has to basically invent religion on the spot. He says there's a Man in the Sky who takes care of folks who've died, and who's also responsible for everything on Earth.

"Even my cancer?" wonders someone, and ... well, let's just say Mark's ad-libbed improvisations have to get more complicated.

OK, so it walks right up to the edge of edgy and backpedals. What else do we expect from Hollywood? But this still looks like fun. See you at the multiplex...

where I'll probably skip the Coens' "A Serious Man," a re-telling of the Biblical tale of Job that sounded promising but is apparently "intolerable" and "hell to sit through," if you trust David Denby (and the trailer does look a bit lame): "Larry [Job] applies to a series of Rabbis for help, and the rabbis, vain of their wisdom, either miss the point of his troubles or tell elaborate parables that illuminate nothing... one might say that all filmmakers, distributing rewards and punishments, come close to playing God. Surely the arbitrary and ruthless Coens are the only deity in sight." Denby's usually on target but sounds a bit like an apologist here. May have to seek another opinion.