The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs evidently supported Barack Obama's rise to the presidency but soured on him when he saw what Obama did during his first couple of years when the new president had a majority in both houses of Congress and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate—meaning when Obama was as Obama-y as an Obama can be:
Writing in National Review Online, political analyst Ryan Streeter posits that the nation’s economic problems are in essence a symptom of cultural deficiencies. It’s an interesting premise that brings up important issues, and I think Streeter effectively captures some of the impulses and concerns that animate the Occupy Wall Street movement: e seem to be going through a “crisis of aspiration” in America that was underway before the recession. This crisis has sources that are deeper than any jobs plan can address—at least in the near term. A crisis of aspiration is not merely a crisis of ambition to pursue the American Dream, though it certainly includes that. It is also a crisis rooted in demographic realities and policy failures that make aspiring to a better life harder than it used to be, and not even worth the effort for some people. Jobs plans can help, but we need something more like a cultural renewal to reverse the trends that threaten America’s role as the world’s number-one “aspiration nation.” Skipping over the unspecified policy failures he mentions and arguing that “jobs are not enough,” Streeter (a very sharp analyst and a personal friend of mine) then outlines several economic problems
The upcoming theatrical film The Raven, evidently based verrrrrrrrry loosely on the stories and poems of the brilliant nineteenth century American writer Edgar Allan Poe, and starring John Cusack as Poe, looks as if it could be very good fun or just poopawful. Certainly it looks like quite possibly the maddest thing ever, which is saying a lot these days. Based on the trailer, however, I find myself strangely interested in seeing the great American writer battle evil on the mean streets of antebellum Baltimore even though I don’t like Cusack and never have. (That’s not a criticism of him or his movies, just a personal reaction.) See the trailer, and decide for yourself—if you dare:
Back when I was in college, there was a TV miniseries (I never actually saw it myself) called “Sybil,” starring Sally Field. It told the story of a woman who suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder, induced by horrendous childhood abuse. It was based on a “fact-based” book, with names and locations disguised. Still, the word got around as to what the (supposed) facts were. The real Sybil was a woman named Shirley Mason, and she’d grown up in the little town of Dodge Center, Minnesota. Dodge Center is a neighboring town to my own home town, Kenyon. I remember riding through Dodge Center around that time, thinking, “It all happened here.” Only it didn’t. According to this New York Post article, the whole thing was a fraud, perpetrated by a disturbed woman who loved attention, a drug-happy therapist looking to make a reputation, and a sensationalist writer. A new book, Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case, written by Debbie Nathan, tells the story of how it happened that Shirley Mason went to school in New York, and came to be under the treatment of therapist Connie Wilbur. One day, Shirley started talking about blackouts in
Andrew Klavan is one of the most perceptive cultural analysts of our day, and his Klavan on Culture at Pajamas Media is a frequent stop of mine. In a recent post on a new book called Willpower, Klavan takes the Baby Boomer generation to task for ruining American culture. I suppose Boomers can be an easy target for such a charge, but Klavan does it in a way that shows how our liberties are lost at the door of license. Without personal responsibility, as the Founders of our country knew, true liberty is unattainable. Klavan understands and argues well that when we throw away moral values for a self-centered freedom to do whatever we want, we in fact get statist coercion running our lives. A great writer, he knows how to make his case: ehaving well, behaving responsibly, learning the norms of politeness and refusing to abandon them without good reason tend to make you a more self-controlled, successful, and finally better person. This is precisely the wisdom my generation threw away. Their promiscuity, adolescent foul-mouthedness, bad manners, and disregard for tradition — all of which they claimed were a new kind of freedom — were in fact the precursors
. . . but on the other hand . . . Have you ever been stuck in one of those interminable meetings that seem to have no good purpose? “An Occasional Poem in Honor of D— W—” When will he stop? we all wondered. When will he at last withdraw? After our nerves have been sundered And after our patience is gone? The future is but shadowy stuff, But we agree it can’t get here soon enough! Did you ever notice how some signs are spelled in department stores? “Mens – Womens – Childrens” I pity the poor apostrophe, Soon to be lost to you and me Through neglect, No respect, A minor, but significant, catastrophe. If good fences make good neighbors, why aren’t there more good neighbors? “Evidently” So my neighbor decides, evidently, That good fences make, evidently, Holes in his life. All men are brothers, he evidently Believes along with the brotherless Person who first said that. It’s obvious since he very evidently Tramples my tomatoes down Chasing wobbly footballs, Skittish clucking chickens, Border-leaping bassets, and Teetering, chattering toddlers. To him, therefore, good fences Make no difference, evidently. “Sarcophagus” literally means “flesh-eating”: “Monumental” Cold stone drains This warm
Abraham Merritt (1884-1943 was a very popular fantasy writer. Since his death, his works have been reprinted from time to time. He wrote a variety of types of fantasy tales: lost civilization, heroic, and occult. Merritt was also a very successful journalist who spent the latter part of his career as editor of a Hearst publication, American Weekly, In his fiction, at least, he tended towards a lush style and his tales can have a certain intensity. While I like some of his fantasies (The Ship of Ishtar, Burn, Witch, Burn!, and Creep, Shadow!), the yarn of his I like best, is his anomalous one: Seven Footprints to Satan, published in 1928. (A film was made of it but I have never seen it.). Seven Footprints to Satan is a mystery adventure without supernatural elements. James Kirkham, an adventurer recently returned to the United States, is forcibly made a part of a vast and startlingly effective criminal organization based on Long Island. The brilliant head of the organization calls himself Satan, but he does not seriously pretend to be the devil, nor does anyone think he is. This criminal mastermind is certainly one of the most interesting fictional villains I
Interesting interview with Aldous Huxley, describing how the tyranny of 1984 can slide into the more agreeable tyranny of Brave New World. His reasoning is different than de Tocqueville’s analysis of the “soft despotism” that can arise in democracies, but both require centralized political power and lead to the same place. Two prophetic warnings from different centuries, as we approach 2012.
