July 2010
17 posts
“IF I had to issue a one-sentence manifesto for film criticism, it would be this:...”
– A.O. Scott on the furor surrounding critical response to Inception.
“If Arcade Fire’s ragtag debut, Funeral, found its ecstatic force by...”
– Spin’s review of the new Arcade Fire album “The Suburbs.” I’m pretty sure this is my most anticipated album of the year. I hope hope hope that they keep pumping out incredible albums.
Where everything is connected but nothing ever touches. That’s it.
“People hear me whine about this and they say: Our case is different; we need to...”
– Real Editors Ship
An increase in small-farm raids
This is infuriating. Bureaucratic measures being taken to stop local farmers from meeting a growing demand for real food.
What’s behind all these raids? They seem to stem from increasing concern at both the state and federal level about the spread of private food groups that have sprung up around the country in recent years — food clubs and buying groups to provide specialized local...
On Faith
This is going to be a poor blog post. I hate to have to open with that line, but I’m writing out an unfinished thought in response to a good challenge from my friend Matt.
He asks:
Imagine your faith as a favorite old sweater hanging on your closet door knob. Look at it closely and try to remember where you got it. Did you find it on your own, or was it a gift from your parents? If your...
“They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche. via (via merlin)
There are many Christians who have doubts about their faith for this same reason. For shame.
Michael Kimmelman has a great essay in the NYT about the current show at the National Gallery in London called “Close Examinations: Fakes, Mistakes, and Discoveries” about art sleuthing and the science of finding out whether a work is genuine or not. At first glance, he says, the exhibit almost seems too academic, but look closer and you’ll see:
It’s one of those gems, which,...
“I always said, “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get...”
– -Chuck Close
(Who, as revealed in the recent Radiolab podcast found here, is face blind. As is Oliver Sacks. Who knew?!)
One of the few things I agree on with the existing tea parties is that the Republicans and Democrats have made themselves hopeless hostages of political money and bargained away their legitimacy. In line with my general belief that American life must downscale or die, I’m not wholly persuaded that federalism can survive in any case - but assuming it will lumber on for a while anyway, the...
“So where does this leave us? By my count there are about three declarative...”
– Hating the Player, Losing the Game - a critical analysis of Armond White’s absurd review of Toy Story 3. (also where the previous quote was found)
“No one should trust any critic who does not take the art form he is writing...”
– Pauline Kael
WatchWhy are science and religion at such odds with each other, and when did we ever start to believe they are opposed? Jon Stewart and author Marilynne Robinson have a great discussion about this topic. I just requested her book at the library, I can’t wait to read it.
Thanks to this post, I was pointed back to a song that, once lodged in my head, repeats for a few weeks and always makes me something of a better person.
There are songs that I like, songs that I love, songs that get stuck in my head, but I think Joe Henry’s song “Our Song” is something else entirely. It is evocative poetry and challenging philosophy wrapped in a beautiful...
