2014-12-09

Smackyface

I don't have much more to say than I did before. We remain a nation of vicious cowards. That the "question" of whether to bring torturers to justice has become partisan means we are truly lost.

2014-12-04

Why Police Officers Are Killing the People They Are Sworn to Protect

We valorize police officers precisely because they are supposed to subordinate their own safety to that of the public, which includes Eric Garner, Michael Brown, you, and me. Police officers should not be given broader latitude in ostensibly self-defense-related uses of force than civilians because police officers are civilians. Democracies do not let soldiers perform police duties, and police codes of conduct should not resemble counter-insurgency rules of engagement.

2014-11-28

Stefan Zweig, Wes Anderson, and a Longing for the Past

"The charge that Vienna was a forerunner of Hollywood may be the nicest thing that anyone ever said about the city."

2014-10-21

Lemonade War

Sadly, we don't get to hear the audio of Mo Collins devouring Patton Oswalt.  Otherwise, a delight.

2014-09-09

How Air Conditioning Changed America Forever

I can't believe they didn't say anything about how AC has resulted in the dramatic migration to and increased electoral heft of the Sun Belt.

2014-08-14

Insecure, Frustrated Bully With Something To Prove Considering Career In Law Enforcement

I've heard that there are good cops out there. I've never met any, but I believe the people who tell me they have. I don't know what their motivations for becoming cops were, but I have to imagine they met enough people like this and figured the the only way to stop them was to become cops themselves.

2014-08-01

2014-04-18

Time for America to Rethink the Way It Nukes People

I like the flexibility/ambiguity of giving nukes to all the Virginia boats. The Ohios' days are numbered.

2014-04-06

Madagascan Zebu Hound

I can't wait until it's dry enough to go to the off-leash park and try this.

2014-03-23

That Was The Year That Wes

I need to see this again on Blu-Ray. I initially stumbled over the (first) framing device: two different narrators played by two different actors each. Ostensibly the Jude Law/Tom Wilkinson character is an homage to Stefan Zweig, but I don't think it adds enough to the film to overcome the resulting distancing.

And yet I was more fascinated by the grimy post-socialist 1968 scenes than the confectionery 1932 visuals. The latter were a straightforward extrapolation of "what would Anderson do with a hyper-romanticized intra-war European hotel?", whereas the former was entirely new territory for Anderson.

2014-03-05

2014-03-03

Failing Up

I have friends who work at Microsoft, and I'm not in denial about what the future of Microsoft means to the local economy. This news strikes me as the worst of all possible omens.