Geeks Without God Talks about the Fringe Festival
My life is about to become all Fringe Festival all the time so it seemed appropriate that this week’s Geeks Without God touched on the theatrical orgy that is the Minnesota Fringe. We brought back former guest Joshua Humphrey to engage in Fringe Nerd conversation.
To be fair, Josh and I are the fringe nerds. Molly and Nick patiently listened to what we had to say and asked really good questions. The conversation covers the origin of the Fringe, the benefits to local theatre companies and some of the challenges as well.
Then Josh got to ask us five questions and they required a fair amount of thought. I don’t know what it is with guests showing up and making us think, but it needs to stop!
If you would like to listen, you can do so here!
One more Fringe Show!
I was not seeking to saturate the Fringe this year but sometimes things come up and someone needs to put together a show with a week’s notice. I’m there to help out.
John Newstrom, who is directing Shrodinger’s Apocalypse also co-created another show at this year’s Fringe. I’m not sure exactly what happened but one of his actors had to drop out of that show last week. And it was a two man show.
Not wanting to lose his Producer’s fee, John asked me if I’d be willing to help mount a last-minute thing. I said yes.
So we present Stop Talking: The Game of Talking!
If the show sounds familiar, that is because we did it at last year’s Fringe. Not to worry, though! The show is an improvisational game show and that means it is different every time!
We’ve pulled together a whole bunch of very talented comedians and performers to help out with this show and if it is anything like last year, it will be a ton of fun.
Hosting duties will be shared by Joseph Scrimshaw and myself. My lovely wife Pat will be handing the timekeeper and scoring duties.
A whole lot of people will be playing the game including (but not limited to): Allegra Lingo, Ben San Del, Phillip Andrew Bennett Low, Molly Glover, Nick Glover, Sharon Stiteler, Bill Stiteler, Levi Weinhagen, Windy Bowlsby, Courtney McClean, Jena Young, Eric Knight, Johnny Packard and Jerry Belich.
We’ll be at the Music Box Theatre on the following dates:
Sunday, Aug 4th at 4:00 PM (hosted by me)
Tuesday, Aug 6th at 10:00 PM (hosted by Joseph Scrimshaw)
Thursday, Aug 8th at 8:30 PM (hosted by me)
Friday, Aug 9th at 10:00 PM (hosted by Joseph)
Saturday, Aug 10th at 1:00 PM (hosted by me)
The show is fast paced, silly and just got added at the last minute. So do us a favor and check it out, OK???
Shit that Pissed me Off – 7/26
Pastor Says that He’s Never met Anyone who Didn’t Regret Having Sex Before Marriage
I must assume, then, that he’s met very few people who have had sex before marriage.
I need to meet this guy because then he will have met one person who is completely happy with the decision to have sex before marriage. Then I’ll introduce him to a whole lot of other people. Many of whom are Christians.
See, I’m used to self-righteous idiots like this talking out of their asses. But why say something so easy to refute? Especially because the guy has to realize that what he is saying is bullshit, doesn’t he? How can you not realize that what you are saying is bullshit when you say something so incredibly stupid?
I’m betting a million dollars that this dude has never regretted having sex outside of marriage.
In fact, when presented with evidence that what he said was bullshit, he turned off the comments on his post and deleted all of the comments that disproved his statement. Because when faced with evidence that you put your foot in your mouth, the best thing you can possibly do is destroy the evidence. And this jerk would probably want to ask me where I get a moral compass without god.
Seems like god hasn’t done him any favors in that department.
Alphabetical Movie – The Return of the King
I have a framed poster for this film signed by Peter Jackson and it is hanging in my bathroom. There’s a picture of it on the left if you don’t believe me. Every time I poop, I see this poster.
I’m not saying that to brag. I mean, if I was trying to brag, I wouldn’t admit that I look at this poster every time I poop, would I?
OK, fine. I’m bragging just a little bit.
I’m not a big memorabilia collector. When it comes to autographs, I place far more value on a genuine interaction with another human being than I do on their signature. Still, it’s pretty damn cool that I got to see an advance premiere of Return of the King with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson and Peter signed a poster for everyone in the room.
The story is a lot more interesting than the autograph, actually. I could’ve forged the autograph. It could have been stamped on by a printer.
