Author: Rufus F.

It seems at times we can overstate the religious thinking of the Greeks and tip the balance too heavily towards polytheism. Arnold Toynbee, for instance writes that, “In popular pre-Christian Greek religion, divinity was...

I remember a friend once commenting, “The truth is I’m unnaturally beautiful.” It’s one of those comments that sounds pretty terrible coming from most people; in her case, it was forgivable because she was,...

This discussion about the Tuscon shootings, as necessary and intelligent as it has been, is also exhausting to me. The only thing I really have to say at this point is that, at times like this and after events...

An expressionist horror film currently in wide release, Black Swan deserves recognition for dealing with such heady subjects as the duality of human nature, the fragmentation of personality by mental illness, the projection by...

“The triumph of the spiritual principle means, not the subordination of man to the universe, but the revelation of the universe in personality”. -Nikolai Berdaiev

National Geographic reports that explorers in Vietnam have just uncovered the largest cave passage yet found. It has “room enough for an entire New York City block of 40 story buildings” and can fit...

Voltaire, and the Epicurean philosopher Lucretius long before him, held up the Iphigenia story as a parable of religious fanaticism, but this seems to miss the mark a bit- this isn’t a story of religion, but...

As someone whose therapist friends have been battling, so far bloodlessly, with diagnosis-happy psychiatrists over clients being told they have lifelong disorders following brief depressive episodes, this Wired article strikes me as pretty important. (Via Zoë Pollock)

This is extremely indulgent posting- be warned. Every year, I make my friends a mix CD of Christmas rock and novelty songs. I’d like to offer up 20 of my favorites, via Youtube, for y’all....

[ Note: These thoughts were inspired by Lisa Kramer’s very good post on her engagement and marriage more generally.] Since marrying five years ago, I’ve occasionally found myself in the following situation: milling about...

In general, it’s a bad idea to speculate on sexual assault cases that are ongoing. As for the allegations about Julian Assange, Kate Harding offers very good suggestions on how to have a responsible discussion and not tick...

It might make me a blogopshere square to admit this, but I’m a huge fan of print magazines and journals. Right now, I only have three subscriptions, but read about seven other titles regularly enough that I...

The Serbian artist Marina Abramovi?’s performances suggest, to me, that performance art really isn’t a radical departure from plastic arts, but a return to art’s roots in ritual and religion. Her photography is sometimes more direct, but still retains the...

Currently appearing at the Acte2galerie in Paris, Cédric Delsaux’s “Dark Lens” series (manipulated photos of Dubai) is a clever, surrealistic take on the Star Wars films. A sample after the jump:

Recently, E.C. Gach made a very interesting argument here about the closed belief systems that support empires; one that I think is basically true. Imperialism tends to give rise to, and perhaps needs, fairly...

Okay, if anyone wants to do a more straight-faced version of the Friday jukebox, please feel free. I just wanted to think of a way to announce that I’m off to La France for the...

I quite enjoyed Will’s post asking just what it is that an academic degree confers, and was struck by this sentence in particular: “I’m told that my undergraduate experience provides a framework for critical...

Sometimes I fantasize while struggling through this *#$&! dissertation, but I ever actually did plagiarize, I think I’d have a nervous breakdown with worry. If I was a tenured academic authoring a Congressional study,...

Here’s an example of prose written in what I call the ‘bullying nerd’ voice. Not up-to-date on all the new gadgets? Well, get with it Grandpa! Your way of life is over! Ever wonder why some...