February 9th, 2011
Galley Friend M.R. tells me that the amazingly good Justified returns to FX tonight. Set your DVR’s accordingly and enjoy this little tease of awesome:
0 commentsThose Geese Are Cooked
February 8th, 2011
Some animal activists are crying. Crying how?
Crying foul.
The Commission of Me agrees: Those geese are made in America.
1 commentHouse of S
February 8th, 2011
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Required Reading
February 7th, 2011
Galley Friends J.S. and A.W. send along excellent reading for the day.
First, there’s Joseph Epstein in the Journal on the mortal condition. Even by his own standards, this is awfully good stuff. Lots of hotness concerning Adam & Eve, gangster rap, and Cicero.
The other is a triptych of pieces in New York about internet porn. Start with “The Explosion of Free Online Porn” and move on to “How Porn Is Affecting the Libido” and “They Know What Boys Want.” It’s hard to properly state how great this cover package is.
Best line: In explaining how porn has changed male expectations of, and consequently women’s attitudes toward, real sex:
Monty, 31, an actor from Queens, who between shooting scenes spends about an hour a day masturbating to online porn, says he’s noticed the shift. “I was with a girl who seemed to be in an arms race with porn,” he says. “She had this imaginary Soviet Union she kept trying to out-fuck.”
The only thing I don’t quite buy is that an American actor came up with such a killer line.
1 commentEgypt. Revolution. New Media.
February 7th, 2011
So what happens if the Egyptian government falls and Twitter/Facebook aren’t a major source of the people power? Just asking.
Galley Friend C.A. has a different worry:
1 commentI don’t know much, but I do know this. If Egypt falls apart it’s because Sullivan, Ambinder, and Reynolds didn’t turn their Twitter feeds green.
Super Bowl Thoughts
February 6th, 2011
Like many middle-class suburbanites, I’ve long enjoyed the Black Eyed Peas because of their authentic urban poetry. So I was sort of sad to see that will.i.am has been assimilated by the Borg. That’s too bad.
Btw: Captain America? Awesome. Fast Five? Awesomest.
1 commentAmy Chua, Steve Sailer, Parenting
February 1st, 2011
Sailer has a long, interesting essay on Amy Chua’s heel-heat masterpiece, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
The chances of me getting to read Chua’s book are vanishingly small, so I can only judge by the excerpts and the reviews. But what strikes me most about her conceit isn’t how against-the-grain her premise is–but rather how perfectly in-line with the modern burgher parenting ethos of demanding that all other parents recognize that their particular theories and practices are absolutely, positively, the best. She’d fit right in with all the other parents in Washington’s Mommy Fight Club.
The details of Chua’s approach might be unconventional by some standards, but overall, she seems to fit comfortably within the mainstream view of how modern parents conceive of their jobs: procure “the best” for your child and then educate the rest of the unwashed in the errors of their ways. I’m not sure what the difference is between Chua and the breast-feeding Nazis or the organic food tyrants.
A really radical view of parenthood might entail the notion that children should be raised for, and eventually become servants to, Christ; that parenthood is a religious calling to be practiced in servitude and with humility–a kind of lay version of the priesthood.
But that would probably be beyond the pale. And besides, it wouldn’t sell books.
9 commentsHappy Tuesday
February 1st, 2011
By way of Galley Friend Mike Russell we have two bits of goodness. The first is the David Lynch Dirty Dancing mash-up, which is pretty excellent.
The second is even better–a graphic artist whose entire ouvre is Law & Order. It may sound great, but the execution is even better. For instance, there’s Batman inserted into the final still from the opening credits. And Stealth Armor Lenny Briscoe.
PS: If you’re looking for my more serious-minded thoughts on Egypt, I’ve been posting them on the Twitter feed.
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