Pianist Eric Reed has released several excellent albums devoted to the compositions of Thelonious Monk. Here he is performing solo. Posted by Zycopolis TV
David Brooks, Genteel Hysteric
David Brooks’ most recent column is an extravagant intellectual tour de force, springing off an essay written by Lewis Mumford for the New Republic back in 1940, chastising his fellow “pragmatic” liberals for failing to understand the menace of totalitarianism. Brooks presents Mumford’s argument as follows: Mumford’s nominal subject was his fellow liberals’ tendency, in…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. and here “If it’s childish why am I getting such an enormous hard-on?” “I’m going to handle it because if you did it you’d probably leave us with a seven-ten split.” “It’s phallic, sure. The whole job is phallic. But it’s not excessively phallic.” “Yeah, but when are we…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide, Part 28
INTRODUCTION This is the 28th episode of “James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide,” a rambling consideration of Thurber’s works, examining his life and work in some detail. Generally, these appear every Friday. The links to the first part and the most recent part are given below. Part 28 continues the discussion of stories in Thurber’s 1953…
Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa
Together again, but without Bossman Benny Goodman, whom they probably did not miss very much, although he did help make them famous. Both Lionel and Gene were flamboyant personalities as well as remarkable virtuosos, but self-effacing Teddy certainly benefited from the leg-up. This is all happening circa 1971, with Mel Torme doing the introduction, on…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. and here “You homo.” “Welcome to ‘Fucked By An Angel’.” “Nice shot, Beelzebub.” “Seventh Circle wasn’t hot enough for you, eh, turd breath?” “Oh, you’re going to be rear-ended too. Rear-ended by Jesus!” “Don’t they have turn signals where you come from, farm boy?” “OK, I guess this means…
Kevin D. Williamson on Lena Dunham: Lena Wins!
Kevin D. Williamson is a “roving correspondent” for the National Review. Kev doesn’t tell us where he’s roving when he delivers his latest dispatch, a frenzied take-down of Girls gal Lena Dunham, but he’s definitely pissed. In a 1,050-word screed, Kev denounces Lena and all her works, using such words as “psephological” (Greek for “pebble…
Yo, Mitt! Maybe you’re not so goddamn reasonable after all! Woo Hoo!
A week or two ago I noted sadly that rumors of Mitt Romney making another try for the presidency in 2016 were unlikely to pan out. Mitt himself said so! But now, the rumors are flyin’ fiercer than ever, thanks to Republican man about town Byron York, who gave the story new life. According to…
The Obama Administration’s “bad dude” theory: If you’re dead, you’re guilty
The AP summons up some “nuance” on the latest U.S. hit on someone, somewhere in the Middle East, taking out “the Khorasan Group,” who were, it seems, fairly likely to be planning to take out someone, somewhere in the U.S., or maybe somewhere else. Who knows and who cares? Explained Rear Adm. John Kirby, “I…
President Obama: Bush Lite or Bush Heavy?
What has Harvard done to us? I know it’s not surprising that a graduate of Harvard Law School would think like a grad of Harvard Business School, but do they have to be an exact match? That’s what “everyone’ has to be thinking after President Obama’s UN address last week. If George W. Bush didn’t…