Dear Friedrich --

The quantity of good reading and looking to be found on the web is wonderful and overwhelming. It also leaves me feeling a bit apologetic when I cobble together one of these linkfests. For every good article or posting I point out, there are tons I don't find the time or wherewithal to highlight -- not that it's up to me to do so in the first place, of course. But somehow I can't help feeling sheepish anyway, like I'm being a bad friend. Which probably makes me an Old-Media (ie., someone from back when the problem was too-little rather than too-much) guy. Sigh.

* Jim Kalb points out a first-rate Roger Scruton essay about Islam and politics, here (warning: PDF file). Jim comments here, and has posted some more of his own head-clearing thoughts about conservatism and liberalism here and here.

* Speaking of Roger Scruton, George Hunka has been enjoying Scruton's new book about Wagner, here. George also announces (here) that he's finished the first draft of his play -- a play with no frontal nudity, and no references to George W. Bush (!!!) -- and points out here that Syberberg's zillion-hour-long Brechtian epic "Our Hitler" can now be watched on the web. Having made it through Syberberg's weirdo version of Wagner's "Parsifal," I suspect I won't be first in line for the webcast of "Our Hitler" -- but don't let my snideness deter you, no sirreee.

* Lynn Sislo has been listening to and thinking about Bach, here and here. Good observations and tips, and as always Lynn makes her own, refreshingly free observations. Pro critics could learn from Lynn; there's never anything knee-jerk about her responses.

* This speech-plus-q&a by the ABC newsguy John Stossel, here, should leave libertarians feeling mega-stoked. Kudos to David Theroux and the Independent Institute for running the piece. Gluttons for discussions about libertarianism -- you know you're out there! -- won't want to miss this posting-plus-comments fiesta at God of the Machine, here.

* Too bad you've got to subscribe or endure a commercial to get to it, but Michael Hastings' look at Bill O'Reilly's novel -- yes, he wrote a novel -- is worth the inconvenience. Hastings has some not-so-delicate fun at the egomaniac's expense, here.

* Hours can be wasted -- I can vouch for this -- exploring this page of links here. (Dutch? Danish? Hmm, "NL" -- stands for Netherlands? Well, some European micro-country or other ...) Many of the links are anything but office-safe, and many are super-amusing.

* Tim Hulsey is certainly the most articulate Oscar-forecaster I've run across, here. Question: why's someone as smart as Tim spending so much brainpower on the Oscars? Have you ever been an Oscars fan yourself? Years ago I tried to work up some campy enthusiasm -- betting on winners, indulging in cattiness about outfits, attending Oscar parties with friends. But I couldn't sustain any enthusiasm.

* Time to call 1-800-PETA? Here's a report on something called Nettavision about the not-so-great love that some Swedes have for their animals. Subhead: "Animal sex is not illegal in Sweden, and every year between 200 and 300 pets are injured because of sexual assaults." Link thanks to Daze Reader, here. Adult Video News interviews Evan Daze, the movie-studies PhD behind Daze Reader, here. Evan's site is my fave of the sexblogs.

* I should have guessed that David Sucher would be interested in more than mere urban planning. He's a horse buff as well, as it turns out. Here's his new horse blog, from which I've already learned a lot.

* I've never been a fan of the sci-fi writer J.G. Ballard, but those who are will probably enjoy this Telegraph visit with him, here.

* Econ update: here's a long and fascinating q&a with the under-40 genius Matthew Rabin, who's interested in bringing economics and psychology more in line with each other. "About time!" is my hyper-informed response.

* Yahmdallah has put up another of his hilarious dating-misadventure postings here.

* What fun: we've been panned (here). And from the right, not the left -- lordy, you just never know where it's going to come from, do you? I think my favorite insult in the posting is that we're "babbling pinheads." Which is your fave?

* Colby Cosh writes Part Two of his explanation of that mystifying entity called "Canada" (or is it "Canadia"? I'm never sure) here. Part one is here. In the American Spectator, Colby offers up brainy thoughts about Robert Heinlein, here.

* More on Canada: I've been enjoying Rick McGinnis' movieblog, here. His most recent posting explains a lot about the Canadian cinema.

* Signs of class: the Cash family has refused to let the producer of a hemerrhoid-relief product use Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" in an ad campaign. Read the details here.

Phew, I'm exhausted. Apologies, of course, and more later, I hope.

Best,

Michael

I just love Yahmdallah's stories. I hate that they happened to him, but I love the stories. It makes one believe one is not alone in a crazy world. Thanks!

Posted by: annette on February 19, 2004 3:22 PM

PS--I had no idea the 2Blowhards were trying to "rid themselves of the pain of being a man." Is that what you're doing?

It seems that you guys want to rid yourselves of pain---of the NYT, of the ivy league, of taxes, of midwesterners who don't recognize "gay." But...the pain of being a man? Hmmmm. Wouldn't baby powder in your jock do more?

Posted by: annette on February 19, 2004 3:42 PM

"Festering sore of a website" is pretty good.

Posted by: Susan on February 19, 2004 6:38 PM

I gave up on the Oscars around 1985, when Prizzi's Honor and Witness lost ot Out of Africa, and Terminator wasn't nominated. I realized there was some kind of awful PBS sensibility at work.

Posted by: steve on February 19, 2004 8:31 PM

Why do the Oscars? Well, I felt I'd been spending too much time on politics (don't like it, can't avoid it), so I kicked myself back into culture-blogging with an Oscar column.

Simple as that.

Posted by: Tim Hulsey on February 20, 2004 3:26 AM

I think Steve has put his finger on the moment that alienated most serious movie-buffs from the Oscars--the Best Picture award to "Out of Africa" a film that could kindly be described as a museum piece, and should have been photographed inside an African diorama at a natural history museum. I know that's when I thought, "That's enough of this b.s."

Posted by: Friedrich von Blowhard on February 20, 2004 1:04 PM

Wow. That seems so late. So when you heard they gave the Oscar to "The Greatest Show On Earth" in 1950, or to Liz Taylor for "Butterfield 8" in 1960, or to Earnest Borgnine for "Marty", or to Bob Fosse as director of "Cabaret" instead of Coppola for "The Godfather", or best director to Robert Redford for "Ordinary People" instead of Scorsese for "Raging Bull"---none of those made you re-think Oscar?

Posted by: annette on February 20, 2004 2:20 PM

Oscar has always had a weakness for white elephants. But Ernest Borgnine's Oscar for Marty was something of an exception to the rule.

I don't disagree with the Academy's choice of Fosse over Coppola. Remember, before The Godfather Coppola was basically a second-stringer with a lot of bad movies under his belt (including the belly-flop Finian's Rainbow). At the time, The Godfather looked like a fluke.

Posted by: Tim Hulsey on February 20, 2004 4:54 PM






Post a comment

Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?