In Praise of Folly

Drumroll please . . . the word of the year, according to The New Oxford Dictionary, is unfriend: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/20...

A few weeks ago, a series of penalties in a big college football game helped to decide the outcome (as I don't really care about college...

Remember when bands struggled through years of poverty and degradation to get a shot at success. Thankfully we have all but eliminated this ...

The healthcare debate has, in many ways, taken on a relatively surreal tone in the past few months (Obama as a socialist, fascist Hitler-lik...

I’m going to let the words of the Teabaggers largely speak for themselves this week: http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/teabaggers-attack-ho...

I have always been interested in the ways that culture influences our beliefs, values and attitudes. I am particularly interested in the inf...

A report out yesterday showed the unemployment rate above 10% and the unemployment and underemployment number at over 17% ( www.nytimes.com/...

For years I have been listening to people warn me against “reinventing the wheel.” It makes sense and though I cringe every time I hear it (...

The results of the same sex marriage ban in Maine are somewhat disheartening to those attempting to end one of the last forms of government ...

Terminator Salvation, the fourth installation in the Terminator series, is a major disappointing, putting the latest Star Trek triumph into ...

Interesting results in the election tonight. It is clearly a good night for Republicans, but some interesting results could bode well for De...

A friend dragged me to see Couples Retreat on Friday night. Even with a $70 million budget, $87 million in gross domestic sales, Vince Vahn ...

I haven't been posting as much because of a busy semester and now three in one day. I couldn't help myself. So John Corzine is runni...

The very group that helped get us into our current financial collapse wants to make sure the status quo is maintained: http://dyn.politico.c...

In recent years, any economic expansion is met by calls for tax cuts. Bush used that long lost surplus of 2000 to, what else, cut taxes. Sta...

A new book has just come out, Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University (University of Chicago Press): www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/10/...

Conservatives seem to be tap dancing at the edge of sanity these days, apoplectic over the minutest details of any Obama plan but ecstatic o...

Critiques of political correctness generally come from the right. However, I think it is important to acknowledge the ways in which an overe...

Good article in Salon on the healthcare debate: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/24/healthcare/print.html . While the public con...

Democrats have been shooting themselves in the foot for years – from the ineffective campaigns of Gore and Kerry to the obsequious Congressi...

An article on Salon yesterday perfectly captures the essence of my problem with technology: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/08/15/twit...

I just rented this extraordinary film on Netflix and recommend it to anyone who loves film. Waltz with Bashir (2008) follows writer and dir...

This blog is primarily a space where I offer cultural critique, but today I thought I would offer a short list of the funniest books I have ...

While the blogosphere and emags have been decrying the nature of conservative discourse on the healthcare “debate,” the mainstream media has...

“This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasi...

A new today poll from USA Today shows the potential perils in one of the underlying tenets of neoliberalism ( http://www.usatoday.com/news/...

On the McLaughlin Group this morning ( http://www.mclaughlin.com/ ), a microcosm of the problems with the current healthcare debate came int...

An interesting article in the New York Times this week looked at New York City schools under Mayor Bloomberg’s control: http://www.nytimes....

A couple of friends of mine were talking about loneliness and technology the other night. One argued that she felt lonely all the time and t...

Malcolm Gladwell has made a career out of looking at culture in unique, often heterodox, ways. Among his most famous works are The Tipping P...

In the film LA Story , there is a scene where Steve Martin skates through LACMA, one of the art museums in town. His friend videotapes the a...

Ever get bored of competing with friends over jobs, salaries, cars, size of homes, lawns, kids achievements, vacation destinations and gener...

Ok, probably in bad taste, but this has to be one of the weirdest stories I've read in a while. A woman in Texas, after a breakup, goes ...

Republicans, conservative talk radio and even abortion foes have come together to rejuvenate a brilliant idea from none other than the Bush ...

The New York Times provides further evidence of the absurdity that has become our economy today: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/...

(500) Days of Summer may very well become the Singles, Swingers, Empire Records (kind of) or Reality Bites of its moment. It is that rare ...

I am currently reading an advanced copy of a book on the Iraq War and humiliation for a review that should come out in the next few weeks. I...

Whenever a popular book is turned into a movie, fans tend to debate the choices made, the actors who will play their favorite characters, wh...