Posts Tagged ‘charles darwin’

Podcast #82 – Creation

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Allison’s back–yay!  She joins us to discuss the new Charles Darwin bio-pic Creation, starring real-life husband-and-wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin.  Creation is based on the nonfiction book Annie’s Box (published in the US as Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution, and reissued in conjunction with the film as Creation) by Darwin descendant Randal Keynes.  Creation is currently in limited release, so check your local art cinema to see if and when it might play in your neighborhood.  For more visit CreationtheMovie.com.

Thanks to the many fellow science fans who joined us for the Creation screening at Atlanta’s Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.  And thanks to Royal Orchid Thai Cuisine for accommodating our unexpected horde.

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See “Creation” with American Freethought

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

The new Charles Darwin bio-pic “Creation” (starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly) opens in Atlanta on February 19th. The guys from the American Freethought Podcast (John C. Snider and David Driscoll) would like to invite you to join us on Saturday, February 20th, to see this film, with dinner and drinks at Royal Orchid Thai Cuisine (literally right next door to the theatre) immediately following. Dutch treat.

We have a Facebook event set up for this outing.

Exact showtimes are not yet available, but we’re shooting for a 4PM-ish screening. Details to follow.

See you there!

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Eugenie Scott v Ray Comfort Pt. 2

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

As I reported a few days ago, evangelist and armchair evolution critic Ray Comfort has engaged in debate with Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education.  Their exchange has been posted at US News and World Report.  Here’s the second and final round.  First, Ray Comfort trots out more of the same old nonsensical blither-blather, then Scott finishes him off in her closing statement.

Look for Comfort’s minions soon at a major university near you–they’re giving away copies of Darwin’s Origin of Species with a 50-page “introduction” by Comfort.  Aren’t you lucky?

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Darwin film gets US distributor

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

When reports came out a few days ago blaming Creationist fervor in America for the failure of Darwin bio-pic Creation to get a US distributor, I was skeptical of the claim; further, I was sure it wouldn’t be long before a distribution deal was announced.  If America loves anything, it’s controversy.

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Evolution, Lucky Edition

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

We stumbled across this yesterday, quite by accident, while doing our grocery shopping.  It’s Evolution Wine, a blend of nine white varietals produced by Sokol Blosser Winery in Oregon.  Too bad it wasn’t around for Darwin Day back in February, but this vintage wasn’t released until September 9th.  Still, it’s the perfect choice for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the release of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species on November 24th.  And you know we’ll be celebrating that!

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Darwin film not dead in US

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

As I reported a few days ago, the new Charles Darwin bio-pic Creation has yet to find a distributor for the US market.  Producer Jeremy Thomas was quoted as blaming anti-evolution sentiments in America for the problem.

I didn’t buy it.  Lots and lots of extraordinarily controversial, religiously offensive movies get distributed every year.  The suspicion I voiced was that simple economics was at play, not kowtowing to religious fascists.  Perhaps American distributors found the film dull, or didn’t think it could muster enough ticket sales to make it worth their while.

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Why can’t Darwin film find a US distributor?

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the new film Creation (starring husband-and-wife actors Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles Darwin and wife Emma Darwin) has failed to find a distributor in the United States.  The film deals with Darwin’s life after his ’round-the-world voyage on the Beagle and his personal struggle to come to terms with the theory of evolution by natural selection.  The film has been screened in various places, including the Toronto Film Festival, and has received generally positive reviews.  Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education calls it “a thoughtful, well-made film that will change many views of Darwin held by the public—for the good.”

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Podcast #63 – Efficacy of Prayer

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

It’s the p-p-p-p-power of prayer!  Or not.  We look at several anecdotes that point toward the efficacy (or inefficacy) of intercessory prayer, including:

  • The tragic cases of two teenage girls (one in TN, one in KY), both of whom suffered terrible injuries.  One recovered (more or less), the other is maimed for life.  Both were the beneficiaries of  the prayers of hundreds.  Why did God heal one and snub the other???  We’ll give you a hint: the answer can be found at www.whywontgodhealamputees.com.
  • The Miracle of Colwich Man – A Kansas man was healed after thousands of parishioners prayed to the late Father Emil Kapaun, a Korean War hero who’s currently under “skeptical” investigation by the Vatican for possible sainthood.
  • The Case of the Shriveling Glacier – Faithful Catholics in the Swiss towns of Fiesch and Feischertal have prayed for centuries that God protect them from the wintertime advance of the Aletsch Glacier.  Now the Aletsch is rapidly receding due to global warming, so now the townsfolk are seeking the Pope’s permission to reverse the prayer.

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The Voyage that Shook the World

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

by John C. Snider © 2009

If you buy the latest Creationist explanation, Charles Darwin was a fantasy-prone naif who “fabricated stories” as a boy, fell for a bunch of geological uniformitarianist claptrap, got mad at God for the deaths of three of his ten children, and kluged together the Theory of Evolution by cherrypicking the data he collected on his famous round-the-world voyage.  Plus he was a racist precisely because he believed that, while all human beings are derived from a common ancestor, some were more evolved than others.

As you probably already know, 2009 marks both Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his magnum opus The Origin of Species.  Lovers of science have been celebrating all year, but Creationists–still smarting from recent legal setbacks involving teaching Intelligent Design in public schools, and increasingly desperate to sound “sciencey” when discussing their discredited theories–are determined not to be outdone in the Year of Darwin.

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Darwin Day Success in Atlanta

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Wow, what a turn-out for last night’s Darwin Day 2009!  I counted at least 40 (and perhaps as many as 60) people at Decatur’s Thinking Man Tavern.  Getting a proper head-count was a little tough, since we could only pull so many tables together, after which people got scattered around to different parts of the room.  (It’s hard to tell Darwinists from anti-Darwinists unless the latter are actively thumping their Bibles!) 

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