Some time ago, I got so tired of reading about things “slouching towards Bethlehem”, or at least slouching somewheres, that I took upon myself to announce that no one, with the exception of Huckleberry Finn, would be allowed to use that verb, at once so affectedly literary and so uncouth that the poor word was…
Search Results for: george will
Koch Bros pledge $400 million—because you’ve got to spend money to make money
Yes, the arms of the Kochtopus are reaching out, and gearing up, to spend $400 million on right-thinking guys and gals, first order of business being to maintain Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. “I’m more excited about what we’re doing and about the opportunities than I’ve ever been,” Charles Koch said. “We’ve made…
The Crown, Season 2: Yeah, Queen!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME2umFQ_xBA Last year, I gave a severe thumb’s down to Netflix’s $100 million (seriously?) ode to Good Queen Bess II, aka The Crown, in a post wittily titled “Hey , Netflix! “The Crown” sucks!” and swore I’d never watch another episode. But then I came up with a head—viz, “Yeah, Queen!”—that was so damn funny—seriously,…
James Franco’s The Disaster Artist: Hollywood Caught In The Act Of Kissing Its Own Ass
Greg Sestero’s now reasonably famous book The Disaster Artist, co-written by Tom Bissell, is much better than Producer/Director/Star James Franco’s quite famous movie The Disaster Artist, each telling the story of the making of Tommy Wiseau’s all-conquering cult classic, The Room. Book beats film! Book beats film! Book beats film! Well, not necessarily, but the…
Real presidents effectuate regime change
When did “regime change” become the mark of a “real” president? Well, not to keep you in suspense, but it was in the brief reign of George Herbert Walker “Bad Ass” Bush. While still a mere VP, Georgie wanted President Reagan to green light the removal of Panama strongman Manuel Noriega—basically a CIA “asset” gone…
The Apotheosis of Paul Ryan is the Apotheosis of Hypocrisy
It is likely that Republicans in Congress will pass something resembling House Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax package—because if they don’t they’ll look like complete fools, and they’d rather fuck up the country than look like that. It’s “amusing” that everyone, even me, has pointed to the massive Republican hypocrisy of having spent eight long years…
Polite Conversation
(Editor’s Advice: If you don’t know who Colly Cibber is, you probably shouldn’t read this piece.) In one of W. H. Auden’s essays, he remarks that English literature had a strong tendency to become a sort of cozy, family affair, full of in-jokes that bound everyone who was in together and excluded all those who…
I suppose if Trump is really, really guilty he should shoot him?
The National Review’s Rich “Ice Pick” Lowry “explains” that Trump shouldn’t fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller unless he (Trump, that is) is guilty. “If he’s not guilty, firing Mueller out of pique or political calculation would simply be a catastrophic misjudgment, one that would put his presidency at risk.”
Yo, Megan McArdle! It should be “Be Careful WHOM You Call a ‘White Supremacist’”!
Well, it should be, and you should be too. You should be very careful, very very careful, as Megan explains, at great length, and with great vagueness, over at Bloomberg Review. Sure, you should be. It was highly stupid, not to mention highly condescending—and even borderline racist—for Vice President Biden to warn blacks that Republicans…
Tempest in a Teaspoon—The Exterminating Angel. You’ve seen the movie, now hear the opera!
Fewer sheep, more tunes! That’s the short take on composer Thomas Adès fascinating new opera, The Exterminating Angel, enjoying its Metropolitan Opera premiere on October 26. The Exterminating Angel, with a libretto by Tom Cairns, is based on Luis Buñuel’s 1962 classic exercise in Iberian surrealism, directed by Buñuel using a screenplay he wrote in…