What would Italian fascism look like within the context of the EU, the G8 and NATO? Would we recognize it? Silvio Berlusconi controls the media he doesn’t own outright. Organized crime is now that nation’s most important industry. The country is flirting with state-sponsored xenophobia. Its political system is at the breaking point. The first [...]
Michael Bérubé defines one of the most important power blocs in contemporary America as “a low-information conservative constituency.” It’s a stunningly precise and pithy description. First, “low-information” is a universal term. For example: the governments of Cuba and North Korea carefully cultivate low-information constituencies. The executives of Regnery Publishing and Fox News do likewise. Second, [...]
Google Maps van hits deer.
Politics is so central to the human experience that, like humanity, it’s far too complicated to describe with just one theory. We do well to find a way to keep competing definitions in mind and this one, offered by Glenn Greenwald, is very compelling: Why would anyone think that “common ground,” on any consistent basis, [...]
We would do well to print out this brilliant comment on MetaFilter and keep a copy handy at all times given the faddish resurgence of doomsday cults: In Katrina, a huge group of refugees, all banded together trying to help each other escape the devastation, was turned back at a bridge by a small group [...]
This morning I visited the web site of a local television station to read a story about a tragic violent crime. I then read about 40 or so comments (of 200) posted in response to the news report. As with many of the threads on YouTube and major city newspaper sites, at least half of [...]
The fantasy outlined in The Time of the Wolf is a reality for millions of refugees around the world. So, why go through so much trouble to tell that story without purpose or compunction? A telling mistake: asking two women to wail in a foreign language off camera, without translation, making a fetish of pain. [...]
A good movie review of a great movie, Private Property: Written by Mr. Lafosse and François Pirot, “Private Property” embraces the banal and the monstrous, and affords Ms. Huppert opportunity to astonish rather than overwhelm. She’s as restrained as Mr. Lafosse’s direction, weeping and still, rather than storming; director and actress twist the knife gently.
Frank Rich: Such was the judgment of many Washington drama critics. But there’s a reason that this speech was austere, not pretty. Form followed content. Obama wasn’t just rebuking the outgoing administration. He was delicately but unmistakably calling out the rest of us who went along for the ride as America swerved into the dangerous [...]
Last week I posted an email I sent to NPR’s Fresh Air after its contributor David Bianculli went on a bizarre rant about NBC not supporting its program “Friday Night Lights” to his satisfaction. Today, NPR’s All Things Considered answered the question Bianculli failed to ask: how does a show without an audience stay on [...]
The charming documentary Please Vote for Me documents an unprecedented election for class monitor in a third grade classroom in the city of Wuhan, China. The filmmakers appear to be implying that when it comes to democracy, the Chinese have the experience of a third grader and can be too easily swayed by gifts, field [...]
Two weeks in, I’m a big fan of whitest boy alive. Ana says it reminds her of New Order. It reminds me of what I hoped many of our songs might become. Some definition of perfect.
The BBC World Service had actor Bill Nighy read a final article by the murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga. It’s incredible.
Having been disappointed (and, honestly, disgusted) by There Will Be Blood, I may be prejudiced in saying There Was Blood, a recent review of the book “Killing for Coal” and history of the Ludlow massacre is a thoroughly chilling account of the lawlessness and violence that underpins so much of our contemporary political reality. (That [...]
what do these two men have in common? the one on the left skillfully crash landed a falling plane with 155 passengers aboard. the one on the right is expected to crash land a failing economy with 350 million aboard.
A few weeks ago, I read with much pleasure all of Matt Taibbi’s pitch perfect and brilliant critiques of Thomas Friedman’s books and several of his columns. His latest may be the best of them all: My initial answer to that is that Friedman’s language choices over the years have been highly revealing: When a [...]
a letter submitted to NPR’s Fresh Air re: this segment by David Bianculli: Dear Sirs, re: the Jan. 16, 2009 episode of Fresh Air Mr. Bianculli angrily denounces NBC for being unwilling to support quality television citing their decision not to buy “Friday Night Lights” outright as evidence. I am not familiar with the budget [...]
From the NYT: Some passengers screamed, others tucked their heads between their knees, and several prayed over and over, “Lord, forgive me for my sins.” But a man named Josh who was sitting in the exit row did exactly what everyone is supposed to but few ever do: He pulled out the safety card and [...]
…when hearing the incoming Attorney General refuse to break the law by sanctioning torture sounds like good news.
Golden Cage by The Whitest Boy Alive is both fragile and firm. Teetering. Taunting failure. A remarkably good song.
How, exactly, did this game lead to a more efficient product or marketplace? Along with many seasoned investors, he was snared in a “short squeeze” after betting that shares in Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker, would fall. Porsche, however, which is taking over the company, had secretly cornered nearly 75 percent of VW stock. This created [...]
5 Somali Pirates Drown With Ransom.
With a few snips, “Let the right one in” (Låt den rätte komma in) may be the best movie I’ve seen since “Children of Men” which in turn was probably the best movie I’d seen in years.
The NYT engages in wishful thinking I can get behind: Now, given that all those slick Miami condos are sitting empty in the sky, designers like the Campana Brothers, with their $8,910 Corallo chair, and Hella Jongerius, with her $10,615 Ponder sofa, might have a harder time selling their wares. Already designers are biting their [...]
Every few months, I find myself citing this study: Group Loyalty and the Taste for Redistribution by Harvard economist Erzo F.P. Luttmer. It proves with empirical data that voters have refused valuable government assistance if a group they despise would also receive the same aid. It’s an incredibly useful, potent finding. This same logic of [...]
The Wall Street Journal summarizes a 2005 warning by Raghuram Rajan: Incentives were horribly skewed in the financial sector, with workers reaping rich rewards for making money, but being only lightly penalized for losses, Mr. Rajan argued. That encouraged financial firms to invest in complex products with potentially big payoffs, which could on occasion fail [...]
Todd RundgrenI saw the light, particularly at 1m53s. Of Montreal An Eluardian Instance, starting at 2m50s.
61.mp3, 64.mp3 and 67.mp3, from the spring, summer and fall.