It's that time of year when coffee shops offer my favorite peppermint mochas! I'm loving it. The one at my work even puts sprinkles on it. Sprinkles! For no rational reason whatsoever, I adore sprinkles. In my mind, sprinkles make any sweet treat better. It's an obsession, really. My day is made by sprinkles. Sprinklalicious.

I don't know what's wrong with me, so don't even ask.

I'm anxious to see Charlie Kaufman's (Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich) Synecdoche, New York. It has PSH and so many other great peeps in it. It's out this week, and I'm hoping to get some friends together to see it before I go out of town next week. After this weekend, the next couple of weeks are going to be kind of crazy.

Hmmmm. I think I'm going to have some comments on this Slate piece Does Religion Make You Nice? From my own personal experience, the answer is no. I encountered a lot of discrepancy in Israel. I've met quite a few friendly and altruistic atheists in my time. I know a lot of nice religious people, and I've known some quote-unquote devout Christians who profess to live by the Good Book (even word for word in some cases), but who actually have no real concept of the teachings and therefore contradict what they're saying with their actions. Even the Bible is a proponent of actions speaking louder than words ("Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." Hello!). Making mistakes and imperfections are all part of being human, I know, but that's the deal. We're all human. Some of us are nice humans, some not so much. Many individuals are positively affected by religion, and many are not. I won't even get started right now on the evils committed en masse in the name of religion, or rant about televangilists. My view is that it's impossible to make a blanket statement that being religious means you're nicer. The article isn't necessarily saying that, and it goes deeper in its analysis, making what I think are valid points about the community aspect of religion leading people to a happier existence. It makes sense that social beings typically crave connection for their well-being, and participating in organized religion certainly provides that--again with both positive and negative consequences. I'll probably comment on some of these other topics later when I have more time. And, I now have some new books to add to my reading list.