Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sequestration


There's one critically important thing to keep in mind as the sob stories about the pain and suffering caused by the hard-hearted Republicans' unwillingness to support the vitally important business of the government fill the press, and it's articulated well here by Paul Rahe:
Everyone has seen this before at the state level. The legislature trims the projected budget, and the Governor, intent on expanding patronage, responds by declaring an emergency and by cutting access to state parks, library hours . . . you name it. The point is to rally the public against the legislature by cutting popular items while carefully protecting the pork that sustains the Governor's political party.

Labels: ,

|

Confession

Given the amount of chatter generated by the Oscars ceremony the other night, this seems an opportune time to release this particular skeleton from my closet.

I watched the Academy Awards. 
All the way through to the end. 
(Back in the early 80s, a couple of times.)

I couldn't imagine watching 30 seconds of it now.  Of course, that was a period when I would have seen all, or most, or at least several, of the candidates for best picture.  Other than Les Miserables and Brave, I'm not sure that I've seen anything nominated for anything this year.  There are some that I will see, that I want to see, but I've seen nothing.  And, while I was, at one point, willing to put up with small doses of the rich and famous congratulating themselves on their successes (and, far too often, their moral superiority), not any more.

Labels: ,

|

Friday, February 22, 2013

"This Perfect Day"

I'm curious as to why I'd never heard of Ira Levin's This Perfect Day before it showed up as a Kindle deal-of-the-day last week. I've never seen or read Rosemary's Baby or The Stepford Wives, but I am aware of them and what they are. Obviously, Deathtrap is a great play. But I had never heard of this one. A cross between 1984 and Brave New World and Ayn Rand's Anthem and CS Lewis' The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, it's thought-provoking and very well executed. Having now read a couple of Levin's works (the outstanding mystery thriller A Kiss Before Dying was a deal a few months ago), I can say that Levin was a very good writer...

"Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei, led us to this perfect day..."

Highly recommended. (There's a little bit of adult language and content, but it's neither gratuitous nor pointless.)


Labels: ,

|