August 2016
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That was the gist of someone's response to me in an online discussion a week or so ago. It seems worth preserving. I think it's my favorite internet argument ever. The topic was the election. Someone I know had written a Facebook post saying that while Democrats are voting based on ideas, policies, etc., Republicans are…
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Previous to watching Akira Kurosawa's Dreams I had seen four movies directed by Kurosawa: Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and I Live in Fear. All of these movies were made early in his career, between 1950 and 1961. The first three are jidaigeki films (from which Jedi warriors), period dramas set in the Samurai period.…
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It isn't often that I run across something that makes me think "Everybody should read this." But this is one of them. The book referred to is The Negro Motorist Green Book, compiled and marketed annually from 1936 to 1964 by Victor H. Greene. It was a guide for black people traveling in the U.S. It…
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If I had heard this without knowing who it was, I'd have said it was Pentangle (minus Jacqui McShee, plus violin and a bit of piano), or perhaps Bert Jansch on his own.
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You mincing Frenchman, you. (A brief history of the English umbrella.)
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My stepdaughter has recently become interested in movies not starring teeny-boppers. I think it began with wanting me to watch movies with her at night, and her knowing I will not watch just anything. We started by making our way through all of the Quentin Tarantino films, and now we are sporadically (not by date)…
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Posted on Facebook as well as here: Is there any living non-fiction writer whom you would recommend for the quality of his or her prose alone, regardless of subject? Is there a Newman of our time? Not in absolute quality (highly unlikely) but commanding a similar regard? Preferably not someone who specializes in rich descriptions…
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When people my age were young–in our late teens and early twenties–and very conscious of being part of a youth culture that was very different from our parents', we sometimes joked about how funny it would be if our children grew up to be middle-class conservatives, perhaps even churchgoers. We envisioned middle-aged hippies pleading with their children…
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Sometimes I forget that the group of people who read this blog and the group who see what I put on Facebook overlap but are not identical. I posted this on Facebook one day last week, so some of you have seen it. Here it is for those who have not. I was sitting in…
Light On Dark Water 