Ever see the flick about the young Parisian car thief who steals an American convertible, find a gun in the glove compartment, kills a guy, and goes down for it? How about the one about a young couple who get involved in murder over a stolen car and fantasize about dying together with their pictures…
Oh, and one more thing. It doesn’t do anything.
Hey, iPhone users, now that you’ve got your gadget, do you need another shot of self-esteem, one that keeps on giving, like, you know, the image of a jewel on your iPhone screen, bearing the caption “I am rich?” Well, sorry, you didn’t move quick enough. You could have gotten it from Apple’s App Store,…
Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams
Pre-sellout,mid-sixties Miles with his last great quintet, the “E.S.P.” “Miles Smiles” quintet. In 1969, Davis played the Newport Jazz Festival, as he always did, a festival that had become, much to the chagrin of organizer George Wein, the Newport Jazz/Rock Festival. It was Miles’ invariable practice to arrive at the festival minutes before his set…
NYT gets it right, seriously
Today’s editorial in the New York Times highlights two of the most egregious sores on the American body politic—hatred of foreigners and a grotesquely swollen U.S. penal code. As part of its “We hate immigrants” campaign, the Bush Administration raided a slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa and arrested, not the plant operators for hiring illegal immigrants,…
Anti-Matter! It does exist! Even at the New York Times!
Yes, anti-matter does exist at the New York Times. In fact, the Times conceals within itself an anti-New York Times! Its name is John Tierney, who quite shockingly argues here that you don’t have to do anything those dumb environmentalists tell you to do! OK, it’s not quite that sweeping, but it’s bad enough. Among…
Lester Young—“Jammin’ the Blues”
Filmed back in 1944, this is simply the coolest jazz video ever, starting out with an opening shot of Lester Young’s pork pie hat. (Sorry, but if I had to tell you, you’re not quite as cool as you might be.) Lester Young is the coyest, least satisfying of the great jazz musicians. He broke…
To the guy who gave me the finger at Tyson’s Corners last week
Yeah, it was my fault. I got in the wrong lane and refused to move. So, you were right to honk. Rather than lose ten minutes from my busy schedule I made you lose thirty seconds from your busy schedule. But why did you start honking when the light changed and the cars in the…
American Women: Poor and Oppressed, or Smart and Rich?
It’s tough bein’ a sister, livin’ in the USA. As the New York Times tells it, “Across the country, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches.” In an “above the fold” July 22 story, “Women Are Now Equal as…
Richard Cohen has no penis
It’s official. In his latest column, Richard Cohen, who made his bones at the Wash Post by helping take down Spiro Agnew, treats the fad for tattoos among the young as a sign of the general fuckedupedness of modern America, addresses young women as “sweeties” and makes smart remarks about their “tummies,” bemoans the fact…
At Last! My take on that New Yorker cover
Well, it is the law, you know. I dodged them as long as I could, but when the Thought Police caught up with me and gave me the choice of sixty days in the hole or posting a comment, I buckled, so here it is: The New Yorker’s Obama cover was smart-alecky, pretentious, and condescending,…