Culture and Stuff

Ceci est vraiment une pipe!

by

What would you pay for this colorful portrait of a boy holding a pipe? Wait! Don’t answer. What if I told you this painting is now nearly 100 years old and was painted by a young man who would dominate the art world in the 20th Century, whose name is virtually synonymous with the revolutionary … Read more

Promised: Much Better Puppets

by

“You don’t make art when nothing’s wrong.” –Jill Giegerich ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So the arts in New York are being energized by an unexpected source of inspiration: the upcoming Republican National Convention. Could it be that President Bush has made politics cool again for the arts in New York? Nothing in recent memory has stirred the far … Read more

Hope in Bishkek, Part II

by

As clearly I’ve had to take it upon myself to serve as the US-Kyrgyzstan Tourism Director / Diplomacy Chief (Colin Powell rudely ignoring my suggestion that he do some high-profile PR for our Central Asian ally), and as it’s a beautiful spring day here in the North East, I thought I’d share these awesome photos … Read more

Stephenson Interview

by

I’m going to join the chorus flitting around the blogosphere and say that Salon’s interview of Neal Stephenson was well worth sitting through the ad. Not that I actually watched it, of course, but even if I had it would have been worth it. Stephenson’s the sort of guy you want around when you’re channel-surfing … Read more

Society is apparently not doomed, after all.

by

At least, according to this article, which is essentially about how wonderful it is that kids are getting more conservative these days. Of course, to support its thesis it uses anecdotal evidence, umpteen billion polls that aren’t even linked to, surveys ditto and shows some signs of having the graph drawn first, then picked out … Read more

So that’s what it looks like.

by

The famous Dilbert line “Must… restrain… fist… of… death…”, that is. I’ve never seen it in real life before, but by the end of this Ann Louise Bardach interview of Oliver Stone (via Sullivan) the sentiment is so obvious it’s almost crystallizing off of the screen. So much so that I’m admitting to suspicious thoughts about the interview, truth be told. Stone can’t be this much of a tool:

Read more

Good. And evil. And the need to make a choice between the two.

by

Charles Johnson writes today that “I’ve been coming in for some (in my opinion) unwarranted criticism for the types of posts that get deleted at LGF.”

He then reprinted several posts that would be deleted under LGF’s deletion policy. As many once-LGF fans know, however, the problem with Mr. Johnson’s deletion/banning policy isn’t with the comments he deletes; it’s with the comments that he leaves up and (at times) appears to tacitly endorce. I thus responded to Mr. Johnson with the following comment, which I reprint below (typos in the first paragraph have been corrected — hey, I’m a post-modern Grammar God):

Read more

If you want to laugh at this, how can I stop you?

by

It’s funny, after all: Pictures of candidate in women’s clothes surface (Registration required) AUSTIN – His family made a fortune on men’s work clothing. But it’s Sam Walls’ apparent fondness for women’s apparel that is dividing the Johnson County Republican Party. Short version: this guy’s running for state office in TX and some photos of … Read more

What, no comments about ID4?

by

While Jesse Walker’s Reason article about movies starring politicians doesn’t precisely break new ground – you get the feeling that you’re being told things that you could have easily worked out on your own – it’s pretty well written and mentions some films that I’ve never heard of. That’s always nice to see, especially the … Read more