Culture
March 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Recommendation Number 13 on the Republican Party’s recently released list of demographic outreach priorities is to “Expand our presence on more pop culture oriented outlets to ensure our message is reaching all voters.” A few years ago, I might have scoffed at this recommendation. The electorate, I thought, became serious enough during high presidential election season to make sure it reached the message of presidential candidate’s in traditional ways e.g.,
»
March 14, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
“The Feminine Mystique,” Betty Friedan’s highly influential feminist tract, is 50 years old. Julia Shaw, in the Washington Times, finds that women now live in the world Friedan built. But Shaw denies that this is worth celebrating. Friedan did not write a manifesto advocating for women to have the opportunity to get out of the house, get an education and get jobs. No, Friedan’s fundamental premise is that women must
»
March 10, 2013 — Scott Johnson
On Friday, a friend sent me the video of Jimmy Kimmel’s “confusing question of the day” — “What do you think about Obama’s decision to pardon the sequester and send it to Portugal?” (and a few impromptu variations) — with the comment that it is “laugh out loud funny.” I had forgotten about it until seeing it posted here at NRO’s Corner. It is educational as well as funny, and
»
March 10, 2013 — Scott Johnson
With a Democratic governor, a Democratic legislature and the political wind at their back, supporters of gay marriage have high hopes for their prospects in Minnesota. In the Star Tribune, Katherine Kersten casts a gimlet eye on developments: The marriage amendment may have fallen short at the polls in November, but a majority of Minnesotans continue to support marriage as the union of one man and one woman, according to
»
March 5, 2013 — Scott Johnson
A reader forwards this photo snapped on a cell phone at a Dunkin’ Donuts in the heart of Bloomberg City. The spirit of the place has become that of the Nanny State in the land of the moderately free. Add your own sugar and flavor swirl, while you still can!
»
February 27, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
From William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection, we learn about the case of Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their children: The Romeikes are devout Christians from Germany who wanted to homeschool their children because of what they perceived as the secularist agenda in German public schools. In the United States, the right to homeschool ones’ own children is accepted, although frequently mocked by the left. The homeschoool movement is thriving in
»
February 26, 2013 — Steven Hayward
I know it’s a little early for a week in pictures feature, but it’s a fast-moving news week, what with Hagel going to the Lew before being sequestered with the rest of the jury in a hotel room while . . . what’s that? Mixed-up metaphors? Okay, but still, there’s this: And now for a few general public service announcements:
»
February 26, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In Hollywood, I imagine, the two sincerest forms of flattery are imitation and left-liberalism. As I suggested yesterday, Argo clinched its Oscar for best picture through the flattery of a left-liberal introduction and conclusion to its story about revolutionary Iran. But let’s not overlook the opening scene from Lincoln which, in my opinion, strikes the only false notes in this brilliant film. That scene features an African-American soldier, in the
»
February 25, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Politics, it has been said for a while now, is “show business for ugly people.” (The line is said to have originated with either Paul Begala, or Texas political consultant Bill Miller, in a 1991 Dallas Morning News article.) Actually, the ugly part is less and less true; it is slowly becoming a requirement in politics as in Hollywood that you be good looking to succeed. With the appearance at
»
February 25, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I hear that Argo has won the Academy Award for best picture. I saw the movie on Scott’s recommendation and thought it was quite good, but inferior to Lincoln which I also saw on Scott’s recommendation. How Argo compares to other highly-regarded movies of 2012, I cannot say. Absent a strong recommendation by someone I know and trust, I don’t attend Hollywood films. But I suspect that Argo clinched its
»
February 23, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Andrew Klavan is the prolific author whose most recent book is A Killer in the Wind. In the panel on our culture this afternoon at the Horowitz Freedom Center West Coast Retreat, the discussion turned to Zero Dark Thirty in the question-and-answer period. Klavan pronounced the quote of the day in his comments: “I personally believe that waterboarding jihadis should be an Olympic sport.”
»
February 21, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Daniel Henninger devotes his weekly Wall Street Journal column to the mind-boggling letter sent by Democratic Senators Feinstein and Levin along with their friend John McCain (Republican, I probably don’t need to remind you) to Sony Pictures protesting the film Zero Dark Thirty. “Zero Dark Thirty is factually inacurrate,” these solons write, “and we believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt
»
February 19, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Interview feature this past Saturday sent Journal editorial board member Matthew Kaminkski in the direction of the author of the screenplay of Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal. While he has teamed up with director Katheryn Bigelow, Boal is also a reporter who has written for such reliably left-wing outlets as The Village Voice, Rolling Stone and Mother Jones. With his screenplay for the Zero Dark
»
February 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
I confess to watching Downton Abbey, the glorified soap opera that PBS runs on “Masterpiece Classic.” (By the way, what was the last true masterpiece to appear on Masterpiece Theatre/Classic, I Claudius?) My excuse is that I got hooked before I realized how flawed the show is. A better excuse, albeit of the after the fact variety, came briefly to mind when I saw, via Forbes Magazine, that some among
»
February 17, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Dozens of protesters rallied outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters yesterday in a show of support for Christopher Dorner and his claims of racism on the part of the LAPD. Among the signs the protesters carried were: “If you’re not enraged, you’re not paying attention.” “Why couldn’t we hear his side?” “Clear his name! Christopher Dorner” Support for the deranged killer wasn’t limited to the protesters. According to the
»
February 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
I discovered via Kyle Smith on Twitter yesterday that the Criterion Collection of mostly classic films has been made available for free via Hulu this weekend. Engagdet recommends a few science fiction classics from the collection. I recommend anything by Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurasawa, favorites dating back to my college days. The films stream with brief commercial interruption, but hey, they’re free. If you have any favorites to recommend,
»
February 13, 2013 — John Hinderaker
If you follow the British press, you are aware that the second-biggest scandal in Great Britain, after the ongoing horror of the National Health Service, is the discovery that for years, suppliers of various food products have been substituting horse meat for beef. The horse meat frequently originated in Poland, but recent investigations have found horse meat that originates in Britain itself and has been masquerading as beef. English beefeaters
»
