bodhi tree swaying

• I’m off to the prison in Concord this afternoon to meditate with inmates and to study the second part of Chapter 6, "Skillful Effort," in Gunaratana’s Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness. I’m really enjoying reading the book.
• I’m hoping the torrential rain eases off before the one hour drive, which will be longer because of the weather.
• Nick Kristof has an interesting piece about how the evolutionary history of our brains skews political priorities: "Americans spend nearly $700 billion a year on the military and less than $3 billion on the F.D.A., even though food-poisoning kills more Americans than foreign armies and terrorists."
• I’m getting used to it, but I often used to be thrown by the New York Times’ consistent use of "from … to" rather than the (I believe) more common "to … from."

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Over on Wildmind I’ve written a longish post with some reflections on Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, who played Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It’s the kind of thing that ordinarily I would post here, but I think that in future I’m going to be putting a bit more of my energy into Wildmind. That doesn’t mean I’ll be writing less or differently. I’ll keep using this blog as a way of letting people know what I’m up to, including passing on news of articles I’ve posted. I’ll probably also continue to post shorter pieces here.

Anyway, here’s the start of the article, with a link to the rest. The Buddhist stuff starts just after the jump to Wildmind…

So far there’s only been one episode of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, so perhaps it’s a bit early to be talking about overarching themes, leitmotifs,

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I just discovered Joss Whedon’s brilliant, short, three-part tragicomic musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

It’s the story of a confused your man who’s upset with the hypocrisy in the world and who thinks that the way to respond is to become an evil mastermind and to join the Evil League of Evil. He’s in love with a sweet girl called Penny, who has unfortunately started dating Horrible’s nemesis, the narcissistic superhero, Captain Hammer.

In his everyday persona, Dr. Horrible, whose real name we never learn, is talking to Penny in the laundromat about her date with Captain Hammer. Horrible is doing a pretty good job of masking his pain and jealousy until:

Penny: He’s a really good-looking guy, and I thought he was kind of cheesy at first…

Dr. Horrible: (Sotto voce) Trust your instincts.

Penny: …but he turned out to be totally sweet. Sometimes people are layered like

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Joss Whedon, who wrote two of my favorite TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, has a new show coming out, starring Eliza Dushku, who played Faith in both Buffy and its spin-off, Angel. It’s called Dollhouse and is apparently about government agents who can have their memories repeatedly wiped and their minds reprogrammed for specific jobs.

Knowing Whedon there will be some psychological depth to the show, or at least a good attempt at it (the episode where Buffy has to deal with her mother’s death is an amazing piece of drama). The title that reads “But can you wipe away a soul” suggests that the plot will involve questions revolving around what the true self is, stripped of memories and learned traits. The character of Buffy had repeated bouts of having to find herself in the midst of the calls of …