End of Religion
Topic: Bookclub Meeting
Last night we finally watched the last two episodes of the Decalogue and discussed our current book, The Satanic Verses.

The Decalogue is a great set of films about people (in this case living in a huge Warsaw complex) coping with their flaws, or committed sins. These individuals have to deal with the consequences of their actions as a mysterious guy (or "Jesus figure") watched over them (incidentally we really liked looking for this "Jesus figure" guy ... he always gave a brief appearance with some condescending scowl and never said anything). Each Decalogue deals with one of the Ten Commandments, although often it is hard to tell exactly which Commandment a particular episode focuses on. This series was aired on Polish TV at the end of the 80s when Communism was collapsing and religious freedom was rising in Eastern Europe. It demonstrates how potent a force religion became in guiding the Poles out of their decaying social system.

Now the Satanic Verses ... It has always been a puzzle why certain Islamic clerics declared a fatwa (or religious proclamation), condemning Salaman Rushdie to death, when the novel he wrote deals with Indian immigrants in London, who are trapped between their traditions, their religion and modernity. Very prescient stuff considering recent world events. Any how we figured out that we had enough of religion ... for now. Our new bookclub book is Coetzee's Disgrace.

Chicken, Beer & Religion
Topic: Bookclub Meeting
Had another meeting of our famous bookclub. The format of our meeting is based on that of a bookclub I frequented while I was a graduate student at Columbia University. We meet once a month and alternate between discussing a book and watching a movie (thus giving us lazy members 2 months to read the selected book). The movie and book are usually related thematically (presently we are on a religious kick) and chosen after we finish discussing the previous book. Basically the club is an excuse to get together at someone's place where we can eat and drink. As one member described it, a more appropriate name for our group would be the "food orgy club".

Well the obvious question to ask is - what did we eat last meeting? Answer - beer can chicken. Now this dish may sound a bit odd - but it's great. First, we salted and rubbed minced garlic, herbs and olive oil over 3 chickens (stuffing some of the rub under the skin). Next we cracked open 3 cans of beer (16oz. Budweiser was the only available choice) and drank about 1/3 of each can. Then we shoved the cans up the chicken's butt (so that the body is standing upright, supported by the base of the beer can) and placed the upright birds in a BBQ where they roasted for an hour and a half on indirect heat. As the birds cook, warm beer peculates upward, constantly basting the chicken. "Wow" is all I have to say.

OK, you may ask, how about serious stuff? We are currently reading Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. However last night was a movie night, and we were suppose to watch the last two films of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue Series (each of the 10 films is based on one of the 10 commandments). Instead we ended up listening to Julia Sweeney's monologue Letting Go Of God that we downloaded from NPR's This American Life. What is it about? Spurred on by a visit by two Mormon missionaries, Sweeney reexamines her own spiritual beliefs. However the more she digs into Catholicism, the more she becomes disenchanted - I will say no more.

Click here to listen to the whole show (Sweeney's monologue is in the second half hour of the one hour show).

I'll update this post as soon as I get my hands on the beer-can-chicken-pics.