The Indiana Senate forces “alternatives” to evolution into classrooms
According to Ars Technica (last Thursday), “Yesterday, after almost no debate, the Indiana State Senate approved a bill that would allow its schools to teach the origin stories of various religions...
View ArticleAlliterative Cinematic Generational Icons
What do Benjamin Braddock, Gordon Gekko and Don Draper have in common (beyond the obvious strained comparison)? The alliterative naming isn’t always a writer’s deliberate stab at mythmaking, but it’s...
View ArticleReceipts
On my desk in front of me is a receipt from Supreme Hardware on West 73rd Street from 10:30 this morning for $8, which I spent on a 1/4″ masonry drillbit that I used to mount bookshelves in my...
View ArticleIf Ordinary People Had the Same Resources as Celebrities
Another archived cartoon, which I’m going to blithely pass off as a sardonic critique of Katie Holmes’ new Elle cover: Share:FacebookEmailLinkedInTwitter
View ArticleViolence and Politics (and recursion)
Of all the elements of American Conservatism that I dislike and/or disrespect (and it’s a long list), the worst might be Conservatives’ self-bestowed role as arbiters of who can and who cannot...
View ArticleThe Beatles’“Tomorrow Never Knows”: Why does this work?
So “The Beatles” (a business entity consisting of Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, George Martin, George Martin’s son Giles Martin* and a raft of attorneys and corporate...
View ArticleThe Rules of Fiction: Fantasy Technology
In 1965, during the planning stages of Star Trek, creator Gene Roddenberry was concerned about how to portray planetary exploration on his new show — not because of the (projected) limited resources...
View ArticleThe Makers and the Takers
If only one good thing comes out of the rhetorical cacophony surrounding this year’s election results, I hope it’s this: can we please, as a nation and as a society, reverse the inverted positions of...
View ArticlePirates of the Imagination
I just get such a kick out of the Pirates trilogy (the Gore Verbinski movies; not the fool’s-gold fourth entry that I won’t even see). It’s such an aesthetic triumph; it’s such delightfully arty...
View ArticlePopes: Velásquez and Bacon
For obvious reasons I’ve been thinking about Papal authority (moral, philosophical, financial, political and spiritual) in the past few weeks. Andrew Sullivan is among the loudest voices in the chorus...
View ArticleHow Long Ago
It’s strange to realize that you’re old enough to have seen the world change. The idea comes out of nowhere when you don’t expect it and aren’t looking for it but the frisson of recognition is always...
View ArticleWhy Everyone Hates Anne Hathaway
Since the Oscars there have been dozens of articles I’ve noticed links to, and some I’ve skimmed or read, in different kinds of publications, about how “everyone” (or “EVERY WOMAN ON THE INTERNET”)...
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