Bottom of the Barrel

Time for another installment in our continuing occasional series, Bottom of the Barrel, wherein I take the lowest of the low in the Ecosystem's Insignificant Microbes, provide a link, and say a few nice things about it.

Today's lucky contestant is Justin from thoughtful musings ... & random statements. Immediately I was pleased to find that this blog has not a single word about Ronald Reagan. I mean, I know I myself am guilty of having blogged about the Gippered One's death and legacy, but so has just about every other damn blog I have been to in the past week. But not Justin. His thoughts are an a, um, higher level, random though he claims they are. To whit:

I am beginning A History of Biblical Interpretation: The Ancient Period, tomorrow. It is for a book review article in the Southwestern Journal of Theology. I get a free book for doing the book review, and since I lust after books, I decided that I would do a book review for a free book. So the next couple of posts will deal with and discuss much of hermeneutics of the Bible - a favorite topic of mine.

See the post below this one if you want to know a favorite topic of mine. Yeesh.

On the other hand, Justin seems to be about a whole lot more than just biblical hermeneutics--some very down to earth stuff. From a more recent post:

On June 17 I fly out to Burbank to go surfin' with a CA friend. Should be lotsa fun, there will also be some dim sum eatin' going on, and maybe some beer sampling - who knows??

And wouldn't this make Philosophy 101 a lot more interesting than lectures by the old guy in tweed?

I have decided that next time I teach an intro to philosophy class that it will revolve around three movies - but in actuality I keep adding movies to it - so far these movies include The Matrix, Blade Runner, and Vanilla Sky. For The Matrix, I will discuss Plato's Republic especially the allegory of the cave, yet I can also throw in some Descartes, which would then lead into Vanilla Sky. WOW!! Watched this movie for a second time tonight, must say, reminded me of Descartes, so would nicely tie in with Descartes Meditations. Moreover, Vanilla Sky also has element of existentialism in it. Blade Runner would go along nicely with John Searle's Chinese Room. Searle's chinese room basically deals with the question of consciousness and AI. Both relevant questions for philosophy. Hopefully by incorporating movies into an intro course for philosophy, student interest will be much higher.

I have no idea what he's talking about, but, you know, I could be convinced to pay attention.