1. From one of the December issues of The Economist, some interesting findings about “Age and Happiness”. The main discovery being the “U-Bend” – i.e. the finding that people are happiest in their youth and old age, and least happy in between. The most relevant section for us has to do with “the death ambition” (ht VH):
Maybe people come to accept their strengths and weaknesses [as they grow older], give up hoping to become chief executive or have a picture shown in the Royal Academy, and learn to be satisfied as assistant branch manager, with their watercolour on display at the church fete. “Being an old maid”, says one of the characters in a story by Edna Ferber, an (unmarried) American novelist, was “like death by drowning—a really delightful sensation when you ceased struggling.” Perhaps acceptance of ageing itself is a source of relief. “How pleasant is the day”, observed William James, an American philosopher, “when we give up striving to be young—or slender.”
2. A great overview on Slate of South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s dealings over the years with religion. They’ve certainly not shied away from the topic, as their upcoming Book of Mormon musical boldly drives home. Parker has always seemed to be the driving force, so it’s a shame they didn’t interview him, but nevertheless [vulgarity warning – duh]:
What Parker and Stone do isn’t religion-bashing. It’s religion-teasing. And it’s born more from fascination than disdain. “I’m an atheist that admires and likes religion,” Stone told me in an interview. He describes the new musical as “an atheist’s love letter to religion.” If you had to classify Parker and Stone’s world view, you might call it Hobbesian absurdism.
3. An impressively Old Testament approach to a bad report card in Tampa, FL, Mom Puts Son On Tampa Street Corner To Tell Of Poor Grades, ht JD.
4. From CNN, a rare instance of praise for those who withhold judgement, 4-Star General, 5-Star Grace. I always knew there was something special about Karl Malone… Meanwhile, the trainwreck that is Charlie Sheen certainly has a lot of folks talking about the nature of addiction and powerlessness. With the lynch-mobs on one side, and bloodsuckers on the other, I truly hope he find the help he needs.
5. A little blogroll round-up: Kenda Dean’s Did Louis Kill Jesus? is an inspired look at a recent episode of Louie C.K.’s much-acclaimed (overrated) new show Louie, ht NH. Recent highlights from Reboot Christianity are Law, Grace and Depression and Law and Grace in Business Management. Russ Masterson posted a terrific Pascal quote here. And speaking of lynch mobs, the always fascinating You Are Not So Smart has a great piece about Deindivduation.
6. In TV, I won’t give anything away, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the series finale of Friday Night Lights was about as touching and true and beautiful as it could possibly be. Mark my words: even with the (significant) blemish of the second season, the series will go down as one of the highwater marks of American television. Certainly the standard against which yours truly will evaluate things for years to come, esp Grace-wise. And to all of you who say, “But I don’t like football…,” this chief of sinners (in that regard) is grateful; if FNL had found its audience – i.e. people that don’t like football – we might not have gotten such a perfect ending. FYI, in a final act of grace, the fifth season comes out on DVD before it debuts on NBC. Clear eyes, full hearts!
7. If you haven’t signed up for Bonnie’s study on petitionary prayer, let me, um, petition you to do so! This is important work and we need your help.
8. Finally, the rumors are true. The new Radiohead record, King of Limbs, is available for download today.
COMMENTS
8 responses to “Another Week Ends: U-Bending Happiness, South Park Religion, Charlie Sheen, Louie CK, Friday Night Lights”
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Thanks so much for the news about Friday Night Lights — and for revealing nothing about the plot! I have added it to my NetFlix queue.
Has anyone been watching Downton Abbey? I am crazy about the first season.
I loved Downton Abbey! Cannot wait for the second season. Highly, highly recommended.
Can't wait to savor Season 5 of Friday Night Lights! So glad to hear it doesn't disappoint. (I don't even remember the "blemish" of Season 2. Have loved it all…)
I'm curious to hear responses on the South Park "Book of Mormon" article. Parker and Stone seem genuinely affectionate toward religion, but seem to see it – at best – as a "good lie" that helps people live better, happier lives. Your thoughts, Mockingbirds?
Matt Stone may be an atheist, but I don't think Trey Parker is. I haven't read this interview, and may be wrong, but I've read (and think I've heard him say) that he's a Lutheran of some stripe.
South Park for me is at its best when it is just shamelessly iconoclastic and scandalously unPC for the sheer fun of it. I am less fond of them when they try to teach us some kind of lesson or give us a Message (the early SP also frankly mocked didacticism as well).
That said, if I were to try to pull some kind of religious message out of their stuff, it is a kind of vague unitarian ethical culture society — religions at their best exist to teach us how to be nice people and to get along. The idea of bound sinners in need of forgiveness from a gracious God isn't part of the Stone/Parker mindset.
Here are some representative South Park quotes where the characters are almost certainly acting as Message Vehicles for Stone/Parker:
"You've forgotten what being a [Christian] is all about. … Love your neighbor. Be a good person. That's it!"
"We don't have to believe every word of the Bible. They're just stories to help us to live by. We shouldn't toss away the lessons of the Bible just because some assholes in Italy screwed it up."
"If you want to be Christian, that's cool. But you should follow what Jesus taught instead of how he got killed. Focusing on how he got killed is what people did in the Dark Ages and it ends up with really bad results."
"Maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense… [but] the truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people."
@Margaret- Thanks for saying something! My eyebrow shot up a number of times as I was reading the article.
The general gist of the article seemed to be: "They make fun of religion, but it's OK, because at the end of the day, they actually respect religion but make fun hypocrisy."
But if the author's idea of respecting religion is boiling them all down to simple ethics, then I guess we just sigh and keep on preachin' the gospel.
Two major religion episodes completely missed by the article:
Episode 1303: Margaritaville- Kyle "pays for everyone's debts" to save the economy. Some very obvious Christian imagery about a Jewish savior paying for the debts of the world.
Episode 1105: Fantastic Easter Special- A Dan Brown-esque adventure into the strange phenomenon of Easter, the Resurrection, and Rabbits. One of my favorites.
Both episodes come later in the South Park "canon" and, I think, develop the religious nuances of the show a little further. It's obvious they understand Christianity as more than just ethics and niceness but I guess a nuanced law/gospel theology is a bit much to ask of the show. Not everybody can be as good as Friday Night Lights (or so I'm told by everybody on this blog- hahaha!)