Polaznici kolegija Osnove jazz improvizacije 02 u emisiji Vrijeme je za jazz izvode skladbu Shuffle boil (Monk). If you’re like me, you didn’t know that Zagreb is the capital of Croatia. I also don’t know what “MA” means, or “ll godina,” though I’m guessing that “ansambl” means “ensemble.” First Violin, Dajana Marelja; Second Violin, Irena…
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Yeah, there are barbershops in New York where you can say ‘oxymoron,’ but this isn’t one of them.” “Let me give you a tip, Larry. No tip is better than no customer.” “Let’s just say this shop ain’t ever been unisex, and, Bloomberg or no Bloomberg, it ain’t about to change.” “How…
The Hagel Hassle: Everybody wins? I don’t fucking think so
Dave Weigel, who raps for Slate these days, is one of my favorites, but he comes a cropper with his too clever to be accurate take on the failure of Senate Democrats to force a vote on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense. According to Dave, it’s win/win/win/win. Republicans get to act tough, Likudist…
The Divine Right of Popes
As a lapsed Episcopalian,* I haven’t resisted having a chuckle at the expense of all the Catholics scurrying about trying to make sense of Benedict XVI’s decision to abdicate. Ross Douthat does a pretty good job, agreeing that it makes sense to have a vigorous and active leader seated in St. Peter’s chair, but then…
If guns are outlawed, only Obama will have one? How about “You can have my penis substitute when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers”?
New at Bright Lights
My take on Charlie Chaplin’s penultimate (and second-worst) film, Limelight, is available at the Brightlights Film Journal, along wtih a brief guide to Mozart’s operas on Blu-ray. The whole BL issue, NSFW as always, is here.My earlier reviews of Chaplin…
The Electric Slide
Two recent stories in the New York Times should serve as a primer, or perhaps prophylactic, for whatever electric car jive President Obama has up his sleeve for tonight’s “State of the Union” address. The first, a tale of woe entitled “Stalled Out on Tesla’s Electric Highway,” by the immensely put-upon John M. Broder, explains…
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “If that were the case, he’d be reacting to the sunlight, wouldn’t he? Or is that just another myth?” “Don’t cover for them, Jerry. They were fools to go with E-Z Balm, and you know it.” “It is better than rouge, but it’s so intrusive.” “We all have a little Edgar Allan…
Ah, Brennan! Ah, humanity!
If you haven’t read Herman Melville’s more than classic short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street,” well, you should. Bartleby, as the title suggests, was a scrivener on Wall Street, someone who copied documents in long hand prior to the development of the typewriter. At the outset a compulsive worker, Bartleby gradually…
Dianne Feinstein, Pretty but Dumb, or Pretty Dumb?
Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, led off her committee’s hearing on John Brennan’s nomination to be head of the CIA by proudly announcing that the CIA’s “Death from the Skies” drone program, which is pretty much John’s baby, had been able to keep civilian casualties “in the single digits” for each year…