Well, we’ve already done best songs of the decade (Stendhal list here, Linus list here).
Let’s try best albums.
Top ten, no order:
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Sometimes a band’s conflicts lead to trauma and the end of creativity. Every so often, they lead to acts of genius. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the latter. Haunting, with the right [...]
Archive for the ‘Columns’ Category
Re: Baucus
Posted in Columns, Economics, Health/Medicine, News, Obama, Politics, tagged baucus bill, health care, health policy, Max Baucus, Obama on September 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Having now actually taken the time to read large parts of the Baucus bill, which you can read here, I have fewer reservations about it than I used to, and I believe its major shortcomings (free rider provision, lower subsidies) can be hammered out in conference.
Now, I’m aware of Linus’ distaste for the bill, particularly [...]
What value hath Armond White?
Posted in Columns, Letters, Movies, The Internet, tagged armond white, criticism, district 9, film critics, roger ebert, rottentomatoes on August 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Armond White, film critic for the New York Press, has caused quite a stir online for his negative review of “District 9,” a widely-acclaimed science fiction film which opens today. Let’s set aside the film itself, which I have not seen, but instead focus on the commentary given to him. Within hours of his first [...]
Do I want my medical care to be like the post office? Hell, yes!
Posted in Business, Columns, Health/Medicine, Politics, Reality has a well-known liberal bias, tagged health care, health policy, medicare, post office on August 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Recently, liberal commentators have expressed bafflement at conservative contentions that government-run health care (which the current Finance Committee plan is not, but lies are par for the course) will be run as inefficiently as the Post Office, with at least one libertarian commentator referring to the plan as “Post Office health care.” There’s ample commentary [...]
Are there any “True Scotsmen”?
Posted in Columns, Politics, Reality has a well-known liberal bias, tagged logic, misconceptions, no true scotsman, political rumors, rationalization, von brunn on June 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As an addendum to a post made on TPM about efforts by the Right to brand Holocaust Museum terrorist James Von Brunn a Leftist, Zachary Roth mentions that this is an example of the “No True Scotsman” fallacy in action.
“No True Scotsman” is a relatively recently named logical fallacy, often called into service by atheists [...]
The mark of Cain on film
Posted in Columns, Ethics and Morals, Movies on May 24, 2009 | 2 Comments »
And he said, What hast thou done? — Genesis 4:9
In his book Literature and Evil, Georges Bataille, 20th century French writer and philosopher (although he avoided the label himself), proposed that great literature necessitated some variation of evil and transgression against “good” in order to become “literature.” In order to function, literature needs to bring [...]
In defense of Hall & Oates
Posted in Columns, Music on May 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When we imagine Hall & Oates, we can only see their idiotic polyester clothes, their mockable hair (facial and otherwise), their definitively ’80s instrumentation. They appear a parody of themselves in retrospect – a group so defined by their era that no one can separate the music from the cheese.
The whole [...]
Empathy: the lost trait
Posted in Columns, Ethics and Morals, Politics on May 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Much negative coverage has been given to President Obama’s comments that the next Supreme Court justice should have “empathy and real world experience,” with the latest salvo coming from RNC Chairman (and Unpersons Hero) Michael Steele, who said in regards to Obama’s yet-to-be-named nominee:
“Crazy nonsense empathetic. I’ll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind. [...]
