Neil Macdonald does his usual crack reporting, this week commenting on the NSA scandal. The fact is, American law encourages whistleblowers and, often, they go down in history as courageous people of principle who made their country better. Their nation values them, but not their government. via Neil Macdonald: Obamas whistleblower conundrum – World – […]
Tag Archives: great-writing
Some thoughts on the death of Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert is memorialized by Scott Tobias, one of my favourite movie reviewers. As this obituary shows, you can fill at least part of the void left by The Great Ebert by checking out the AV Club, where Ebert’s disciples carry on his work. Now, please pardon my indulgence as I break obit form and […]
“Mesrine,” “Scott Pilgrim,” and “The Expendables” : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2010/08/16/100816crci_cinema_lane Anthony Lane’s movie reviews are few and far between, compared to newspaper scribes like AO Scott and Roger Ebert, but I’m convinced this is because he requires time to build up for the explosion of wit that infuses his reviews. That simplicity carries over into Richet’s film, which performs the unlikely trick of being […]
The Point Magazine
http://www.thepointmag.com/archive/love-in-the-age-of-the-pickup-artist/ I once worked within earshot of a dweeby jerk who was taking classes in The Game, that pick-up artist craze of a few years ago. He was unpleasant enough to start with, but grew unpleasant-er as he spent most of his “work” hours on the phone to friends, discussing his class notes in what […]
Mark Blankenship: In Pixars Up, Two Chairs Mean the World (SPOILERS)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-blankenship/in-pixars-up-two-chairs-m_b_211199.html If you’ve seen Up, read this. If you haven’t seen Up, GO SEE UP, then read this.
Broadcast News (1987) – IMDb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092699/ Recently, I got a hankering to rewatch Broadcast News. Lo and behold, there was a used (but pristine) copy at a fair price on the Blockbuster shelf this afternoon. I remember it as very good, but my memory is obviously a little fuzzy, ’cause it’s great. So few movies hold up well from first […]
The Declaimers : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/05/16/050516crmu_music Typically excellent review by the New Yorker about a typically excellent “band”, the Mountain Goats (which is really just one guy, John Darnielle). The Sunset Tree is one of the few albums I’ve heard in the last 10 years that is a full album – absolutely worth getting every track. Darnielle’s songs are usually […]
Abraham Lincoln: Second Inaugural Address. U.S. Inaugural Addresses. 1989
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html A fitting tribute to an inauguration of one bookish Illinois lawyer, is the inauguration speech of another. Lincoln the Deist evokes a lot of scripture here. It’s satisfying to think that the Bible upon which Obama laid his hand today might well have been the one thumbed-through for reference while composing thoughts on binding […]
Citizen Gore Vidal — In These Times
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3977/citizen_gore_vidal You can say what you like about Gore Vidal’s politics (and I imagine anyone to the right of, say, Marx will) , but there’s no arguing about the quality of his writing. I’ve never been so elated to read something that makes me feel so depressed. We’re not very good at being Sparta. We’re […]
I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really. – New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/fashion/02sabbath.html In short, my name is Mark, and I’m a techno-addict. But after my airplane experience, I decided to do something about it. Thus began my “secular Sabbath” – a term I found floating around on blogs – a day a week where I would be free of screens, bells and beeps. An old-fashioned day […]