E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Imploding The Mirage , as critics and reviewers will quickly inform you, is a title that refers to the famous Las Vegas casino's demolition, which made way for something arguably even snazzier, or more empty. Born in Vegas, that most artificial and symbolic of American places (famous for gambling, glitz, misadventure, criminal origins, and mass murders), The Killers - named after a Hemingway-based film noir, but following in the footsteps of numerous rock acts that have signalled their outlaw claims with similar names ( Jerry Lee Lewis was called The Killer) - are a very American rock band. That their lead singer, Brandon Flowers , is famously a Mormon and allegedly a straight arrow, albeit flamboyant on stage, only adds to the resonant enigma - they are part of the myth of the American Dream, while in classic post-modern mode, nod to the artifice, albeit a non-nihilistic one with a God. Their inoffensive, hummable songs, mainly about broken hearts, yearning, broken lives, and ho...

I had felt I had lost my faith over the summer.  Post-PhD lapse - or simply the intolerance of some aspects of the current Vatican policies - had exhausted my patience.  Then I went to Mass today in St John's Wood, and was surprised to discover the Year of Faith begins this coming Thursday, October 11.  A year to reflect on faith and faithlessness, on the vacillations of the spirit.  Now, I can't promise miracles, but I feel somewhat renewed today by this happy convergence of my own doubts and needs, and the official programme of the coming year.  Meanwhile, and just as importantly, Hans Kung , a dissenting priest, is raising vital concerns about the future directions of the Church.  There looks like a very enriching debate about renewal to be had in 2013.