Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Leviathan’s Sibling

  

  Formulaic to the point of plagiarism at times, 1950s science fiction movies often follow the deeply worn ruts left by countless forgettable monsters. Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2013 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Out with the Old

  

  It’s become a time-honored tradition, as an old, secular year ends and a new one, brimming with potential commences, for various pundits to sum up the past... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Priests, Queens, Goddesses and Fruit

  

  “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Fun Fiction

  

  While I tend to limit my ramblings to once a day, every now and again something prompts another little post once the bus finally gets in and before sleep... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Mystique-alism

  

  Reading in a public place gives peer pressure an entirely new meaning. Public transit is a place where I spend at least fifteen hours a week. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Monkey See, Monkey Do

  

  The year was 1972. In the continuing saga of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, addressed the civil rights... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Robotics FIRST

  

  I knew it! It was right there on the cover of Wired magazine. “The Robots Take Over.” And it is also the very day of the FIRST Robotics kickoff, the day when... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Without a Hitch

  

  I’m not really afraid of dying. All those years of being taught that “to die is to gain” have obviously done their work. At the same time, it is a poignant... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Forget This Alamo

  

  A person’s car is a haven of sorts. Very expensive, dangerous and yet necessary, they have made life a fair bit easier than caring for horses when you need to... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Graveyard Culture

  

  During an Ancient Near Eastern Religions course a few years back, one of my students commented that something was like “in American Gods. Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 2012 + 1

  

  I just watched 2012. The conceit that the world will end last year must be getting tired by now, but I’d been curious about the movie since it came out three... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Alien Religion

  

  Despite my interest in aliens, my viewing of the Alien movies has been tenuous at best. The image of what looked like an egg hatching a green sun over a... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 2012 in Review

  

  The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt:About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year.... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• On Dasher, On Dancer

  

  It’s a little embarrassing to admit that after having pondered religion for all of my life, I still have no clear idea what it is. Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Biblical New Brunswick

  

  One of the true sadnesses of my life is that New Brunswick’s biggest institution, Rutgers University, couldn’t find a full-time place for a dreamer like me. Eve... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Best Gift

  

  Standing outside the footprint of a circular chapel next to the ancient ruins of a drinking hall in Ophir, the Orkney Islands, with friends. Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• No Song for Old Men

  

  Succoth in Waukesha, Wisconsin. A pillar of the local synagogue had invited me to come to his booth with some of my seminary students to let them celebrate an... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Santa Myth

  

  The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, devotes its resources on Christmas Eve to track the path of Santa Claus across not only across the... Read more

  Posted on 26 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Religion of X

  

  While I never considered myself comically deprived as a child, as an adult I have come to understand that I missed quite a bit. Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Evolving Instinct

  

  Evolution has appeared as a threat to the Christian establishment ever since Charles Darwin worked out a mechanism by which it could work without God. Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2012 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY