2010-06-08: Nicely put, S L Kim. Parenthood comes swaddled in tropes, many of which turn out to be true--and contradictory. I still haven't figured out how each child can be an individual yet tracked according to general milestones. (Note to self: Encourage son...

2009-09-23: I must say I'm pretty puzzled about how causally efficacious the vitriolists (Beck et al.) have been. Palin totally makes up and sticks to the phrase “death panels,” and powerful members of the relevant committees excise the...

2009-05-05: Many aspects of Taylor's article rankle, including the glaring contradiction between his wanting to abolish academic departments and his suggesting that particular universities develop particular departmental strengths. And, as both H Saussy and S L...

2009-03-18: I'd say the Green is probably a St. Patrick's Day conceit (which is odd, if you ask me). Re their suits, perhaps politicians buy in bulk...

2009-03-02: I'm with you, SL--knowing more about artists/thinkers tends to usefully change the way I think about their work. For me it was Calvin Tomkins's excellent biography of Duchamp, who I always considered too clever by half. Turns out, he's actually...

2009-02-18: I think the movie is largely gratuitous, mainly because it's entire storytelling mechanism is so contrived. Is it by chance that all of the game-show questions happen to have answers from some salient moments of his childhood, or was he destined to...

2009-02-10: I saw this, too. Nothing reveals the fact that they're filling air like inviting experts on the show and then not even paying attention to the expertise. Then again, maybe the reaction is existential. If the hosts aren't experts and aren't...

2009-01-23: Right on about the presentism of Bush. I was struck (as were many others), by the fact that the “mistakes” Bush admitted to during his final press conference all had to do with presentation — e.g., that he didn't have Air Force 1...

2008-06-26: Arg...

2008-03-19: Though I agree with S Shirazi's take on team sports and the lack of French franchises in America (Au Bon Pain does seem to be quite popular, however), I think the reading of Ratatouille is off base. The critic never stops being a critic. Instead,...