Michael Frayn
Ever since I first saw the play “Noises Off” on Broadway around 1984 I’ve been deeply impressed by Michael Frayn, its author. I’d read about the play before I attended it. It was said to be very funny and very … Continue reading →
Category Archives: People of interest
All hail Jordan Peterson: not just a debater
There’s been a lot of delighted buzz on the right about a new video of Jordan Peterson being interviewed by a British journalist named Cathy Newman. The gist of that buzz is that he demolished her in spectacular fashion—in the … Continue reading →
The special qualities of ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn [Part I]
British ballerina Margot Fonteyn was never showy, never athletic, never gymnastic. She was restrained, delicate and refined, light as air. She seemed like a real (although ideal) human being rather than an infinitely stretchable creature with elastic for connective tissue. … Continue reading →
Breitbart bids Bannon “buh-bye”
Buh-bye: Stephen K. Bannon has stepped down from Breitbart News Network, where he served as Executive Chairman since 2012. Bannon and Breitbart will work together on a smooth and orderly transition. Bannon said, “I’m proud of what the Breitbart team … Continue reading →
So now it’s Oprah for 2020. Of course.
You may have thought that the Golden Globes would be about the anti-Weinstein men and women in black—if you thought about it at all. But just look at memerorandum today and you’ll see that the real event was Oprah Winfrey’s … Continue reading →
Chess whiz
Remember this post about the teenaged Iranian siblings who were banned from playing chess on their national team?: Dorsa and Borna Derakhshani, two of the country’s leading youth chess players, were told they can no longer be part of the … Continue reading →
Why would anyone trust Paul Krugman as a prognosticator?
Long, long ago Paul Krugman was an economist of some objectivty. Then he added a gig as opinion columnist for the NY Times (around 2000), and since then he’s written about a great deal more than economics, with a remarkable … Continue reading →
Never trust a man over 30
The saying became a cliche (see above), but the idea that you shouldn’t trust anyone over 30 was coined during the Berkeley Free Speech movement of the mid-1960s. Those who said it, and believed it, have now been untrustworthy (over … Continue reading →
What was that name again? (Garrison Keillor, unperson)
[UPDATE 6:30 PM: It’s come to my attention that MPR may have done this because, when it severed its relationship with Keillor and his companies, it may have lost at least some of its rights to post the material from … Continue reading →
Thoughts on the Forrest Gump of the FBI, Strzok
Yesterday I called former FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok a “vast and beckoning mystery.” That, he remains. But today I’ll offer a few thoughts about him nevertheless, based on what we do know (or think we know). Some of this … Continue reading →
Peter Strzok: one-man band
The twistings and turning of what we could call the case against Donald Trump are not easy to follow. But what has been revealed so far is a tangled web of interrelated actions on the part of investigators that indicate … Continue reading →
On Churchill’s becoming Prime Minister
Churchill became Prime Minister during an extraordinarily difficult crisis early in World War II. This was his mindset: I was conscious of a profound sense of relief. Relief? Most people would be terrified and/or despairing. Hitler was engaged in swiftly … Continue reading →