I’ve written about the ballet “Etudes” before, but now I want to hone in on one of my very favorite parts of it, the mazurka, in particular one of the male solos. “Etudes” is a ballet choreographed in 1948 by … Continue reading →
For the Fourth of July, courtesy commenter “mezzrow”: I saw that film on TV maybe 30 times when I was a child. Loved it, and in particular loved the idea that James Cagney—whom I already knew as a tough old … Continue reading →
Here’s the latest example of the tedious, ignorant, offensive and yet often-effective mindset of the left. Actor George Takei, a gay man who recently married his longtime partner, and who played Sulu on the original Star Trek, has said some … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Recently I came across an old post of mine on Orwell and decided to repeat it in edited form, because I think it’s still interesting and timely. So here it is.] Commenter “Nick” wrote this about Orwell and Animal … Continue reading →
Several times before I’ve posted excerpts from Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” part of the book The Brothers Karamazov. Unfortunately, the passages seem to always bear repeating, now more than ever. So here it is again, a slightly longer quote. The … Continue reading →
A dissent has no power except the power of its words and its logic—that is, it has no legal power. So Scalia’s dissent in King v. Burwell (joined by Alito and Thomas) is satisfying only in the rhetorical and intellectual … Continue reading →
Here are some more quotes from Victor Klemperer’s journal I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1933-1941: March 20, 1938: The last few weeks have been the most wretched of our life so far. The immense act … Continue reading →
Meet Misty Copeland, a soloist at American Ballet Theater, one of the premier dance companies in America: Because the dancer’s body is her (or his) instrument, the fact that Copeland is black becomes more of an issue than it would … Continue reading →
…in the English-speaking world—and perhaps the world as a whole—has quite a backstory: Frye, who was living in Baltimore at the time, wrote the poem in 1932. She had never written any poetry, but the plight of a young German … Continue reading →
There’s been a “silent cultural revolution” in the past few years that has changed Americans’ attitudes towards gay people, gay marriage, and now is working towards changing attitudes about transgendered people, according to the NY Post’s Kyle Smith. I don’t … Continue reading →
I remain fascinated with the dancing of Georgian men. That’s “Georgia” as in here: In Georgian folk dance tradition it’s the men rather than the women who sometimes dance on their toes, or en pointe as we like to say … Continue reading →
Isn’t it interesting how Josh Duggar’s sealed juvenile records were leaked to the media and published, but no one could manage to get Michael Brown’s? [ADDENDUM: I wrote “leaked” above, but it turns out the records were released by the … Continue reading →