EVERY DAY IS AN ATHEIST HOLIDAY! MORE MAGICAL TALES FROM THE AUTHOR OF GOD, NO! By Penn Jillette
Categories: Nonfiction, humor
Some people are so honest they make you cringe. They tell it like it is, and then some, which is why I really like Penn Jillette. He may be known for being one half of the famous magical duo “Penn & Teller”, but his insight into being a pseudo-celebrity, parent and all-around boisterous individual is refreshing. There’s no “Bullshit” here! Being on The Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump? Not as stressful and awful as they would like you to believe. Except for one excruciating exchange with Clay Aiken that had Penn contemplating jumping out of a window to his death just to make it end, and I can’t fault him for that. In the same situation, if someone claimed I was a being a bully for defending my personal space just to make some fictitious reality TV drama (redundant), and if that someone was Clay freaking Aiken, I’d have faked a seizure or religious epiphany just to make it stop. Maybe that would be the wrong thing to do on national television, I wouldn't know. Books are my thing, not reality TV.
Even if you don’t read this book, try to read the chapter “Happy Birthday” on page 191. It’s from 191-198 and I read it twice it made me laugh so hard.
I’m a huge fan of the television series that Penn and Teller created called “Bullshit”. It showed me some things that I took into consideration, and completely changed my views on a couple things. More than that it really opened up my eyes to how deeply as a culture we have a perceived view of particular things and that image is so manufactured it can be entirely wrong. So question everything, take nothing at face value.
In his novel Every Day is an Atheist Holiday, I started to realize (possibly embarrassingly late) certain people treat atheists different. And by different, I mean badly. Which struck me in a profound way, because even though I know not everyone is treated the same (which is awful, horrible raw garbage) but wasn't this country based on the right to freely express yourself and pick whatever religion you wanted? Why is it that Penn Jillette can get asked inappropriate questions about missing his dead mother by Piers Morgan but someone who openly identifies as “Christian” would never get that third degree? Penn states that “Christians have treated me fairly”, praying for him, sending him the occasional tweet hoping that he’ll find the light of Jesus, occasionally calling him a Satan-worshiper. But why exactly does one need to force their religion down someone else’s throat? When people come to my door to hand out pamphlets about finding eternal glory, I claim my dogs bite and politely close the door. Maybe it’s because Penn is a celebrity. Maybe it’s because he does magic shows and therefore people assume he influences children (Penn swears a lot, plus, he and Teller get naked in shows to prove they are not hiding anything, so perhaps they don’t have anything directly to do with children, *gasp*). All I know is it seems hypocritical to preach acceptance when the first thing you try to do is change someone with different beliefs then you.
Penn covers a lot of things, people he loves, loved ones he lost, career ventures he made, all manner of zany sexual adventures (see also “pictures” and “extortion”). Obsessions with baths, bouts of crying for joy and/or sorrow. Private screenings of his film The Aristocrats with Christopher Hitchens. Comedy is Penn’s real forte, and being boisterous (meaning ‘noisily rowdy’, not ‘rough and massive’, although he is a large man) makes him stand out. I greatly appreciated his refreshing views and blunt honesty. I would recommend this book to any aspiring magicians, jugglers or Dancing With The Stars contestant hopefuls. Or if you want some laughs. Or if you want something besides fluff to ponder over.
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