October 16, 2010

Of Cannibals, Crowbars, and Cocktails

It's no secret that college professors these days frequently can display a really peculiar kind of stupidity. The latest example of this comes from Stanford University. It advances in the form of Enrique Chagoya, one of its art professors.The 57-year...

October 12, 2010

Obama's Tipoff

Few things in cinema are more satisfying than a good "tipoff." Most often it happens in suspense films. Moviemakers use it when, let's say, the murderer of the piece hides in plain sight among the entire cast. It's the "a-ha" inst...

August 28, 2010

It's Not Just about Getting Something

For a while some years ago, I knew a woman brought up in a certain way. "Well-heeled" has always been one way to describe it. "Silk stocking" is another.This always set her apart among ordinary people. While every woman has her ow...

July 10, 2010

That Magic Moment

Once, we could count on the wire services and news syndicates for the same thing when Independence Day rolled around. They would provide us any number of features giving positive, sometimes flag-waving accounts of the people important to the nation's...