Monthly Archives: December 2012

Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’—A Caustic, Comic Look at America’s Changing Morality

December 31, 2012
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Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’—A Caustic, Comic Look at America’s Changing Morality

My recommendation for New Year's Eve viewing, if you're inclined to watch a movie: 'The Apartment,' directed by Billy Wilder. Turner Classic Movies is showing it tonight beginning at 10 p.m. EST. It's one of Billy Wilder's best films, and it won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star as a mismatched couple in New York City in 1960, a time when the nation's values were changing rapidly. Wilder catches the enormity of the shift in moral…

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Les Misérables Didn’t Make Me Totally Miserable!

December 29, 2012
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Les Misérables Didn’t Make Me Totally Miserable!

You see, I’m not a big fan of musicals. Yes, I guess you could say, I’ll admit it, I’m a musical hater. But it could be I’m getting soft in my old age. When I heard that a film was being made of the Broadway hit Les Misérables I yawned. But my daughter sure didn’t; she was ecstatic. And the wife thinks musicals are great too. Being a fan of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel I figured I’d join them to see what this musical adaptation…

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‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ is Good, but Disappoints

December 28, 2012
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‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ is Good, but Disappoints

So I finally saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And I enjoyed it. And yet… I understand why some people were disappointed. I suppose I was a little disappointed myself, though that shouldn’t be taken as a thumbs down. First of all, the good parts. Martin Freeman is a wonderful, wonderful Bilbo Baggins. I can’t imagine how the role could have been better played. Superb casting, superb job. I liked the visuals. Some people, or so I’ve read, have trouble with the unusually high speed…

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Where is the 21st Century Horatio Alger?

December 27, 2012
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Where is the 21st Century Horatio Alger?

I’m sure for you generation X, Y and Zers, the name Horatio Alger, a strange one to your ears no doubt, doesn’t ring any bells. That’s unfortunate, because his message to young people is sorely needed today. Alger was a prolific author of dime-store novels, as they were called, in the mid to late 19th Century; his name became synonymous with up by the bootstraps overcoming the odds success.

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Halter’s Brilliant ‘Hypothesis’ May Be His Masterpiece of Mystery

December 26, 2012
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Halter’s Brilliant ‘Hypothesis’ May Be His Masterpiece of Mystery

'The Seventh Hypothesis' is quite possibly Paul Halter’s masterpiece, a book of amazing complexity. There is so much meat to this story, and you’re never quite certain what on earth is going on until the end, even if, by some chance, you tumble to the secret behind a trick or two before the end. Just as much fun as the classic impossible crimes are the verbal duels, which seem to have been inspired by the verbal duels in 'Sleuth,' with revelation after revelation further complicating…

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Review: ‘Hitchcock’ Movie for the Ignorant Only

December 19, 2012
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Review: ‘Hitchcock’ Movie for the Ignorant Only

'Hitchcock’s' main problem is that it doesn’t find reality interesting enough. It decides to ignore the drama that actually surrounded the production in favor of the fictional and naturally far better drama that someone has invented in their heads, to make political points and strike blows for feminism.

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Another Blow to Malthus and His Progeny

December 18, 2012
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Another Blow to Malthus and His Progeny

Growing up in the 1970s I learned that the earth was a fragile thing, that resources were limited and soon to run out, and that mankind could never produce enough to feed the burgeoning masses. I had not quite started driving when the first gas shortages of the early to mid 70s occurred, but I remember gas lines and odd/even days when my parents could buy gas. It seemed to me that the earth was in for a dire time and the future looked bleak.

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One Response to Sandy Hook and the Problem of Evil

December 17, 2012
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One Response to Sandy Hook and the Problem of Evil

Since Friday there have been a million and one response to the evil experienced against the innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Often in such responses there is little humility, but in the face of the inscrutable humility is the only wise attitude. Yet at times of such blatant evil, the religious skeptics come out in force as if such evil proved their view of reality was axiomatic. Hardly.

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The Latest School Massacre

December 14, 2012
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The Latest School Massacre

Who's to blame?

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Chivalry Is Not Dead

December 13, 2012
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Chivalry Is Not Dead

There was a time back in the day, as they say, when treating women with respect by opening doors for them or “women and children first” was de rigueur. There was no confusion about social custom when it came to how men treated women. The feminist movement that became popularized in the 1960s changed all that. By the 1980s a man didn’t know if he should open a door for a woman, carry her groceries, and offer to pay for a meal, or help her…

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Labels: What Are They Good For?

December 13, 2012
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Labels: What Are They Good For?

There is a strain among certain traditionalist conservatives to eschew the use of labels. It’s not so much that they don’t use labels, or they wouldn’t call themselves traditionalist conservatives, but they seem to fear that labels are not only not helpful, but positively deleterious. I think the problem with labels as they see it, are that they tend to dehumanize and are used in a way to dismiss others who don’t agree with you.

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A Day that Exceeds Nigel Tufnel’s Dreams

December 12, 2012
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A Day that Exceeds Nigel Tufnel’s Dreams

As I’m sure you know, today is 12/12/12. This means that 11/11/11 – or Nigel Tufnel day – was exactly one year, one month, and one day ago. Nigel Tufnel, of course, was the legendary (?) guitarist for Spinal Tap who cherished his special Marshall amp, which the band could always count on when it needed that extra push, over the cliff. But even Nigel didn’t dare dream about taking it up to 12.

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Ravi Shankar, R.I.P.

December 12, 2012
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Ravi Shankar, R.I.P.

No music I have ever listened to have I found so utterly compelling as that of the recently deceased master sitar player, Ravi Shankar. Part of the reason for this, I think, is how the chastening of the emotions underlying the music makes the expression of them profound. Then, too, every note played seems essential. There is nothing showy or self-indulgent in it. Yet while the emotions are chastened. they are not eliminated, so there is no aridity nor mere asbtractness. His music is proof…

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Winterlight

December 11, 2012
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Winterlight

We all know that spring, and not winter, is the time that a young man’s fancy turns to love (just the opposite in fact: when it’s cold outside, he’s got the month of May). But can a great love song be set during the frosty winter months? If you think not, take a listen to “Winterlight” by the brilliant band Roman Candle (sorry, no embed code). In just under four minutes, it captures the Christmas season, fleeting romantic love, permanent bonds, and the beauty that…

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Ace Aces It!

December 11, 2012
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Ace Aces It!

Those of us at The American Culture often comment on the monopoly modern liberals, i.e. progressives, have on the culture. This is not a good thing for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with its affects on our politics and public policy, not the least of which is the truth. If the libs in the media, education and popular culture had a little more competition, maybe the truth would win out more often.

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