Cormac McCarthy's The Road

I began to read Cormac McCarthy's The Road a couple of days ago. I had seen the film before reading the book. The film was fairly good, though a bit slow and pensive, not the kind of movie that keeps you glued to the screen. Still, Viggo Mortensen's performance was quite solid -- the film being basically built around him.

The book was a quick read. Though rather descriptive it doesn't bore too much, having the right balance of action and descriptive parts. A post apocalyptic America is excellently described in this novel. Its a land in which no plants grow, no animals live, cities are emptied, the sun is perpetually blotted by gray clouds, and food is extremely scarce -- forcing many people to resort to cannibalism. The story revolves around an unnamed man and his unnamed son, who travel across this desolate land, barely surviving, looking to reach the ocean. The man is highly protective of his son, considering it his holy duty to take care of the boy. In barren and savage world, they manage to remain moral, and bring solace to each other. The boy is remarkably good natured, considering the world he grew up in. He mostly stays out of trouble in spite of his lack of pragmatism, being almost prescient in some cases. His father just tries to protect him, under any circumstances, even if sometimes he can be too wary around strangers.

It's a pretty depressing read. The book doesn't have many "happy" parts, the only optimism comes from the characters escaping danger, or living to see another day. Still, it's a fairly good book, event though it has its rough edges here and there. For instance I don't understand why the apostrophe is missing in every don't in the book. Must be some artsy thingy I don't really get. The end seems to be a bit far fetched, yet it's quite welcome in a book so dark and demoralizing. It's an overall immersive experience, yet the world described in the book is one in which I don't think anyone would like to be immersed into.

The Road is to a book I would read several times, it's one of those books that I read, I appreciate, but it's way too grim for me to revisit any time soon. It is an important book however, a must read -- because it describes human nature to perfection. I really do believe that if a massive disaster would strike Earth, in a few years time the world would be very much like the America described in The Road. This book can sit next to William Golding's The Emperor of Flies as a masterpiece that coldly dissects the human spirit, and reveals us for what we truly are. Albeit Golding's book was arguably more pessimistic and grim. It may not be a likable read, but it is a valuable experience.

Who I think should win the Oscars

Tonight the Oscars are going to be handed, and I thought I that I might express my preferences. So, these are not the films/actors/screenplays who I think are gonna win, these are the nominees I would like to win, yet in some cases I'm quite sure they won't. Granted I haven't seen all the films that were nominated, so in most cases I'll just name my favourite. So, without further ado...

Actor in a Leading Role

• Morgan Freeman (Invictus)

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Cristoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) -- really he's just awesome in this role, basically steals every scene. One of the best interpretations I've ever seen

Actress in a Leading Role

• Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Actress in a Supporting Role

• I've only seen Up In the Air and neither Vera Farmiga nor Anna Kendrick seemed Oscarworthy, though they were both moderately decent

Directing

• James Cameron (Avatar) -- he did good, very very good as director. Though Tarantino is at a close second

Visual Effects

• Avatar -- no surprise here, no?

Original Screenplay

• Inglorious Basterds -- really, what's so amazing about the writing in The Hurt Locker?

Best Picture

• District 9 -- both Avatar and Inglorious Basterds are strong contenders for the title, yet District 9 just worked for me better than the other films.

Well, so far you can pretty much tell that I was enthusiastic by both Avatar and Inglorious Basterds. Well, I liked pretty much everything in Avatar but the screenplay (really, it's a very cheap story). Also Inglorious Basterds was an awesome film, by all standards. I loved it very much, and I consider it Tarantino's finest ever.

I am disheartened to see that both Watchmen and Moon are absent from the list of nominations. Moon will remain a cult classic, I am certain. And Sam Rockwell's acting will be remembered for ages to come, and Gerty will remain one of the best robots in movies ever. So there's a nomination missing for best actor, best director and best movie there. And a nomination for Duncan Jones as best director.

