Tuesday, September 17, 2019
50 movies about 50 cities. Pretty good list. Most people in Buffalo would say our most representative movie would be The Natural, but they are wrong: it is actually Hide in Plain Sight.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Dahlia Lithwick: "Much of the maelstrom around Donald Trump’s electoral victory stemmed from the shock of recognition that many purportedly democratic institutions have come to serve anti-democratic purposes: Fears swirled over the Electoral College, gerrymandered districts, and hacked elections."
I gotta say that this has been apparent for a good long time, or at least since 2000, but the conversation has shifted. We seem to recognize, for example, that it isn't merely a fluke when the Electoral College serves up a President who fell short of an electoral majority, and some people are noticing that the Senate is a dysfunctional anachronism which has been a greater impediment to democracy than we've been willing to admit. Part of this is, I think, attributable to the fact that our governmental institutions went through a period of liberal reform that more or less coincided with the time we children of the post WWII generation have been alive, but perhaps a bigger part has just been denial.
I gotta say that this has been apparent for a good long time, or at least since 2000, but the conversation has shifted. We seem to recognize, for example, that it isn't merely a fluke when the Electoral College serves up a President who fell short of an electoral majority, and some people are noticing that the Senate is a dysfunctional anachronism which has been a greater impediment to democracy than we've been willing to admit. Part of this is, I think, attributable to the fact that our governmental institutions went through a period of liberal reform that more or less coincided with the time we children of the post WWII generation have been alive, but perhaps a bigger part has just been denial.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
To A Conversation with the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg last night at Kleinhans, an event that has had the city buzzing all summer. It was a long day for the judge: she taught a class at the law school, and received an honorary degree, and did a bunch of other stuff before sitting down on stage with the dean of the law school and several local bar association presidents for a Q&A. She is not even a week post-radiation treatments, but seemed strong. Hilariously she came on stage with a big canvas bag, which she kept at her feet for the evening. I can't say I was crazy about the format, which seemed somewhat contrived. There were movie clips interspersed, and the questions were obviously submitted in advance, for example. On the other hand, nobody would want to overtax her, and she was as delightful and charismatic as you'd expect. What was most notable to me was the electric excitement in the room, especially among the women. There was spontaneous applause throughout the presentation, and Justice Ginsburg seemed really, genuinely pleased to be there.
Monday, August 05, 2019
"Obscure" acts that played at Woodstock. This list is someone inflated- Melanie, Richie Havens, Tim Harden, John Sebastian, Mountain- these are not musicians that anyone with a passing familiarity with 60's music would regard as forgotten. The Incredible String Band maybe, Bert Sommer, Keef Hartley, and Quill absolutely. I'd have put Sha Na Na on the list
Thursday, August 01, 2019
The liner notes for Bob Dylan's Witmark Demos are as good a description of how the music publishing business works as anything I've ever read.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
There are Constitutional provisions that address re-drawing state boundaries, and the process is complicated enough that it is something that is unlikely to ever happen. Even so, playing with maps is fun, and considering the Electoral College implications is likewise amusing
Monday, July 22, 2019
On hipsters. This is a topic that Norman Mailer grappled with- if The White Negro had been written with a slightly different perspective it might have worked better. Nevertheless it seems notable that the best theory for the etymology of the term is that it is from a Wolof word that means to “open one’s eyes” or “be aware.”
