In Defense of Popularity
Anyone who has paid attention to the Academy Awards over the past few decades knows that Hollywood prides itself on…
Create
Greed, Greenness, Growth, and Goodness
My good friend Alexei Laushkin has written about American idolatry, materialism and its impact on the environment and other nations…
Legend vs. YouTube
Did you hear about the 9 year old who wowed Boston hockey with a spectacular goal? It looked like he…
Questions about Indie Music and My Soul
P.J. O’Rourke thinks Woodstock was juvenile, meaningless, and overhyped. I can’t speak for the beats and riffs of his generation,…
Narcissism and Loyalty
President Obama was humbled twice this week. First, he sent the resounding message to the International Olympic Committee at Copenhagen…
Skyscrapers and Penetration
I used to worry that there were weird creatures lurking in my room at night. I avoided stepping on cracks,…
Loving Free Markets and Proper Restraints
The field of economics is a wonderful tool for understanding a limited body of knowledge. In our imperfect world, I…
Intentional Community and the yuppie in me
Harmony Hazard, 24, wanted “A safe place for book groups and hula hoops”; Sara Teitelbaum, 23, wanted “People to bring…
A Provisional Human Construct: Truth and Beauty in the Thought of C. S. Lewis
In my previous post, I hinted that there was significance to the way in which we design our art and…
The Enemy, He Is Us
A painful anecdote: I recently re-watched the 2006 German film “The Lives of Others,” and I was moved yet again…
Paradox Watch: Can you love Alice Waters and Capitalism?
I read two articles this morning. The first was from Charles Krauthammer on whether President Obama may have finessed policy…
Political Religion and War
A few days ago, Andrew McCarthy wrote a commendably lengthy piece on democracy-building. A highlight: “Democracy hawks are another matter….
What is the Middle Class?
Never pejorative, always claimed, the salvation of society, the vigor of industry, the bearers of true religion, common sense, able,…
Mouth-Breathing Morons, Slurpee-Sucking Geeks, and Beer-Drinking Dufuses
In That Hideous Strength, C. S. Lewis warned that if man tried to conquer nature, he would only succeed in…
Modernist Watch: Money and Happiness
Catchy headlines sell newspapers. Given that industry’s trouble state, we shouldn’t be surprised to see an uptick in the “desperation-for-relevance”…
The Great Fire – in requiem
September 2 is the anniversary of the Great Fire of London, 1666. One of the most tragic and iconic single…
Forgotten Music
Everyone knows that a lot of people these days tend to prefer texting to talking. College roommates converse via Gchat from five feet away. Fox News ran a story a few weeks ago of a girl who was so intent on her texting that she fell into an open manhole.
Guilt is Good
The New York Times has published an article called “Guilt and Atonement on the Path to Adulthood,” mainly about some…
Naming Things
Why it’s significant.
The Rump clarified
An important comment on the Rump post: 1) What is your definition of neo-conservatism? I’ve heard it used more as an…