We just listened to a podcast that featured actor and comedian Jim Carrey.
He was talking to comedian Marc Maron on the popular WTF podcast.
Jim Carrey was promoting his new book, titled Memoirs and Misinformation.
"None of this is real and all of it is true," Jim Carrey says about his "fearless semi-autobiographical novel".
Anyhow, the podcast brought back memories of Jim Carrey films like Ace Ventura, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show [we're all in that now, right?] and Bruce Almighty.
Speaking of Bruce, we received some thoughts and a joke from Wallsend's Bruce Anthony.
Bruce was pretty keen to give us his take on religion, philosophy and science. Plus he threw in a dash of politics. [Crikey, aren't those things banned at dinner parties? Lucky this isn't a dinner party].
"Wilful belief - instead of evidence-based belief - about what there is and how to behave is what makes a religion," says Bruce [he's our Bruce Almighty!]
"When we think of faith, we think of a traditional religion, but many people take a religious attitude to their political beliefs." [And when they do, god it can be annoying]
As for philosophers, Bruce says they never say "this is the way things are and how we ought to behave, and if you disagree you're just wrong". [This, we like]
"If you disagree with what a philosopher says, he/she won't respect your opinion unless you back it up with reasons that make sense and are, if possible, based on evidence.
"Philosophers look at worldviews, their own and those of others, take them apart to see how they tick and whether they make sense."
A scientist, he says, might have religious beliefs and engage in philosophical investigations, but "describing, explaining and predicting the behaviour of the natural world is what scientists do".
The scientific attitude is that belief is "always open to change in view of new evidence". [Sounds very practical!]
As Jim Carrey would say, alrighty then.
Non-Viral Joke
This also from Wallsend's Bruce Anthony: A man in desperate financial trouble decided to pray to God for help. He began cautiously, praying "O Lord, is it true that, to you, a million years is but a second?"
To his delight and wonder, God answered: "Yes, that is true."
Encouraged, the man said: "And I suppose all the money in the world would be like, say, a mere $10,000 to you?"
God: "Yes, that is true."
Man: "So, would you arrange for me to have $10,000?"
God: "Yes. No problem. Just a second."
Dangerfield Jokes
Jim Carrey's book pays tribute to the late comic Rodney Dangerfield. So here are a few of Rodney's classic jokes.
My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met.
One night I came home. I figured, let my wife come on. I'll play it cool. Let her make the first move. She went to Florida.
I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He said, "Wait til it gets warmer".
One year they wanted to make me a poster boy ... for birth control.
I told my dentist my teeth are going yellow. He told me to wear a brown necktie.
What a dog I got. His favourite bone is in my arm.
