Urban Psalm 23 The Lord is my mentor—I want him to teach. He tells me to lie down with headphones unplugged. He leads me into anonymous streets. He eats when I eat. Even though I walk the hardened streets, I have no fear. I don’t even carry a rod for comfort. He likes my cap, […]
Archives for May 2014
Popes, Pseudo-Events, Computer Marriage and the Simple Life
May 19, 2014 By
In this week’s reading list, we have quite a combination. A murder in Montgomery remains unsolved as the victim’s simple life leaves no social media, email or other electronic footprints for law enforcement to follow. A Florida man is demanding his right to wed his pornography-laden computer. We’ve also got a scholarly love letter to […]
“Her” & Artificial Immortality
May 12, 2014 By
Her is available on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, May 13. View the trailer: Perhaps the most absurd scene in the movie “Her” is when Theodore and Samantha have what we’ll call, for lack of a better metaphor, “phone sex.” This scene is actually the second of its kind in the film. The first, though, earns […]
Lance Strate’s “Amazing Ourselves to Death”: A Review
May 5, 2014 By
Years ago at NBC News, Gene Shalit told me a story about the difficulties of being an arts critic on television. In 1974 he delivered a less than appreciative review of the sentimental Joe Camp movie “Benji,” about a lovable, stray and cloyingly cute mixed-breed dog and his unlikely adventures. As he always did at […]
Robots, Jobs, and the Future
May 5, 2014 By
Twenty years ago last week, the internet came to NPR offices. Twenty years from today, it’s possible that radio operators could all be put out of their jobs by robots. So before you take some time to read about the bleakness or brightness of the future–depending on who you ask–we’ll lighten the mood with a […]
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