The conviction prevails, in privileged circles that, if we study history without reshaping it to our contemporary prejudices, history will corrupt us. May I suggest that the opposite is true? …Those who deny history die of myth. In that quotation from his Introduction, Ralph Peters sums up much of the lessons he propounds in his 2010 collection of essays and columns, Endless War. The first section of the book consists of a series of essays on early Islamic victories in the historic struggle with the West, followed by a series of Western (dare I say Christian?) victories as Muslim civilization went into decline. Then he draws conclusions, and proceeds to analyze various aspects of our contemporary “War On Terror” (a designation he loathes). Our great mistake, as I read him, is our insistence on “understanding” our opponents. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but the way our academics and academically-trained soldiers do it is so informed by postmodern secularism that they end up violating both fact and logic. Better than academic anthropology and political theory, these people should read original historical and religious texts, and myth. Our enemies are fighting for a dream, not an ideology. Peters expresses some
By Ben Domenech The career of Steve Jobs exemplifies the American dream. It is jarring that death strikes Jobs at a point so young – at 56, he barely had half the professional years of Edison, Ford, and Carnegie, who all died in their eighties. It means the world will miss out on the latter days of career, whether he would’ve stretched out for more incredible goals, or turned to more philanthropic pursuits. In his time, he touched so many areas of cultural life, not just through consumer products, his effect on communication and education, but also the creation of some of the best films of the past decade. So much work in such a compressed period of time. In the beginning, he seemed so young. And at the end, he seemed old beyond his years. Jobs was and will remain a cult-like figure, the confrontational counterculturalist, the turtlenecked Buddhist who lived in empty mansions. His products bore his imprint in incredible ways—the original iPods had volume and gain problems almost entirely due to Jobs’ personal hearing loss – and his ruthless expectation for perfection in design is evident – that things should not just look beautiful, but work beautifully.
Upon seeing a headline stating that the first cancellation of a new fall TV series had occurred—just two weeks into the season—I thought it might be fun to try to deduce which network had done the deed. (Figuring out precisely which godawful new show had been axed was a more daunting task.) I chose NBC, and that turned out to be correct. The Peacock Network has dumped The Playboy Club. NBC is the most aesthetically ambitious of the major TV networks and the least effective at reaching its goals in that regard. It regularly chooses shows that promise a deeper and more serious look at social issues and the human condition than most other nets, but it generally fails to deliver the promised depth or convey material in an entertaining way. Thus, flop after flop. In case you haven’t heard of it, The Playboy Club was an hour-long drama, airing Monday nights, set in the mid-1960s at one of the swingin’ cool clubs named in the title, once upon a time a part of nudie magazine billionaire Hugh Hefner’s empire. Why the show failed ought to be evident: The Playboy Club is a concept that promises scandalous fun, but that sort
You’ve may have already seen this story but the (literally) odds-on favorite for this year’s Nobel Price for Literature is none other than Bob Dylan. I would be very surprised if this comes to pass, but far from disappointed. Dylan has a remarkable way with words and has produced a singular body of work over the last fifty (!) years. He’s also far more worthy of the award than some other recent winners. And if he wins, he’ll surely deliver the most unique and memorable acceptance speech in Nobel history. The award will be announced tomorrow, and here’s hoping that the kid from Hibbing, Minnesota, who dreamed of being the next Elvis Presley will pull it off. Update The Nobel Prize for literature did not go to Bob Dylan but, instead, to Tomas Transtromer, for his “condensed translucent images” which give us “fresh access to reality.”
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