1. I had my students read The Gods of the Copybook Headings this week (it's almost exam time and I didn't want to start new lessons, so we're just reading Kipling poems). It's really amazing that this was written in 1919, when its subject matter and thesis are a pitch-perfect match to the present. But … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
Movies
Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
1. Last week's movie night was The Running Man, starring Ahnold. It was more or less your typical action-sci-fi film of the 1980s: over-the-top violence, bitingly funny satire, mounds of creative energy, and a charismatic cast (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonzo, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, etc). It's not brilliant, but solidly … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘The Running Man’ and ‘Epic’
Friday Flotsam: Happy Halloween!
1. Happy Halloween! I love Halloween; the day of horror, macabre, the spooky and gothic. 2. For Halloween, I think it's healthy to have this particular day to contemplate the darkness, the evil, the veil of life and death (not too closely or too realistically, of course). It's the day of horror, the day of … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Happy Halloween!
Sunday Sundry: Miscellaneous, Including Talleyrand and Slavery
1. We've been having torrential rainstorms here in Arizona. I technically shouldn't have tried to drive home on Friday, but I only noticed the "do not travel" warning after I arrived (I don't check my phone all that often). I made it home alive, in case you were wondering. The last few months have been … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Miscellaneous, Including Talleyrand and Slavery
Sunday Sundry: Politics and Some ‘Pride and Prejudice’
1. It has been that kind of week: the ones where you wonder if you will be telling young people some day "I remember when that happened." Things seem to be escalating, and though I pray I'm wrong, I suspect they'll get worse before they get better. 2. All states have factions. States tend to … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Politics and Some ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Saturday Sundry: Fallacies, History, and Some Superman
1. I missed last week entirely: that might be a first, at least in a long time. Such is the state of my life at the moment. 2. One of my lessons this week was a run down of common logical fallacies. As part of my research I tried using AI for a list. Every … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Fallacies, History, and Some Superman
Friday Flotsam: ‘Frankenstein’, ‘City in the Sky’, and ‘Animal Farm’
1. Western commentators see Africa as nothing but a really big Alabama. And most forget the 'really big' part. 2. I'm reading Frankenstein for school. It's not my first time reading it, but it is my first time in a while. This time through is confirming my past assessment, which is that the film is … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘Frankenstein’, ‘City in the Sky’, and ‘Animal Farm’
Talking ‘Lilo and Stitch’ at the Everyman
My latest Everyman piece is up, discussing the butchering of Lilo and Stitch and what it says about modern culture: If you were to tell me that Disney has recently released a live-action remake of one of their animated classics, and then were to tell me that it’s an abomination against man and God that … Continue reading Talking ‘Lilo and Stitch’ at the Everyman
Quick Words on “Head Office”
1985's corporate satire Head Office is one of those frustrating films that has flashes of brilliance undermined by conventionality and substandard writing. The first ten minutes or so are bitingly hilarious, then the rest of the film mostly settles into predictability and tedium, going completely off the rails by the third act. After a stale … Continue reading Quick Words on “Head Office”
Friday Flotsam: ‘A Separate Peace’ of ‘Lilo and Stitch’
1. I re-watched Lilo and Stitch the other night (since the abomination of a remake recently came out) and was reminded of just how a good a film that really is. It's one of those odd, ultra-creative, personal-seeming projects that blends elements that really don't seem like they would work together, but through skillful handling … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘A Separate Peace’ of ‘Lilo and Stitch’
Serpent's Den 