Carl Schultz – Saxophone; Ian McArdle – Organ; Issac Schwartz – Drums. Santa Clara University, August 12, 2020. Posted by SCUJazz
Author: Alan Vanneman
Shorter “Succession”: Rich people are *ssholes!
Is there anywhere in the great landscape of aesthetic confusion a sure guide that would allow us to shun the arid plains of austere and empty formalism, the banal shallows of mediocre uplift and compromise, not to mention the great sunken morasses of foul and pestilent postmodernism, and instead to tread always the balmy highlands…
No one knows woke like Hitler knows woke
Yeah, rantin’ Hitler is back, and, apparently, he never went away, “Hitler Rants” seemingly now a permanent cottage industry on YouTube. I haven’t seen one in years, but the following, in which Hitler fulminates over Netflix’s decision to air Jada Pinkett Smith’s take on Cleopatra, is, well, “pretty clutch”, as the kids like to say….
The Washington Post shocks too easily
17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot, the Washington Post announces, in a long piece by reporters Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy B. Merrill. What does Tesla dude Elon Musk have to say? Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that cars operating in Tesla’s Autopilot mode are safer than those piloted solely by…
Andrea—“Monk’s Dream”
That’s “Andrea” at the keyboard here. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of Andreas out there. This is the one—or one of the ones—with a beard. It’s “probably” Andrea Monticciolo, but that’s not, you know, definite. Posted by Air Studio
Is “Ishtar” a neglected masterpiece? HELL NO!
For a good ten years after its release in 1987, Ishtar, the famously ill-fated Warren Beatty/Elaine May/Dustin Hoffman thrilla in the desert, was a literal punchline. Virtually any public meltdown, from a bungled presidential debate to a failed spring line, could be wittily dismissed with the line “Hey, it wasn’t that bad—it wasn’t like it…
What’s wrong with CNN? Who gives a sh*t?
If you care about what’s “wrong” with CNN, well, you probably want to be on CNN. Otherwise, you wouldn’t give a shit. A couple of days ago, Tim Alberta published what is apparently considered (by people who want to appear on CNN) to be a “bombshell” article/takedown for the Atlantic, Inside the Meltdown at CNN,…
Roni Ben-Hur Trio—“Monk’s Dream”
Roni Ben-Hur, guitar, Santi Debriano, bass, and Vince Cherico, drums. Posted by Luca’s Jazz Corner
How to improve kids’ reading: First, do the math
A couple of weeks back I read an article in Reason by Emma Camp, More States Are Using Science-Backed Reading Instruction. It Shouldn’t Have Taken This Long., touting “science of reading” instruction methods, which stress training in phonics—mapping letters to sounds—as opposed to “balanced literacy”, aka “whole language”, aka “three cueing”, which, Emma says, was…
How to accessorize a coffee table: Alan Vanneman versus the New York Times
How’s your tablescape? Tim McKeough of the New York Times has some advice, and a video: You see them on Instagram and in design magazines: those perfectly composed coffee tables that tie a living room together and hint at the fabulous taste of the homeowners. How do those tablescapes come together? How does someone decide…