Watchmen. Best actor in a supporting role, Jackie Earl Haley -- though he's not quite Critoph Waltz. Still a nomination would have been nice. Best director, Zack Snyder, yes in my opinion, he did better than James Cameron, much better. Best motion picture -- yess, better than District 9 in my opinion. In my heart Watchmen was the best 2009 had to offer, in spite of the fact it was one of the most competitive years for movies, ever. Also when is Viggo Mortensen going to get his well deserved Oscar? He was great in A History of Violence, he was great in Eastern Promises, he was brilliant in The Road. It's a big shame he's not on this year's list.

I don't think much of movies like Up In the Air and A Serious Man. They're mildly enjoyable, and I never get to feel much for the story. As for The Hurt Locker, it was a good film, I not denying, but I was ultimately bored by it. Kathryn Bigelow did a fairly good job directing the film, however between fairly good and best this year there's a huge leap.

And yes, I do have a bias for science fiction. Duuuh...

My new netbook

I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v netbook. I've been using it a lot these last few days, and except for a few small inconveniences I'm quite pleased with it. It's been a good worthwhile investment.

At the beginning the netbook was marketed as a terminal for the web. Everybody was mesmerized by the idea of the cloud like not actually possessing your own data was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, though I use a handful of cloud apps, my Dell Mini remains a smaller cheaper laptop. I use it as a secondary computer, it grants me the portability of my data. I occasionally take it with me to school if I have use for it, or I bring it home to Baia Mare whenever I come back for a weekend. It made my life a bit simpler, and overall I really enjoy using the little fella.

It has a few shortcomings though. A netbook's screen is small. At a resolution of 1024x600, there's a lot of info crammed in a small amount of screen space. Also it warms up quite a bit every now and then (especially when it's turned on and the battery is charging).

I use both Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Windows XP. Installing XP was a quite troublesome but I finally managed to do it using this guide. Still, I had to both modify the boot.ini file after installation and to change the drive letter of the main drive (after the install it was labeled E:\ instead of C:\), a process which was a bit tedious. Also downloading the drivers for the Mini was an EXTREMELY long and annoying process. I don't know what servers Dell can afford, but really -- I felt like I was back in the Dial Up era. Downloading the drivers was even more bothersome that installing XP. Finally, after a lot of struggle I managed to get a decent XP installation, with everything working but the function keys for wireless and external monitor.

Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix was a far easier task. The default USB creator from the .iso file didn't work in my case but Unetbootin did the trick fast and with no problems. After the install all I had to do was enable the proprietary Broadcom drivers and remove and add a few programs. For instance I much rather Dropbox instead of Ubuntu One, and I find Pidgin to be highly superior to Empathy. Also I installed Google's Chrome browser, since it became quite stable on Linux, though Firefox remains my main browser (in spite of the fact that its user interface take a lot of precious screen space -- luckily there's still F11). Installing programs was both fast and easy, though I still prefer Synaptic to Ubuntu's own Software Center.

An Ubuntu Netbook Remix screenshot

I really do like UNR, and it was pleasant to see that at least with the Dell Mini Ubuntu was a bit compatible. On my desktop the microphone doesn't work at all, the webcam is glitchy, I had to do dirty terminal work to get the sound to work, and the system is sloooow. It does it's best to maximize screen estate. Getting multiple desktops was a bit bothersome, but manageable nonetheless. On the dell mini pretty much everything works except the function keys for the wireless connection (not a big nuisance, really).

So how about the laptop? It's worth the price, if you ask me. Yes, it does have its quirks. It heats up a bit too much after a few dozen minutes of use, though it remains quite usable. Battery life isn't much and also the touchpad is a bit imprecise. And the backspace key started to screech recently. Still, none of these are really deal breakers. Just minor nuisances, overall the laptop was a great investment, that I would gladly repeat. I'm quite fond of it so far.

