I have to admit my biases in I have to admit my biases in terms of this review. I consider myself someone who tries to debunk anti-intellectual disinformation and lies. I hesitate to call myself a skeptic, because I’m not skeptical of everything. If you tell me your mama makes a mean apple pie, I’ll take your word for it. What I am skeptical of are scam artists and frauds that attempt to hide their deceit under the guise of false science, claims and misinformation.

Real science is self-correcting: if a hypothesis is wrong, if the results cannot be replicated, the science is revised in an ever revolving process of discovery. Pseudo-science is stuck in a quagmire of uncertainty, doubtful claims and literally unbelievable evidence. Since when did we become a society so willing to accept every bit of pseudo-intellectual BS that comes our way? OK, forever. But it seems that in this day and age of scientific inquiry and discovery, and nearly instantaneous access to all information, that we’d start moving away blind belief in all things ridiculous.

Despite having scientifically proven the absence of all things too-good-to-be-true, the crazy bullshit train just keeps on chugging. No, I’m sorry to say that there’s no such things as psychics, dowsers, or reflexologists. Hell, even chiropractors have come under my scrutiny more than a few times. So it’s with my extreme delight that I finally got the chance to look at Bullshit!

Penn and Teller have been bastions of the magic / comedy community for a quarter century, and this time, they’ve turned their sharp eye and wit to the bullshit that is pseudo-science. The people featured in Bullshit! are frauds, hands down. Even people who don’t make money off it, are emotional frauds, sucking like leeches love and devotion from those too weak and uninformed to do otherwise.

I love it because Penn and Teller (ok, mostly Penn) call a spade a spade. These frauds are “bullshit motherfuckers.” There’s no way to misinterpret that. They give the victims plenty of chance for their on camera interviews, then proceed to debunk every false aspect of their claims, piece by piece. Bullshit! has a perspective, a point and a definite slant. It doesn’t pull any punches or ride any journalistic middle-ground. That’s not to say that the show is a liberal’s dream. Very much the opposite. Because along with well-deserved attacks on the religious right, they also stick it to the hippies. Thank God.

It’s not that I agree with every stance they took on every issue (that’s part of being a free-thinking individual). Although I despise the stats thrown around by the anti-tobacco lobby (Millions die from second-hand smoke every year! Not really. More like two, and those people lived with heavy smokers) and though I believe in the right to be given space to smoke (having been known to imbibe in such an activity while drinking), I don’t want to sit next to some asshole puffing away while I eat a $30 sorbet or while I’m eating with my hypothetical children at McDonald’s.

But that’s one minor disagreement within 13+ hours of material. I don’t know if I’m giving Bullshit! such a high grade because Penn and Teller’s philosophy falls so squarely within my own, or that I actually think it’s entertaining. Because every minute enthralls, is funny and disturbing all in one deft sweep. This set couldn’t come more highly recommended. Buy it if you’re curious, or are willing to have your beliefs challenged.

TV Grade: A+

Video: 3 out of 5
Full Screen TV Video. That’s it.

Audio: 3 out of 5
Same for the audio, simple simon. The 5.1 track is good, but only really kicks in during musical stuff.

Extras: 3 out of 5
There’s a nice extra segment on a ghost haunting that got debunked by the TV crew, which runs about 22 minutes. Next is about 30 minutes of deleted scenes and some very funny extended interviews (Check out Ron Jeremy’s interview about what goes through ‘actor’s’ heads while doing a ’scene’ and trying not to ‘finish’ too fast.) Finally, my favorite extra is a short, 15 minute interview with James Randi, one of the leaders of modern skeptical thought. It’s a great, and strangely moving interview. You get to see the human-side of science, and learn that there are real people affected by these frauds.

Overall: 5 out of 5
$30 for a piece of enlightenment? I’d say that’s a fair deal. This is one disc that I’ll be sharing and showing over and over.

Year: 2003
Featuring Penn and Teller
13 Episodes on 3 Discs / Showtime Television / Unrated

Buy Penn and Teller’s Bullshit!: Season 1 and Support Lights Out Films

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3748589621013011299

Highlights include: God petting a monkey (featured above) and more administration and bureaucracy than LDS and IRS combined. Seriously. Scientology must have a full time chart maker and a comprehensive database of obtuse language and confusing acronyms.

Director of Processing, FES folder administrator; you’ll see all kinds of titles that boggle the mind and capture your heart.

L. Ron may have been many things (false prophet, bad sci-fi writer, sailor) but he sure knew how to make an org chart.

Update: Looks like the mighty hand of Elron or Xenu has put this video to an end. Oh well.

"Youth Minister Smites Dodgeball Opponent"
A youth minister was charged with assault
for allegedly knocking down a 16-year-old boy and kicking him in the
groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/31/dodgeball.assault.ap/index.html

Nothing like dodgeball to make you forget your devotion to Jesus. In a way, I understand why he might be pissed. If some punk kid threw a big rubber ball at the back of my head, I’d be mad too. I might even chuck back at his head and send a few well placed insults towards him.

