Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

* Another tiptop conservative-philosophy blog: Right Reason. Partly staffed, it's hard not to notice, by some refugees from Conservative Philosopher. Que pasa among the righties anyway? Dave Lull notices this Dadahead posting, which offers some possible answers.

* I'm glad none of the participants suddenly found she needed to take a leak. NSFW.

* John Preston's review of a new bio of Cary Grant is a first-class introduction to Grant's life and work. FWIW, I consider "Cary Grant" one of the 20th century's classiest creations, on a par with the Cord automobile and the Chrysler Building. The gold standard for writing about Cary Grant is Pauline Kael's love letter/essay, "The Man From Dream City." But I haven't been able to find the piece online. But all film buffs should own "For Keeps," a best-of-Kael collection that contains the essay. If you don't have "For Keeps" yet, treat yourself to it now.

* Any bets about whether the events this series of surveillance photos records were set up? If they were: nice job! If not, then we should all remind ourselves from time to time that videocams are everywhere these days. NSFW.

* I thought Steve Sailer's thoughts about Dems, Repubs, and white males were shrewd and funny.

* Here's a photo of one of the odder Xtreme sports I've run across recently.

* Yes indeedy: videocams really are everywhere these days.

* Are you as perplexed as I am by the way "slavery" is assumed by many to indicate only America's experience of slavery? Yet slavery was a constant feature of human life for millenia prior to the 1800s, and continues in parts of the world today. Here's a BBC report on slavery in Mauritania, for example.

* I don't know about you, but I certainly wouldn't have invited Catherine Mackinnon to a screening of "Inside Deep Throat" ...

* France has a culture of flirtation; sexual banter and provocation are considered to be part of the good life, a pursuit akin to wine, art, and travel. American black culture has a culture of courtliness and flirtation; I'm often amused and impressed by the playful, stylish and witty give-and-take black men and women get going between them. Yet most white Americans seem to be remarkably uptight about flirting. Why? Is it that they just don't know how to enjoy the game? Maybe they could use some how-to tips.

* Tyler Cowen recommends Steve Levitt's "Freakonomics."

* Alfred Kinsey: sexual hero? Or irresponsible propagandist? I've done no independent looking into the question myself. But articles like this one certainly suggest that even if he was a hero, he was a very, very compromised one.

* I found John Gray's review of a new biography of Friedrich Nietzsche insightful and quite moving, though I'm not entirely sure why.

* Idler editor Tom Wilkinson discusses the history of boredom, which seems to have begun with the Industrial Revolution.

* Outer Life spends a little time experiencing life as an extravert, and survives to tell us what it was like.

*

Best,

Michael