Reviews In Depth

Top movie and book reviews that get beneath the surface
Documentary/Non-Fiction, Philosophy March 24th, 2013 by

Sam Harris, Free Will and the Slow Culture War

One of the recurring themes of this blog is that the fast pace of technological change is making various cultural modes like art and philosophy considerably less relevant than they once were.  As if sensing the immanence of its twilight, there have been a number of popular writers in recent years who have tried to inject philosophy back into the public consciousness and cultural debate.  Sam Harris has made one such attempt with his new book 'Free Will'.  In it he argues that there is no such thing as free will and that this truth matters.  But does it really?
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22 09 12 • Psychology

Would You Take the Honeymoon Pill?

A few years ago a study by researchers (Acevedo, Aron, Fisher, Brown) from Stony Brook university made the claim that a small percentage of mated couples (10%) indefinitely maintain a brain state similar to that found in[...]

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05 08 12 • Documentary/Non-Fiction, Psychology

Those New Mac Ads – Why We REALLY Hate Them

Recently Apple released a set of new ads to advertise their Mac personal computers. The response from the internet has been that of vituperative hatred. This post made it on to the front page of Hacker News and I think[...]

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01 07 12 • Documentary/Non-Fiction, Psychology

Sexist Narratives, Moral Dumbfounding and Our Broken Narrative Faculty

Generally what I do on this blog is interpret narratives, and try to give my readers a more sophisticated understanding of the narratives they encounter during their day to day lives.  This is no academic exercise.  Be[...]

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12 04 12 • Movies

Batman and the Meta Narrative

Remember the old Batman?  It looks so dated now.  Remember the strange, campy costumes and the droll one liners – all those has been actors?  Were you to watch it now you would find it painful to watch – t[...]

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Movies

Batman and the Meta Narrative

Remember the old Batman?  It looks so dated now.  Remember the strange, campy costumes and the droll one liners – all those has been actors?  Were you to watch it now you would find it painful to watch – the slow pacing, the bad special effects, the goofy gadgets.  At best you can look back [...]


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I’m Still Here (2010) – But Most of Us Aren’t

You need to see "I'm Still Here", the documentary/mockumentary of the spectacular fall from grace of actor Joaquin Phoenix, directed by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck. The central question posed by this film concerns the nature of this dividing line and how it gets drawn by contemporary culture and media. Its skill lies in the way it blocks us from drawing this line in the ways to which we are accustomed.


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