All That Trash
On getting used to living with our vulgar and degraded popular culture — From The American Spectator of February, 2013
Outrage Against the Machine
We must all make our peace with, or else lose our peace over, the media’s traffic in outrage — From The New Criterion of February, 2013
Life of Pi
A visual feast designed to make more palatable the movie’s dubious theology.
Entry from February 19, 2013
In yesterday’s Washington Post Ann Hornaday has a provocative piece on “Why Tarantino is better than Spielberg at portraying slavery.” She refers, of course, to the rival nominees as Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, Mr Spielberg’s Lincoln and Mr Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Readers of my reviews of these two movies might not be surprised if I…
Misérables, Les
A good old-fashioned melodrama in not-so-good new-fashioned disguise
Entry from February 13, 2013
Things are in a bad way for British Conservatives, apparently. Here’s what Jake Wallis Simons, blogging for the Daily Telegraph writes about their plight after a series of failures, U-turns and broken promises partly provoked by opposition from their Liberal Democrat coalition partners: The overriding impression seems to be that this is a government which announces…
Entry from January 31, 2013
More evidence, if evidence were needed, that shame and the celebrity culture are like oil and water — or like crucifixes and vampires. Now Lance Armstrong suggests he is the scapegoat for drug-taking among his fellow cyclists. “As much as I’m the eye of the storm, this is not about one man, one team, one director….
Herb Stein’s Law
On the powers of political rhetoric to keep unpleasant realities from disturbing the public’s complacency — From The New Criterion of January, 2013
Unreal Realities
On the popular arts and propaganda in the Age of Obama — From The American Spectator of December, 2012-January, 2013
Sweet Teeth
Ian McEwan’s atmospherically memorable Sweet Tooth reviewed — from The Washington Times of Friday, January 25, 2013
Entry from January 24, 2013
Prince Harry is home from his latest tour of duty as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, apparently, and is once again in trouble with the media. In a television interview given while he was still in Helmand province but only broadcast after his return to Britain, he made the huge mistake (a) of admitting that,…