Friday @ AAIC ‘09
As first days at atheist conventions go, yesterday was pretty awesome.
Met Jim Underdown, Executive Director of the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles… we chatted briefly and he was very kind to grant me a brief (and entertaining ) interview for NewsUndies.
PZ Myers gave a talk covering design versus evolution, excerpts of which may appear either on NewsUndies or my UrsusPacificus YouTube Channel. Didn’t get a chance to talk with him, but then, I wasn’t really expecting one.
Saw Dr. Dawkins and Dr. Dennet lurking occasionally. No chance to talk to them, but, again, wasn’t really expecting one… and… really… I’m sure my throat would seize anyway, if the chance did come up.
There was the live screening of Real Time with Bill Maher, which was agreeable.
The cast of Mr. Deity performed a couple episode on stage, and Brian Keith Dalton, creator, director and star of the show talks about his journey into atheism. That was cool.
Then Richard Dawkins (whom we’d just seen on Real Time) and Bill Maher showed up for Dawkins to present AAI’s Richard Dawkins Award to Maher. Dawkins gave what I thought was a fair introduction, stating that while he and others on the selection board did not necessarily agree with Maher on everything, particularly medicine, this award is centered on making a large, positive contribution to the advancement of progressive free thought and abandonment of religious dogma (or something like that… I have his comments on video, although the quality may be lacking.), and in that area, his film Religulous, as well s his outspokenness in other areas has been a boon to the cause.
Maher accepted the award (was there any doubt?) and talked about a few things we’re facing as a nation and as a species… did some relevant stand-up schtick, and closed by reading from Rick Warren’s “The Purpose-Driven Life”… which is both pathetic and hilarious at the same time.
We were then treated to a “comedy fund raiser”… $20 a head to see 5 comedians eviscerate religious dogma, faith and practice. Nice. Well worth the $20.
Then, of course there were the pleasant conversations, interesting merchandise and opportunities to do NewsUndies footage and network a little.
All in all a great time…. and there’s still SATURDAY!
…and my IDA Fish shirt got a lot of positive views and comments. So, really, it was a win-win day…
More from Burbank later…