An Oral History of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Perfect Men in Black ‘Sugar Water’ Scene by Rachel Handler Look, it’s probably a stretch to call this article an oral history, since it’s really comprised of nothing more than two interviews — with … Continue reading Outside Reading — I Want a Little Sugar in My Cup edition
The Unexpected Profundity of Curious George by Rivka Galchen I’m always going to susceptible to a smart story involving Curious George, and this piece is smarter than most. For The New Yorker, Rivka Galchen explores how well the adventures about … Continue reading Outside Reading — Ever So Curious edition
Don’t Let Nationalists Speak for the Nation by Jill Lepore This piece showed up in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, and it perfectly expresses one of the most painfully fraught dilemmas of the current political moment … Continue reading Outside Reading — It’s Not TV edition
I haven’t been watching the vital Congressional testimony taking place today, but I have been following it, largely through the lens of social media and online news sources. Particularly when considering the courage it took for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford … Continue reading Programming Note
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. If the flaming disaster … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Funny or Die, “Non-Voters Anonymous”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. This has been a tough day for me and for anyone who has a political outlook roughly … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — “The Courage to Change”
With the occasional exception, I haven’t used this space to promote an ongoing charitable effort my household has undertaken since the most recent U.S. Presidential election. This month, however, I want to put these words wherever I can. The following … Continue reading STRATEGIC ACTS DONATION — OCTOBER 2017
I struggle over what to post on holidays. Except for a few instances in which I’ve settled into a comfortable, easy pattern — a silly animated gif on Thanksgiving, a Calvin and Hobbes comic on Christmas Eve — I find I come to the most significant individual days on the U.S. calendar with a measure of uncertainty. I have no wistful memories to offer up, no strident calls to value the meaning of the day within me. Usually, I punt, tapping out some bit of simple nonsense in a minimum number of words, confident no one is much likely to … Continue reading On Memorial Day
Given the endless procession of freshly minted atrocities on the front pages of credible newspapers, it’s tempting to invoke the apocryphal Chinese curse that bestowed the condemnation of “interesting times.” But we’ve crossed well beyond that battle-scarred region. We’ve moved on to a swirling abomination that can only be thought of as “exhausting times.” Being engaged in the current political stories that flash and pop with the frantic urgency of an overloading pinball machine is an invitation to madness, or at least a version of unwanted enlightening that is particularly soul-crushing. None of these examples of egregious abdication of sensible … Continue reading My Writers: Charles P. Pierce
Thus far, I’ve refrained from posting about a monthly charitable endeavor my household has embarked upon, largely because — a few exceptions notwithstanding and some pretty clear viewpoints creeping into my pop culture commentary from time to time — I’ve … Continue reading Strategic Acts Donation — March 2017
Coffee for Two 