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Jim Lindgren over at the legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy has excerpted a fascinating George Orwell essay from 1944 about what a morally depraved yet talented artist Salvador Dali is. It discusses how the fans of his art claim “a kind of benefit of clergy” where they exempt him from the moral laws that constrain ordinary people. Here’s the line that got me:
Since the 1960s, Woody Allen has made dozens of movies that have mixed entertainment and exploration of metaphysical issues. Perhaps Allen was an inspiration for Oscar-winning movie makers Joel and Ethan Coen, whose latest film, “A Serious Man,” opens Friday.
Boston University religion professor Stephen Prothero asked his Twitter followers this week if atheism was a religion and whether it should be protected under the First Amendment clauses dealing with legal protection. I thought of those questions when coming across coverage of how the founder of the Jedi Church was treated at the Tesco supermarket.
Sunday’s New York Times profile of filmmaker Michael Moore, whose “Capitalism: A Love Story” opens nationwide Oct. 2, asked readers to view Moore as a modern-day embodiment of Charlie Chaplin:
I don’t exactly know how I ended up on the Arizona Republic‘s celebrity page but check out this important update on Jennifer Aniston:
I’m saving the best (Got News?) for last. But first, let’s cover culture war news from the Values Voter Summit held in D.C. And right off the bat I wanna say (yeah, that’s how we talk in Philly — you gotta problem with that?) that I’m ambivalent about any journalist who uses that term as a descriptor rather than the title of the Family Research Values conference. The term implies that conservative activists are the only ones with values, or that those on the left are value-free, or that voters who fell into the middle of the spectrum don’t take their values to the voting booth. In general, the reporters below tend to be clear that this is a term of choice, not of reality.
Worried booksellers are thanking their lucky stars for the The Lost Symbol, which has already sold a million copies since its Tuesday release. (Booksellers are also anxiously anticipating Oprah’s latest book club choice on Friday).
Lots of people are good at getting favorable press, but Gunther von Hagens is really good. He’s the guy behind the “Body Worlds” exhibits that show dead, flayed, dissected human beings preserved in plastic. He’s been on the road with this for years and it’s surprising how favorable the press is considering the topic of his show.