Frederik Pohl's Gateway

Reading Frederik Pohl's Gateway was a fairly pleasant experience. Lately I haven't got much time to devote to reading. A few days ago I had a few minutes to spare in a bookshop, I saw the book -- looked interesting. It's not really a big book, only 400 (small) pages long.


The story goes like this: a guy named Robinette Broadhead wins at the lottery. Instead of spending his money to raise some kids or party like mad for a whole year, he buys himself a ticket to the Gateway. The Gateway is a space station built by an ancient race of aliens, the Heechee. Nobody knows anything about who the Heechee were, how they looked like, or why did they built certain artifacts. However the complexity of the Heechee technology helps mankind progress, and the times are tough (overpopulation + pollution).


The finding of new Heechee artifacts is done with the help of the Gateway. Docked in the Gateway about a thousand spaceships that can travel faster than light speeds (*ahem* tau space). The problem with them is that nobody knows how to set the coordinates. So travelling is kind of a trial and error rate, and the pilots' mortality rate is quite high. However if the pilot finds Heechee artifacts he/she's set for life. Robinette would like to join a few expeditions, so he live a life without worries.


A parallel storyline is represented by conversations between Robinette and Sigfrid von Psycho, his robot psychiatrist. Basically in these paragraphs Robinette does nothing but whine for pages without end. What makes up for these boring moments are the vivid descriptions of life on the Gateway. I really enjoyed those, and Robinette's travels through space. In these moments Pohl shines as a writer. However in building his characters he's a little bit feeble. Robinette is nothing but an angsty little girl throughout the novel, an Sigfrid is as flat (but not as lovable) as HAL 9000. Really, I saw a few reviews on the Internet praising the characters in this book. Well, not really, teen angst doesn't actually mean deep. Yes, Robinette's remorse at the end is almost digestible. Yet in all other places his demeanor is just annoying. Really, I felt like bitchslapping him a few times.


However things get really sci-fi-licious once the space travels begin. A vivid universe unfolds before the reader, with countless enigmas. It's a bit disappointing that the end is quickly wrapped up, and virtually all the questions about the Heechee remain unanswered. I also felt a bit cheated at the end, because I was fed a cheap psychological novel, cunningly wrapped up in really really delicious science fiction.


Overall, was it worth it? Yes, definitely, for the science fiction. I loved the Gateway, the travels, the mystery of the Heechee. Maybe I will read the sequels one day, out of sheer curiosity -- I understand many things about the Heechee are explained. Reviewers complain that in later novels the characters become flat. Who cares? Both Asimov and Clarke had flat characters. Which was great, more story, less whining. Gateway could have been sheer awesomeness. Yet somewhere on the road, clumsily built characters got in the way of the story.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War

Old Man's War is probably the best book I've read lately. I got is as a Tor giveaway. I read it almost in a frenzy, and albeit I read it as a pdf -- which I generally find difficult -- I just couldn't let it go. The book is almost addictive, and it deserves it's spot near other science fiction masterpieces such as Ender's Game or Starship Troopers (a book from which Old Man's War borrow's heavily from). In spite of having many elements common to Science Fiction, the book is a stunningly good read.

The story goes like this. John Perry is a 75 years old man whose wife has just died. So he decides to join the army. To do that he must leave Earth and never return. Also be legally declared dead. Joining the army means joining the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces), and fighting to protect human colonies throughout the Universe. He gets a new genetically improved body from the CDF and he's trained as a soldier. What ensues is a brutal war where chances of survival are extremely slim. And intuitive tactics from earth really don't work that well against aliens. Neither are the awesome genetically engineered bodies, neither are the guns they're given, nothing guarantees a win except luck and ad-hoc tactics. Things get even a bit more complicated when John Perry is saved from certain death by a woman who looks just like his wive would have, had her body been pimped as his was.

