Book Review: Cast of Shadows (Novel)

Posted on May 23, 2008 by Matthew Eppinette

The beaches in Chicago opened today. Oddly, the high temperature today is predicted to be 55. Worse, the water temperature is reported to be 41. Happy hypothermic holiday weekend!

As you prepare for the holiday weekend, maybe you’re looking for something to read while laying on the beach. Cast of Shadows is a debut novel (thriller) that gives a vivid picture of what the world might be like if cloning to produce children becomes as widely accepted and practiced as in vitro fertilization (IVF) has become. Christina Bieber Lake, associate professor of English at Wheaton College, reviewed the book for The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity in 2005.

Happy reading! (And stay warm)

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I Love Good Adverts

Posted on May 21, 2008 by Matthew Eppinette

As I’m the kind of person who watches the Super Bowl for the ads, it makes sense that I loved this. Slate’s Ad Report Card guy, Seth Stevenson, reviews the latest Clio award winning commercials.

Highlights

A Canadian cereal company revitalized a tired brand by rotating the squares 45 degrees to create New Diamond Shreddies. In the video below, note the rating scales. I particularly like the rainbow scale.

In a bit of classic German humor, the wind laments being misunderstood until his energy was put to good use.

A Thai ceiling board company uses reptiles to sell its product. Warning: saddest Gecko commercial ever.

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Ethical Theory Case Study

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Matthew Eppinette

My friend David Cramer has a brief review of Gone Baby Gone posted at CBHD. In the review he points out that the film serves as a case study on ethical theory.

One is constantly torn between an appeal for “doing the right thing” and an appeal for “showing compassion.” This movie does not provide easy answers, but rather forces the viewer to choose between two ethical paradigms— absolutist and consequentialist—and to witness the ramifications of that decision.

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Everyday Theology Reviewed

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Matthew Eppinette

As you may know, I’m one of the contributors to Everyday Theology. The Spring ’08 Journal of Religion and Popular Culture carries a review by Bucknell University’s Paul Macdonald. I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, but it’s hard not to like the following:

The best essays, in my view, engage the most substantive and provocative cultural texts and trends: for example, The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (a text) and transhumanism (a trend), both raise important theological questions about the nature of the human person as well as the future of the human person, and thus rightly deserve more serious theological attention.

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Plato on Stories

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Matthew Eppinette

Those who tell stories rule society.
— Plato

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