Diary

A Short Primer on Conservatism for Liberals

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David Brooks articulates the intellectual conservatism that will give any Democrat and Republican food for thought: The Republican Collapse Modern conservatism begins with Edmund Burke. What Burke articulated was not an ideology or a creed, but a disposition, a reverence for tradition, a suspicion of radical change. When conservatism came to America, it became creedal. Free market image [Read More]
Movies, Phantasy

Ratatouille

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Brad Bird (writer, director) and Pixar have done it again. I continue to stand in awe of the dazzling imagination this team is bringing to the movies. Visually and conceptually Ratatouille is exquisitely pleasing. You don’t feel that this new film is a tiny bit repetitive of their previous effort The Incredibles. Guenter Grass selected image [Read More]
Movies, Phantasy

Next

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The film invents a skill that no human has ever possessed: to see for two seconds reliably into the future. Such a capability comes in handy. You can win against the Casino, you can prevent a robber from killing two people, and more.Yet our hero (Nicolas Cage) is ambivalent about his skill. It helps him image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Ocean’s 13

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Ocean’s 11 struck me as sterile. The third episode of the George Clooney’s star vehicle has considerable charm. An old friend of Ocean (Clooney) gets screwed by a ruthless Vegas casino owner (Al Pacino). Ocean rounds up his gang of thieves to rectify this injustice. I loved the final sentence when George Clooney and Matt image [Read More]
Diary

The 100 Most Influential Americans of All Time

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The Atlantic Monthly came up with this list: 1 Abraham Lincoln He saved the Union, freed the slaves, and presided over America’s second founding. 2 George Washington He made the United States possible—not only by defeating a king, but by declining to become one himself. 3 Thomas Jefferson The author of the five most important words in American history: image [Read More]
Movies, Phantasy

Spiderman 3

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It takes imaginative writers to stretch a story across multiple films.  Spiderman 3 lacked such talent. Compared to the first two installments, the film feels uninspired, repetitive and contrived. Audiences can only stomach so much transformation in the lead character before they will turn way.

Movies, Phantasy

The Last Mimzy

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On a previous flight this film was offered to me for lunch. I passed. Without any sound the beginning looked slow and quite lame. On this new flight I tuned in and discovered that the story has unexpected depth. Extraterrestrial creatures have come to earth to recapture what was lost in perfecting their ability to image [Read More]