The story is exquisitely well paced, a definite page turner. It's immersive, the characters are quite fun to read about, the technology presented is also a good read. I find aliens hard to digest, since they're always humanized by authors -- no matter how much authors try to de-humanize them. I accept them as given in sci-fi TV series¹, but I'm way more critical when it comes to aliens in books or even movies². Still I took the aliens in Old Man's War as granted. They serve the story well, and heck, when reading sci-fi one should always note that it stands for Science Fiction. In Ender's Game I disliked the fact that Ender has a bad conscience because he wiped out a race of aliens that threatened the whole of mankind. John Perry has battle fatigue once, and he gets a bit emo, but he gets over it three pages later and resumes obliterating aliens. Don't feel too bad for the aliens though, they eat humans.

I'm not going to get into any more spoilers, and just stick to the fact: Old Man's War is GREAT. It's definitely the best book I read in the last few months, maybe even the last few years. It fully deserved it's Hugo, and I'm really looking forward to read the sequels. I just hope John Perry won't get Enderized. I thoroughly recommend this book -- it's some of the best sci-fi has to offer, a future classic. Thoroughly enjoyable, well written and moreover a great story built on a strong premise. In my opinion John Scalzi is deserves his place next to titans of Science Fiction like Asimov, Clarke or Heinlein.

Also let's not forget to thank Tor for their giveways. And for the great free short stories they keep giving us every month.

---

1I think the label sci-fi/Science Fiction should never be used referring to a TV series, feel free 
to disagree
2Yes, I believe ET and Close Encounters of the Third kind are bad (and boring) films. The Alien 
series is an exception

Cory Doctorow's Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom

I could say that from all the futures presented in science fiction novels, Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom is the one I wish most was true. It's entertaining enough to keep me glued to the computer screen for the few good hours it took me to read the pdf. It's relatively short, I guess it barely makes it out of the novella category. It's a good story however, a wonderful debut for Doctorow as a novelist -- a debut only few could hope for.

The story goes like this: in the Bitchun Society no one dies. Everybody can backup him/herself -- so death is no longer a problem. You die, you get resurrected from the latest backup. Immortality is thus available for all (see why I really wish this society were true). What do people do when they know they're gonna live forever? They have fun, change their lives when possible. Crime is no longer such a big problem since death is not terminal. Jules is such a person, living his fourth life with his girlfriend Lil (who is about 15% his age). They both work at Disney at the Magic Kingdom. Basically they're pimpin' the rides there, though Doctorow doesn't use this expression. But along comes a woman named Debra with some gadgets that allows one to virtually immerse in the body of any of the USA presidents. This makes the rides in the Magic Kingdom obsolete, so Jules takes it upon himself to sabotage Debra. He's caught, which earns Debra a lot of sympathy Whuffie (money in the Bitchun Society). So Jules hit the rock bottom, and he has to get up again. Above all this his back-up system is broken, and he cannot back himself up anymore, meaning that if he dies he loses recollection of his past few months.

The story is good in my opinion. Initially it's a bit difficult to get accustomed with all those new terms, such as Whuffie, deadheading, ad-hocs, etc. It's kind of like reading a William Gibson novel -- skimming through any paragraph might result in a poorer understanding of future ones. Of course, in this sci-fi novel the world/the society doesn't change. It's just a story in a world that could be really thoroughly exploited again and again (I hope Doctorow will do that).

The story has some minor flaws, however. It's quite short, so don't expect to really be allowed to get to immerse too much into the Bitchun Society. Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom is a book that desperately needs a sequel, the Bitchun Society is just too interesting to be left for just one novel. A novel about a theme park for that matter. I couldn't really connect to the character's passion for the Magic Kingdom. It's a theme park for chrissake, Disney's theme park. So considering this it's understandable the book isn't that long. I found the parts in which Jules talks about his former life or the Bitchun Society is described much more enthralling than anything that happens with the Magic Kingdom itself.

Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom can be downloaded for free here and it's licensed under Creative Commons, so again -- thanks Cory! Chronologically I read Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom before reading Little Brother, it was the first book I downloaded legally for free (albeit it laid forgotten on my hard drive for a few years). It's quite nice to see that mainstream authors begin to see the benefices of sharing their work for free. Which is great.

So go on, download the book in your preferred format, read it and feel free to pass it forward to others.

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother

I believe Little Brother is a welcomed addition to the science fiction genre. Of course it's a retelling of 1984, with computers, kids and the Department of Homeland Security added to the recipe. It was a very pleasant read, even if I read it as a pdf I downloaded from the book's official site. I find reading books on a computer monitor quite tiresome, yet I'm trying to get myself accustomed to it.

Little Brother's main character is a 17 years old boy named Marcus Yallow, nicknamed w1nst0n (1984's main character was named Winston Smith). He gets busted by the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) after some terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. He is tortured in an island near San Francisco, and eventually gets released. The US after the terrorist attack grows increasingly paranoid, and gradually USA becomes a police state. So Marcus begins to get on the Xnet (a liberated version of the Internet) and start messing up with the system as much as possible. He also falls in love with a girl, and shares Linux cds. All this while the noose of the authorities starts to tighten around him.

Little Brother is a good read, I must admit. Not necessarily one of the best sci-fi novels I read -- and not even that sci-fi, if I come to think about it. Most of the technologies present in the book are available today. The book is also a good tutorial for privacy, something people keep forgetting about while we're on-line. I think that albeit a wiz-kid, Marcus is a bit too good of a programmer and hacker. I think that teenage hackers were always a rare and much overrated phenomenon. True hackers (and most hackers) have university degrees and years of doing nothing but hacking behind them. Of course, I may be wrong.

Artistically, Little Brother is (a bit) more than just propaganda for Open Source and better privacy laws. It's more than just a book that advocates piracy and peer-to-peer activity. It's a nice story set in a future-not-so-improbable. A surprisingly readable story -- pleasant for both children and adults alike. It's moral is simple: don't let the system fuck with your liberties. And what the heck, as much as it sounds like a cliché, it's a moral that I agree with. Even today harsh laws are passed in France and world-wide against so called software pirates, aka kids who download movies and songs they can't afford/want to listen to before actually buying them. So two thumbs up to Cory Doctorow for actually writing a book about the issues of the modern society.

However, I fear that all this propaganda takes just a bit out of the story itself. This is more of a philosophical issue of course -- I believe that sci-fi stories should be first and foremost stories about human nature. And if any political/social views are introduced, they shouldn't actually be the story itself. I felt Little Brother's story was conceived just to show us how we could prevent privacy abuse in today's world. Basically the propaganda is too obvious, kinda like a Richard Stallman short story. Of course, this is all forgiven since I'm all for increased privacy, software freedom and p2p. Also I'm going to look for the books Doctorow recommends at the end of Little Brother.

I welcome the fact that Cory Doctorow licensed his work under a Creative Commons license, which makes it redistributable and remixable for non-commercial purposes. It gave me quite a warm and fuzzy feeling, seeing I could legally download freely the work of an acknowledged author, a whole book, not just a short story or a novella. So kudos to Cory Doctorow for his exemplary move. More artists should follow his footsteps -- this is the way to go for the future culture. So, Mister Doctorow -- Cory, if I may -- I promise I'll buy a copy of Little Brother when I'll have the money. And thanks for releasing books for free on-line.

Linux Mint 7 Gloria

I finally decided to give Linux Mint 7 Gloria (a Linux operating system based on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope) a try, since the software from 6 was kind of dated, and the idea of beginning to compile source code doesn't quite appeal to me. I didn't have a spare blank CD, but I did have a blank USB flash drive. Following these simple directions I managed to make a bootable USB drive -- the equivalent of a live CD (except I can now reuse the flash drive for other purposes).

The install process per se is pretty straightforward, no problems here. Soon I had a functional installation of Linux Mint 7 Gloria.

