Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4647 )

• Shifting Gears

  

  The question’s very basic: do you pay with cash, or by watching commercials. When it’s the same three commercials the whole way through—for products you’d... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Storming Fourth

  

  Our founders picked a day of uncertain weather to declare independence.  One gets the sense that people were more stoic about the weather in those days.  Of... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Life After

  

  Robert T. Bigelow is wealthy enough to speak his mind.  A hotel and aerospace entrepreneur, Bigelow has made no bones about his belief that aliens are among... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Land Forgotten

  

  In case anyone’s noticed (which I doubt) that I’ve been discussing a spate of 1950s sci-fi/horror movies, I have a confession to make. Several years ago I neede... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• More Than Dark Shadows

  

  The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis is one of those books that makes me feel less alone. Jeff Thompson is not only a true fan of Curtis’ voluminous quality... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sweet Tooth

  

  Often our luxuries come at someone else’s cost.  I personally don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I do enjoy dark chocolate once in a while.  (Milk chocolate... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Following Irving

  

  I’m growing fond of staycations.  Maybe it’s because I’ve become such a creature of habit that major disruptions seem daunting, but I still like a change of... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Praying for Mantis

  

  Now this is a Cold War movie. And I mean “cold.” The Deadly Mantis is one of those movies that hovers between “so bad it’s good” and just plain “so bad.” I was... Read more

  Posted on 28 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Mustard Monster

  

  Speaking of mustard seeds, as a child something troubled my literalist brain. Mark 4.31, “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the... Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Cryptid Caper

  

  I don’t recall how it got on my fiction reading list—I probably saw it on Goodreads—but I picked it up because it was short. And surprisingly, multiple copies... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Poor

  

  It’s an amazing era for cinema. A number of genre-defying films have emerged and some of them are quite striking. Some months ago I saw Everything Everywhere Al... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Passing Words

  

  I’ve never counted, but it must be dozens.  Maybe a hundred.  And they have very high memory requirements.  Especially for a guy who can’t recall why he walked... Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Invisible Again

  

  Sequels are a fact of life. Movies, although some of us look to them for profundity, are made for selling. (I guess my writing for so long with no profit from i... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Discovering Ordinary

  

  I wasn’t quite sure what sense of ordinariness to expect from Robert J. Wicks’ The Tao of Ordinariness. I would say as a whole it is about becoming ordinary you. Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Two-Eyed Cyclops

  

  You can probably tell, if you read me regularly, that I’ve been going through an older movie kick. A lot of these are easier to find for free on streaming... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sun Day

  

  Two holidays in a row!  Although today nobody gets off work because, well, two holidays in a row is too much.  People might come to expect a little more time... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Teenth of June

  

  It’s only really when they have no choice.  The Wednesday holiday, that is.  No convenient weekend a day away.  So Juneteenth is actually celebrated on... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• History Lesson

  

  This blog, which has come to define me in many ways, wasn’t my idea.  A niece started it for me when Neal Stephenson suggested I should have a place for... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Under Bite

  

  Religion and horror have long been bedfellows. And quite companionable ones at that. I’ve written a longer piece that I’ve not yet managed to wedge into a book... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Empowerment

  

  Recommended as a worthwhile contemporary gothic novel, Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches is a feminist tour de force. Set in a world similar, or... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY