Posts Tagged Seinfeld
Susan E. Isaacs on Angry Conversations With God
Posted by admin in comedy, philosophy, religion, spirituality on July 22, 2009
While researching for another interview, I was introduced to Susan E. Isaacs‘ new book, Angry Conversations With God. And I’m glad I found out about it–and even better got a chance to interview her. First some background on the book:
“Angry Conversations With God began when Susan hit hit forty and found herself loveless, jobless, and living over a garage. When a churchy friend told Susan that she needed to look at her relationship with God was it like a marriage, Susan decided to take God to marriage counseling.
Angry Conversations chronicles Susan’s spiritual history, from childhood faith to a midlife crisis, and all the bizarre church experiences in between.”
And now for some info on the author:
“Susan is an actor, writer and comedienne with credits in TV, film, stage and radio, including Planes Trains & Automobiles, Scrooged, Seinfeld, and My Name Is Earl. She is an alumnus of the Groundlings Sunday Company and has an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California.”
My thanks to Isaacs for the interview. Keep an eye out for her this fall, as she goes on a multi-city tour, promoting the book.
Tim O’Shea: Most religious memoirs do not have a tinge of irreverence to them, did you fear alienating your potential audience by going this route?
Susan E. Isaacs: People who don’t handle irreverence or extreme language shouldn’t read Jeremiah, Elijah, or St. Paul. Like in Philippians 3, Paul considers his previous accomplishments “loss” compared to knowing Christ? The original Hebrew for “loss” is a vulgar term for excrement. But we can’t print St Paul’s original intent because we’re Christians. I think there’s a difference between gratuitous irreverence, and irreverence that’s necessary to the character and the story. I took out all but two or three instances of profanity where I felt they were necessary to show the character’s desperation. Like, in one instance I spelled it out phonetically to show how violent my father’s cursing sounded to me as a child.
William Irwin on the Blackwell Philosophy & Popular Culture Series
Posted by admin in Film, Music, episodic TV, philosophy, pop culture on April 15, 2009
William Irwin, Series Editor of The Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture Series, has impressed me with the scope of subjects covered with the many books he has edited or co-edited in the series. I’m even more impressed with his work on the series considering that he also is a Professor of Philosophy at King’s College. The series, which the publisher (Wiley) describes as aiming to show: “that philosophy is relevant to your life – and not just for answering the big questions like “To be or not to be?” but for answering the little questions, ‘To watch or not to watch South Park?’ Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn’t make you a “complete idiot.” In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.” I first contacted Irwin to discuss last December 2008’s House and Philosophy: Everybody Lies but the interview ended up exploring a lot more than that. My thanks to Irwin for his time.
Tim O’Shea: Did your association with The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series start with your editing of the Metallica edition in the series?
William Irwin: Actually South Park and Philosophy was the first book to appear in the series. But yes, the first book I actually worked on with Blackwell was Metallica and Philosophy, and it’s my favorite because I’ve been a Metallica fan for nearly 25 years. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4. It’s nice to see them getting their props, and I hope people will take a look at my book to discover their hidden depth.