The first thing I had to do was remove pidgin and pidgin-data completely and download the latest Pidgin Jaunty binaries from here. Messaging on Yahoo is impossible on versions prior to Pidgin 2.5.7 (2.5.5 comes as a default in Gloria). The latest Pidgin, once installed, works just fine.

Also I installed Cairo Dock, but I am quite disappointed by it. The eyecandy is obtrusive, and I just cant seem to get along with it. I haven't yet deleted it, since maybe I'll get the hang of it one day. But for the moment I much rather the less bloated and more useful Gnome-do docky mode.

To my dismay I find it still impossible to get Skype up and running. My microphone just doesn't work under Linux. My webcam kinda works, but the image is crappy enough to make me want to reboot to Windows whenever I need to use it. There are frustrating parts to using Linux, and not managing to use Skype is a major annoyance.

And it's not the only program not to work fine. I downloaded the Yo Frankie game from Get Deb and even this open source game with binaries for Jaunty isn't usable (Gnome-do's dock and the Gnome pannel get in the way). I never quite got it how the dictionary installed by default ought to work, since it never returned a single definition ever since Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (my very first distro). SMplayer doesn't play videos (!!!), albeit I installed it via Mint Install.

Linux doesn't quite work on the desktop. It's usable most of the time, rather ok for surfing the web. However, from a user end perspective, it's no Windows killer, sadly. I found this link, that says it all IMHO.

Visually I opted for a darker theme (see picture) since it's more aesthetically pleasing. If there's one thing that'll always make Linux feel better than other OS's is the way one can configure it, until you have a desktop tailored for your reflexes and habits.

Hopefully things will continue to improve gradually.

Also, a mandatory screenshot :D

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

I just finished reading Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (or Män som hatar kvinnor in Swedish). It's been a while since I read a good thriller, or any other type of fiction for that matter, and I can honestly state that the aforementioned book is a pretty good choice for a new beginning.

I enjoyed it mostly, and in spite of it being the first book I ever read fully in French, it kept me pretty much hooked. Unfortunately I had to pause my reading for about a month since my exam session had started. However, as soon as the final exam was finished I began reading again, until I finished the book.

It's the first book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. Initially it was set out to be a series of ten books, however Larsson died leaving only three finished books and a fourth unfinished one. Millennium is actually a journal, founded by the main character, Mikael Blomkvist.

The story goes like this: Mikael writes an article in Millenium for which he is accused of slander. He has to spend three months in prison and also Millenium heads towards bankruptcy. An old and very wealthy man, Henrik Vanger, makes Mikael an offer he cannot refuse. It regards the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger in the 60s. Mikael has to solve the mystery both for money and for insights on his sworn enemy, Hans Wenerstrom. In his quest Mikael is helped by a young goth hacker, Lisbeth Salander (the actual girl with the dragon tatoo).

In his quest Mikael finds out about the dark past of the Vanger family and evils that have not yet died. He is both under pressure and under threat as he digs deeper into the family's secrets. It's definitely a page turner, I can honestly say that I wasn't bored at any point in my reading.

The characters are well shaped, and I grew pretty fond of Mikael. Of course, they're not overly dramatic, this isn't The Catcher in the Rye or Men and Mice. But they're plausible. All except Lisbeth of course. I found the character of the young goth a bit over the top. Doesn't necessarily fit into the picture, and she's also too troubled. Throw in a goth, bisexuality, Asperger's, tatoos, ability to hack anything, abuse, and a propensity to sleep with older men, mix all that and you've got Lisbeth Salander. A melange that doesn't quite work. Not to mention that many times over, Lisbeth is given the role of the Deus Ex Machina, completely saving the day.

The thing that I liked most about the book was the atmosphere. Larsson managed to stage a pretty impressive thriller, and the scenery helps a lot. The island of Hedestad is a great place for the action, while the rest of Sweden too seems to add to the suspense. It really made me want to visit Sweden, or any Scandinavian country for that matter.

