Beliefs
Penn Jillette has
a nice piece over on NPR about his belief that there is no God. He explains why that's different than being an atheist, and, although he doesn't use the word spirituality, he lays out a spiritual worldview that sounds pretty cool:
Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Music in the Sopranos
I just finished watching season 5 of the Sopranos. It's a brilliant show. It features a group of pretty insane people who are absolutely facinating to watch. It occurred to me that one of the things I love about the Sopranos is the music. To my mind, the music is one of the things that really helps humanize the characters. So often, the music paints a picture of the characters' internal states. Sadness, joy, relief, all of these emotions are often carried in the music, and they give us a view of the characters that we can empathize with. Even though I've never killed someone or had the pressure of running an organized crime operation, I can connect with Tony Soprano through the emotional window of the music. Plus, the music stands on its own as good stuff.
