There have been two suicides of prominent celebrities in the news in the past few days: Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I’ll talk about them a bit later in this post, but I want to start with something more general—this … Continue reading →
If this were a fable, I’m sure there’d be a moral to the story. But I’m not sure what it would be, except that if you’re a fox, don’t mess with an eagle. But you have to admire this fox … Continue reading →
If you’re a blogger, you need to comment on the news du jour. Well, maybe need is too strong a word. Maybe “are tempted” is better. I am tempted to cover Roseanne Barr’s firing because Roseanne Barr’s firing by ABC … Continue reading →
I’ve posted this song before, but I think it bears repeating, especially on Memorial Day. It’s Tim McGraw’s extraordinarily moving song “If You’re Reading This“: If you’re readin’ this My momma’s sittin’ there Looks like I only got a one … Continue reading →
Author Philip Roth died last Tuesday. You can read hundreds of tributes to him and many criticisms of him, and I don’t have too much to add to that except to say that I liked his early works (including two … Continue reading →
It never seems to end, does it? I’ve written about this famous photograph several times before, at great length here for PJ Media, and also here and here on the blog.
Continue reading →That’s the title of this Atlantic article that caught my eye. Actually, it caught Pocket’s eye, which decided to recommend it to me on the basis of some algorithm or other. My immediate reaction was a stomach-churning “No!!” Hasn’t TV … Continue reading →
Writer Tom Wolfe has died at 88. Reading a lot of commentary around the web, I notice that Wolfe was a deeply meaningful writer to a great many people, some of whom say he changed their lives. I have to … Continue reading →
This article about how head injuries sometimes (although very very rarely) lead to savant powers made me think (once again) of the Jorge Luis Borges story “Funes, the Memorious.” Fortunately, the work appears in its entirety online, so if you … Continue reading →
Another confession: I never much cared for Bob Fosse’s choreography, except for the very early stuff in “Kiss Me Kate” and “Damn Yankees.” And Gwen Verdon—that wonderful, wonderful dancer and impish spirit—was very much a part of my early admiration. … Continue reading →
Ta-Nehisi Coates weighs in on the Kanye West Trumplove, as might be expected. I’ve written about Coates before (see also this). In that first post I wrote: The larger message [Coates received from his father’s treatment of him] was that … Continue reading →
“Re-imagining” works of art that have withstood the test of time is a trend, one I encountered last night when I attended this performance of the full opera “Hansel and Gretel” at the Yale School of Music. I’ve written about … Continue reading →