This is a cold movie. No, it’s a FREEZING cold movie! (WARNING: some story spoilers ahead…) The main character is steel cold. It opens up with a literally cold snowy scene. The warmest human relationship is a one-night stand at an Italian bordello (at least until Act 3).
Culture
Loneliness of Learning
I’m at a seaside resort somewhere in the Aegean. I’ve just visited the Temple of Apollo today. Built 2,700 years ago, the temple was surrounded by stone blocks full of inscriptions in classical Greek, which of course I cannot read. I kicked myself why I haven’t devoted the time in […]
Growing Up with Harold Bloom
Going through my library this weekend, I came across an old copy of Harold Bloom’s classic, The Western Canon. When it was published, Bloom’s book was (and remains today) controversial among educators and academics for its unshrinking advocacy of intellectual elitism and its defense of Western canonical literature. That is, the […]
Narcissus And Scholarship Revisited
Yesterday, I received a postcard from a friend studying in Rome that had the Italian Renaissance painter Caravaggio’s famous depiction of Narcissus staring at his own reflection in the water.
Critics In Love
This blog isn’t wont to dole out dating advice. Thinking upon my own predicament trying to find romance, however, I realized that there’s something unique and highly peculiar about trying to date a critic.
The Military and the Meaning of Science
The other day, I read an article in the New York Times regarding the American military’s turn to renewable energy. I question whether this is forward-looking or whether it’s the military getting up to speed with reality.
Defending Western Civilization Against “Equality Before the Law” Fetishism
I’m tired of hearing liberals defend the most abominable cultural institutions in the name of their “respect” for the “equality before the law.” That covers the presumed equality of all cultures, all social, ethnic and religious practices.
The Poetic Voice of Generation Me
Poets from around the world—from Vietnam and the Netherlands and Brazil and Canada, quite different from one another, coming from quite distinct literary traditions—were part of the same conversation. They were trying to invent in language, trying to say what life was like for them, to bear witness to it, […]
Leslie Scribner: The Toy Man
If you are a resident of Southlake or Grapevine, chances are that you have seen this man walking down the street or in a local store with his toy truck following not too far behind.
It’s Possible to BE Green Without Looking Green
I get totally depressed when I go shopping and I’ve come to realize lately that I don’t think that’s the desired effect. Shopping is supposed to make me feel good, right? Every time I find something I totally adore and just HAVE to have, I check the label and it’s […]