It's a good book, and I am anxious to read the sequels. They cost a lot, and I insist reading them in French (for practice). Hope I'll manage to get my greedy paws on them soon. Until then I'll have to find other things to read. I should also mention that the title actually means Men who Hate Women, I don't really understand why the title was changed in the English translation. Either way, if you find this book in a bookstore near you -- buy it and read it. It's fully worth it.

I heard Quentin Tarantino was thinking of making a film after the book, starring Brad Pitt as Mikael. I'd really like to see that one. Also there's a Swedish [update: I don't really think it's a Swedish film, the title is spelled different] movie based on the book. I haven't seen it, only a trailer in Swedish on Youtube and also some other scenes. The movie looks good, and it's a shame it hasn't yet hit the theaters in Romania (and I doubt it ever will).

PS: I also noticed that both the good guys, Lisbeth and Mikael have Macbooks while Wenerstrom (the guy who accused Mikael of slander) uses Windows. Funny -- however, good guys use Linux :)

Hitchens debates

Today I watched a debate (here) between Christopher Hitchens and a certain Dinesh D'Souza I never heard of before. Hitchens' books have not yet reached Romania, so I never got to read any of his works (nor am I a reader of Vanity Fair). Still I watched a handful of interviews of his on the Internet, and I am quite fond of his stance on religion. Pretty much agree with him on many points. Of course, as a secular humanist, I don't have much to hold against the guy.

A few months ago I also watched Hitchens debate Al Sharpton ( link). The fight was ok, and I felt like Hitches was a clear winner -- even though Al Sharpton was right when he noted that Hitchens mostly debated Christianity and Islam when the fight was more about the abstract idea of God. Maybe Hitchens should have explained that the idea of God and religion are linked inextricably -- no belief in a certain specific god is possible outside the framework of religion. Anyway if you look at the questions asked by the public in this Al Sharpton vs Christopher Hitchens debate you'll notice they're in poor taste sometimes and always stupid, i.e. they're not specific, usually they're just rants rather than actual questions.

Dinesh D'souza is a better opponent for Hitchens. In the debate I mentioned above one might say that in certain topics he even outdid Hitchens. Especially with the old recurring argument that Stalin and Mao were both atheists. In my opinion this is probably the best argument Christians have.

It's complete bogus, yes, Stalin and Mao weren't evil because they were atheists, just like Hitler was not evil because he was a Christian. We'll perhaps never know the reasons for which they turned out to be the bastards they all were, but I'm certain that it was not the fact that they realized that there is no God above to chastise them post mortem. One can always find excuses for violence in the Bible, even excuses for genocide. Is it just me, one of the reasons give for antisemitism in Germany was "the Jews nailed Jesus"? Also this concerns the fact that mere atheism does not give you a set of morals. Saying that being atheist makes you necessarily good is equivalent to saying that understanding 4th grade geometry gives you a higher set of morals. Why? Because being and atheist means just realizing something really obvious about the world. Being good is a rational and logic decision itself (maybe that's why being an atheist gives you statistically less chances of ending up in prison) but by no means is it strictly linked to being an atheist. To being a secular humanist... well, i'd like to see statistics before talking, but I do presume that statistics would show that self-confessed secular humanists are way more altruistic than Christians.

Anyway, D'souza made some wrong points, but made them well. It's frustrating to see that due to the very way the debate was structured not every argument was attackable and not every attack was defendable. Basically for every argument D'souza I already knew the rebuttal, and I'm sure so did Hitchens -- yet he was not able to speak at all. This very fact made me think that the best debate is one in which two opponents are faced without a moderator in between, and they're basically allowed to tear each other apart (through words of course).

Alas, the biggest problem is that reason alone does not win a debate. In fact reason and logic itself almost never win a debate. It's charisma and catchy phrases. That's why perhaps the most convincing atheist of all times was George Carlin. Sure would like to have seen him debating.