But kick the kid in the nuts? After pushing him down? Cold. Stone cold. Like those that slay our Savior and Lord.

Big Love is the story of a non-LDS polygamist family just trying to get by. I think the show manages a nice balance between funny and provocative, and it’s rarely ever too much of either. I have perhaps a more enjoyable viewing experience than most, because of my completely informal contact with the church. I’ve also read plenty about the unusual history of the church and its unique place in American society.

Some won’t get the references to ‘morms’ and ‘wards’ and ‘mia maids’, but I enjoy every last minute of it.

But of course, I’m not nor have I ever been Mormon. Dooce has. And she’s written a nice post explaining her thoughts about the show, and perhaps more interestingly, her religious relationship with her family.

I completely understand.

http://www.dooce.com/archives/daily/03_27_2006.html

Strange that we didn’t go to (most of) high school and college together, but how similar our interests our. I look forward to more of those scans.

The place that it occurred was really important. Imagine if 10 Walt Disney Attractions were plopped down in a huge stadium and seats placed on every one. I know it’s hard to imagine, but it was a lot of fake trees, smoke, animals, elves and audio animatronic creatures and items, with roller coaster seats on them. People sat among the fake trees in the roller coaster seats and listened to my talk.

I remember my voice was almost out because I had no microphone and I had to yell. I have no idea what I was talking about, but lots of people were rolling their eyes. Then, I talked to them about their first task. In teams, they were to take a big drill and drill through these huge sheets of rock that were set up everywhere. I demonstrated for the crowd a good way to do it (I even remember exactly what I said here, “One team member take the drill while the other scoops the dirt.”) This was shown on the huge video screen behind me. It was some kind of competition.

Some people didn’t want to do it. So I went and yelled at them that they were going to fail; that I was going to give them an “F”. A lot of them really didn’t care. Some jumped up right away. Once that part was over, I got up and spoke some more. Then the real fun started.

I made everyone get on this ride that was like the Universal tram ride. I was watching from a high angle behind some plexiglass. The ride never went out of my vision and just circled around a Louisiana swamp set with a cabin and some alligators. I smiled and winked to someone standing next to me and terror was unleashed. Hundreds of vicious dinosaurs were unleashed into the swamp and people were screaming. The dinosaurs were fake, but nobody knew that. They stalked around, threatening everyone. Then, the lights went on and the dinosaurs were gone. I laughed.

A black women who was wearing a blue jumpsuit and headset was operating the doors – she came on the huge video screen and told everyone to go home. I smiled and laughed some more. As the thousands came out, I took off my frock and I was left with my T-shirt and jeans. I walked down the stairs, saw some comic books and started browsing. I saw my friend Adam there with his younger brother. They made fun of me for being a priest and I told them that I just did “secular” talks. Then I woke up.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/01/TRG7CCGFFD1.DTL

Ah, Disneyland. I miss that place.

Of course, my favorite rumor in this story is the following:

45. It’s widely believed that the horse-drawn hearse parked outside the Haunted Mansion was the one used to carry Mormon leader Brigham Young to his burial place. But this is one of many urban legends associated with Disneyland. No hearse was used at Young’s funeral.

I think that one would be kinda neat.

I’ve had a lot of trouble coming up with theories against this, mostly because I’m an idiot and this isn’t my field of expertise. I guess the biggest, simplest argument is that the theory automagically assumes a great creator, rather than a series of evolutionary steps.

The common metaphor that “ID” proponents use is finding a pocket-watch in the middle of a forest. You know that it was created, not formed, and there is reason and purpose behind it. Despite the philosophical problems with such an assumption, a pocket-watch ISN’T ALIVE, and doesn’t have to fight and procreate for the survival of its species.

Anyway, this is a long rant for a link elsewhere, but in today’s New York Times magazine, there’s a great editorial about the fallacies of this approach. Read it and weep for the future of our children.

http://www.nytimes.com – Unintelligent Design

It’s sad to see the same issues from 80 years ago, in the Scopes Monkey Trial, still being discussed today.

Oh, okay. I’ll take your word for it. We can’t prove that we walked on the moon?

That the creators of Napoleon Dynamite were Mormon did not surprise me. That Neil LaBute is a practicing Mormon surprised the shit out of me. To be honest, for the exception of perhaps Quentin Tarentino or David Mamet, LaBute would be the last Hollywood writer I would peg for being a devout, conservative Christian. After all, this is the man who gave us In the Company of Men, a dark, dark, comedy about a couple of woman haters. Lest you forget, this film includes the following gems:

Women. Nice ones, the most frigid of the race, it doesn’t matter in the end. Inside they’re all the same meat and gristle and hatred just simmering.

Look at you! You are fucking handicapped! You think you can choose? Men falling at your feet?

His other movies are a lot like that too…

Hmmm. I would make an analysis here about how his religion ties into his writing, why it may shed some light on his blistering portrayal of people (and women) in his movies, but I don’t want anyone to hit me on the head with a hammer when my back is turned.