Fringey Fringe Fringe
I’ve got to apologize to myself for failing to do a good job of promoting my Fringe shows this year. With the Fringe just one week away, it is probably time for me to go into full “see my show” mode.
I’ve got two shows in the Fringe this year and I’m really looking forward to both of them.
Back in February, I didn’t have the slightest idea what I was going to do for the Fringe. Not a big deal, I thought, the lottery hasn’t happened yet!
Well then it did happen. And one of the numbers to which I was attached was drawn. Suddenly, I had to come up with an idea.
My idea was “Schrödinger’s Apocalypse.”
Hey look! Three people reading a book!
Alphabetical Movie – The Two Towers
When I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the Alphabetical Movie Project, I made the choice to watch the extended editions. I don’t believe they are better than the theatrical editions but one of the most remarkable things about the universe Jackson created is how excited I was by the prospect of seeing more – even if the extra bits didn’t add all that much to the story.
If I’m watching a movie for the first time, I’m pretty much always going to try to see the theatrical cut of the film. If I don’t like that version of the film, why would I want to watch a version that has more stuff I don’t like? If I like the film, I want to establish a baseline and I feel that baseline should be what everyone else has already seen.
Besides, the theatrical cut is almost always better. Most movies don’t need to be longer. Most movies need to be shorter. As much as I love the extra stuff in the LOTR movies, I don’t feel like any of the movies are improved by the additional material. The theatrical versions exhibit better pacing and storytelling than the extended editions. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that the avalanche of skulls really makes Return of the King better.
Geeks Without God Talks CONvergence Again
OK, I know we’ve been talking about CONvergence a lot. We really like the convention. So this episode is about our favorite moments at the convention. I think the episode is fun to listen to but no matter what, it was fun to record. That has to count for something, right?
Actually, there are some fun stories that came out of the convention and we somehow managed to remember a few of them!
Shit that Pissed me off – 7/19
Thing is, I didn’t think that there was a chance in hell that Zimmerman was going to be found guilty and honestly, I don’t think he should have spent the rest of his life in prison. I think he should have gone to prison but not for the rest of his life. Splitting hairs, maybe, but there you go.
While it seems probable that Trayvon Martin did attack Zimmerman, it also seems clear that Zimmerman would not have been in a position to be attacked if he’d followed directions and stayed in his car. He didn’t and a teenaged boy is dead.
In the end, nobody learned anything. Zimmerman feels like his actions have been vindicated. In fact, he feels like killing Martin was part of God’s plan. A belief that won’t be shaken given the verdict. Trayvon Martin can learn nothing ever again because he’s still dead.
Or – since it was all part of god’s plan – maybe he’s burning in hell and learning a lot. Too bad it won’t do him any good. Ha ha!
Is Zimmerman guilty of murder? Apparently not. I still believe that what he did was wrong. And it exposed something ugly about our country that a lot of us would rather ignore. Like the fact Zimmerman can go free while a black woman can spend 20 years in jail for firing two warning shots so her abusive husband would stay away from her.
Sadly enough, after the uproar about this verdict dies down, we’ll just go back to ignoring it.
Alphabetical Movie – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Let me tell you about what convinced me I was watching a truly great work of cinema when I first watched this film.
It wasn’t the extraordinary characterizations by the lead performers. Although they were extraordinary.
It wasn’t the scope of the film that seemed to stretch beyond the frames. Although that was brilliant.
No, what sold me on the film was the way Peter Jackson managed to make an inanimate object terrifying.
Geeks Without God Talks to PZ Myers
In the second of two live episodes recorded at CONvergence, we finally got to talk with outspoken atheist PZ Myers. I wanted to talk to him about evolution because he is a professor of evolutionary biology and a vocal opponent of creationists the world over. My question to him was fairly simple: what is the best evidence you can use to get a creationist to think about their beliefs?
I had no illusions that one could completely eradicate years of indoctrination with a single well-chosen piece of evidence. I just wanted to know how you could start the ball rolling.
Of course the answer isn’t nearly as easy as the question. I knew that.
Still, PZ helped us work through some of the ways those of us who know evolution is true can begin to educate those who do not. It was great to have PZ on the show and I hope we can chat with him again soon!
Grail Diary 