In a long, desperate post, New York reporter Tim Murphy clues us into the intellectual crisis that’s halting conversations all across Manhattan and large parts of Brooklyn: In New York, folks don’t think twice about cheering gay marriage or abortion rights, but never know what buttons they’ll push among friends, family, or colleagues if they…
Ross Douthat’s Obama Outrage O’ the Week
I’m in the habit of reading Ross Douthat’s blog “Evaluations” at the New York Times, which, when he is not ruminating about the reverberative, not to say rebarbarative, phallocentricity of John Melius, is largely devoted to Ross’s mostly honest account of “thoughtful” conservatives like Ross to craft a domestic policy for the Republican Party that…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide, Part 20
INTRODUCTION This is the 20th 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 20 continues the discussion of The Male Animal, Thurber’s…
Brief Lives
As I announced two weeks ago, I have a new book out, Brief Lives, available both as an ebook and a print on demand paperback. Brief Lives is a collection of 32 short stories, many of them quite short, only a few pages, but some of them run on for a dozen or more. An…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “It’s a simple question, kids! Have you seen the White Whale!” “Go ahead and see him! Just remember, this thing started out as an ingrown toenail!” “Don’t act so stuck up! You’d be nothing without Harold Arlen and you know it!” “What do you mean it’s ‘wrong’ to ask for revenge? Is…
Marion Berry, still Marion Berry
Marion Berry, still Marion Berry Damn straight! Damn straight! No one, but no one, does it like Marion “Bitch set me up” Berry. According to the Washington Post, who makes it its business to know these things, DC’s former mayor for life had run up a tab of “$2,800 in unpaid parking and speeding tickets…
The CIA lies and lies and lies. And the Obama Administration is totally down with that.
What has our CIA been up to recently? Mark Mazzetti and Carl Hulse of the New York Times fill us in: An internal investigation by the C.I.A. has found that its officers penetrated a computer network used by the Senate Intelligence Committee in preparing its damning report on the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation program. The…
Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass—Hannover 1975
Over one hour, although Ella doesn’t show until almost half way through. Also, she sings “Nature Boy” twice. Apparently, this was a “live recording”. Anyway, amazing audio for a 40-year-old TV show. Enjoy! Posted by RochestersEarl All jazz videos here
Brief Lives
As I announced last week, I have a new book out, Brief Lives, available here, both as a ebook and a print on demand paperback. Brief Lives is a collection of 32 short stories, many of them quite short, only a few pages, but some of them run on for a dozen or more. An…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. and here “Just think of this little sweetheart as eighteen feet of soul, tightly wound.” “Yeah, I could play “Rock-a-bye My Baby With a Dixie Melody,” but why the hell would I want to?” “I don’t play ‘oom-pah, oom-pah, oom-pah’. I play ooooouuuuuummmmmmpoooooowwwwwwwww!” “I can’t break a glass, but…