Friday I heard Fred Thompson talk for three minutes, he was so terrible I had to leave the room....
Most of all he has rotten diction (odd for a former actor), plus he had no idea what the market-oriented crowd wanted to hear. Sell short. I’m still predicting Giuliani; Hillary will do worse once the attack dogs gear up. The fascinating but overlong Into the Wild is about, among other things, the weaknesses of family ties in the United States, and how people seek artificial family in response. In a free society people must, to some extent, put principles of justice and political order above loyalties to clan. This is why the idea of a free society attracts so few Russians, and also why their quasi-liberalizations have not been pretty. The new Charles Taylor book is one of the best (implicit) responses to Greg Clark; it shows how radically a societal worldview can change over time and also why belief in God is no longer taken for granted. Tell Me You Love Me keeps getting better and soon I will try the Yglesias-recommended Friday Night Lights. Don’t be fooled by the good reviews for Michael Clayton, nothing is there conceptually. I want to see more Michael Powell movies (is he today the least-known-most-important major director?), starting with Colonel Blimp. I finally "get" what other people see in John Adams’s Violin Concerto. No, good frying pans really don’t hold up for long and yes I have started cooking my cheeseburgers in milk.
The last three items I bought at Best Buy all were broken upon first inspection.
I still like Short Ride on a Fast Machine better because it’s . . . well . . . short.
Besides, writing concertos is a signalling exercise for composers. Most calls for scores exclude concertos, so having one says “Look at me! I don’t have to write music to win competitions anymore!!”
OK- who thinks Aaron J. Kernis should have been tapped to do the music for HALO 3?
Just me?
Why is Fred Thompson called a “former actor”. There is no sign that he has given up the practice.
He probably acted more recently than he earned money as a lawyer, but I guess we would never trust a lawyer to be reformed, so he is never identified as a “former” lawyer.
I think it’s more accurate to say that he doesn’t care what the market crowd wants to hear. The Thompson campaign seems to think it can win without that crowd. They are going for the God-fearing, bomb-Iran crowd. Thompson understands economics as well as I, a college freshman, understand nuclear physics.
“The last three items I bought at Best Buy all were broken upon first inspection. ”
Sounds typical
My cast iron fry pans show little wear
, for non-stick my semi-commercial pans from Smart & Final last a long time (i throw them out on a semi-schedule rather than from apparent wear).
The Giuliani link is the funniest thing that I have seen on this website.
The Charles Taylor link takes you to the Ministry of Silly Walks poster…
Yeah, I have to second Michael Foody. Giuliani as Frank Booth is one of the funniest and meanest (justifiably) jabs out there.
Michael Powell’s Tales of Hoffman is one of the best opera movies ever.
Stop cooking cheeseburgers in milk. Eat salmon instead.
Yes, stop cooking cheeseburgers in milk. Start cooking them in bacon.
D. Green,
It is pretty bomb-ass isn’t it? I’m amazed how radiohead has re-made themselves yet again after the, IMO, mediocre Kid A/Amnesiac experiment. Hail to the Thief and now In Rainbows have redeemed them (not that the best band of this generation needs redeeming).
the new radiohead is great. i think you should set up a poll to see how much MR readers paid. also let’s get that explanation of the milk burgers already.
I didn’t see the movie. I enjoyed the book but in the end I just thought McCandless came away looking like a somewhat spoiled kid from the suburbs.
It’s puzzling. Why do men fake cheese?
Burgers are properly cooked on a grill. The milk would fall right through.
I can understand why people find McCandless to have been a spoiled suburban kid. He was totally unprepared for his trek, and needlessly died from his own ignorance. While tragic, his death is very pathetic. It’s like Alex Guiness in Bridge on the River Kwai when he realizes he’s somehow turned into this huge fool. That is a far cry from the positive attributes usually associated with spiritual journeys. Instead, it seems like someone who had a very limited wisdom about the world, but who thought he had a lot of wisdom because he read books like On the Road. This kind of inexperienced faux-spiritualism is associated with spoiled suburban kids. There seems to be a very strong disconnect between people like J – who see the romantic motivation – and others who see the actual result.
Joe –
Understood.
If you are born into a situation which you do not approve it is ultimately up to you to escape it. Our destinies are our own to claim.
Chris –
What are you referencing when you speak of ‘Alex Guiness on the River Kwai’; I would be interested to look into that further.
Perhaps our conversation at large is reflective of a trend in society at large which seems to be diminishing †¦ the journey to manhood / the journey to test and rely fully upon ourselves. For thousands of years boys would turn to men through initiation ceremonies – true measures of oneself; tests where it is very true that the weak did not survive.
Modern references appear to this in Fight Club, in a movie called The Emerald Forest, and was covered in the very beginning of the movie 300. While nowhere near as prevalent as they once were, these beliefs are still very real in the form of Walkabouts which aborigines in Australia embrace to this very day.
What, as a society, do we currently see as the break from boyhood to manhood, where is the defining moment? Graduating from high school? Graduating from College? Loosing your virginity? Getting your drivers license? Weak substitutes to a once defining journey.
Perhaps McCandless’s journey was his own way to test his manhood, his rejecting society for a time to go find himself, find what drove him, find who he was before he could reenter society (did you read the book? There is speculation that this indeed is what McCandless finally settled on. He was on his way back to reintegrate himself into society before his path was blocked, forcing him back to met his ultimate demise).
To claim someone’s life changing experiences as ‘inexperienced faux-spiritualism’ could possible by the most biting and cynical critique I have ever crossed – who are you to judge what one considers to be major revelations about how they view the world?
“That is a far cry from the positive attributes usually associated with spiritual journeys.† – Positive attributes are simply a frame of mind, you can draw positive (or negative) experiences from anything and everything in life (‘I mean why have Christmas? Doesn’t it simply promote laziness in children who are ‘given’ presents as opposed to working for them?’): †¦.see.
I see your point with regards to “he had a lot of wisdom because he read books like On the Road.† Who gains knowledge from books – what an awful thought; especially one like On the Road, which only is considered “a seminal book that gave voice to a whole generation – capturing its hunger for experience, unwillingness to accept imposed truths and dissatisfaction with the status quo.† – Walter Salles
“The actual result† you speak of? I believe you are miss-projecting onto me actually; I believe very deeply in tangible results; Yes, I do see McCandless’s motivation, but I also recognize the very real results of his death. While there are those who are deeply affected by his loss – his family for instance – how he lived his life has also severed as inspiration for people all over the world – inspiration which has seen countless others appreciate and think about their lives more fully – or does that not qualify as an actual result?
-J
The Giuliani link just sold a copy of your book.
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