Ars Moriendi
Sean MurphyOr, the art of dying. Of course, a treatise like this made a great deal of sense in the 15th Century, while memories of the Black Death still lingered in…
The Intellectual Super Bowl: Frank Rich, still undefeated
MVP! MVP! MVP! If, like me, you were unable to get through a day this past fall without visiting at least a half dozen (often more) blogs, sites and newspapers (Glenn…
48 years ago, today
On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.
For Borowski, Messiaen and the millions they spoke for…
Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan comes the link to this lengthy piece by Christopher Buckley, concerning his visit to Auschwitz, here. The entire piece is not easy or pleasurable reading, owing…
OK, now I’m scared…
Bad new abounds. Financial companies? Publishing houses? Newspapers? Magazines? Consumer electronics corporations? Manufacturers? Detroit automotive? Et cetera... Whatever. But when you read something like this, it catches your attention. Starbucks…
Richard Cohen Is A Clown
Cohen strikes again. What an asshole. See for yourself, here. Back then, a WP poll gave George W. Bush an approval rating of 92 percent, which meant that almost no…
Art vs. Life and Death, Again
We were saying? Wow, look at the New York Times, today, on the complicated legacy of Roberto Bolano, here. Money quote(s): Few writers are more acclaimed right now than the…
Art vs. Life and Death, cont’d
Marjorie has some typically insightful observations on her blog, here. Sean blames critics and the academy for perpetuating this queer line of thinking. I agree that such folks shoulder their…
Art vs. Life and Death
Subj: art Date: 11/28/98 12:55:40 PM Eastern Standard Time From: BULLMURPH To: BULLMURPH Question: If artists are inherently not normal, but the goal of analysis is more or less to…
It is difficult to get the news from poems…
Unemployment could top 10 percent The United States lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most in any single year since World War II. Manufacturing is at a 28-year…