The worst part about my first trip to Japan in 1983 was having to sit through kabuki shows. I hated them. Yes, I know, I know: It’s art. You’re free to love kabuki. The fact that I hate it says everything about me and nothing about kabuki. But I absolutely despise it. The music, the…
Cautionary tales always become manuals. And win free e-books!
April 17, 2014
I just read an article titled “Ten Things Idiocracy Predicted Would Happen, and Sadly Already Have.” Though I haven’t seen Idiocracy, I’m not surprised. Cautionary tales always become manuals. This phenomenon is not new. And win free e-books by answering a question! I’ll tell you how later. In 1941 Budd Schulberg published a novel titled…
Fake versus real
January 4, 2014
I’ve done some very stupid things in my life. One night in Norway I got drunk, climbed up a tower crane, and walked all the way out to the end of the boom. No idea how many hundred feet off the ground I was. When I got to the end of the boom, the wind kicked…
How about movies that are not stupid?
September 23, 2013
I don’t like it when movies present the armed forces of western democracies as evil. That’s like saying, “I don’t like it when movies present young women as sexy,” I know. It goes with the territory. But I still find it irritating. I prefer movies that are not stupid. The misrepresentation doesn’t keep me from…