As good a response to the recent suicide news as any…
adudewritingpoetry.tumblr.com/post/174708230692/this-is-probably-the-first-celebrity-death-that It also puts me in mind of my response to Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death.
Category: News
Music Modernization Bill Sounds Good.
I am generally distrustful of bipartisan legislation, especially when the CEO of RIAA is this enthusiastic, but this doesn’t look too bad on its face: A key provision of the bill is for Congress to establish the equivalent of a SoundExchange for songwriters to track credits and distribute royalties when digital services use their work.… Read More Music Modernization Bill Sounds Good.
Kevin Smith is Still Alive. Huzzah.
The last Kevin Smith film I saw was Clerks 2. It was pretty good, by the standards of an unnecessary sequel made years after the movement of relevance, which is to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. The last Kevin Smith film I was excited to see was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which was… Read More Kevin Smith is Still Alive. Huzzah.
Welcome to the New Weimar Republic
German Neo-Nazis putting the boot to migrants. It’s not surprising that this happened. Nazis, neo- or otherwise, don’t like immigrants. That’s their thing. What’s surprising is this: But police said the asylum seekers started the confrontation – and later hurled bottles at the police trying to save them from a beating. The migrants picked the… Read More Welcome to the New Weimar Republic
Italian Robbers Kindly Reassure They’re Victims “We Are Not Isis”
According to La Stampa, as reported in Yahoo News. On a lighter note, the La Stampa daily reported that a gang of masked robbers had stormed into a bank shouting: “Relax, we are not Isis. It is only a hold-up.” This fascinates. Why would the robbers do this? Fear of bodily harm is, one surmises, among… Read More Italian Robbers Kindly Reassure They’re Victims “We Are Not Isis”
Charles Manson, Star Wars, and the Joy of Hate
Kevin Williamson opines on how monsters make the ladies swoon. The phenomenon of young women falling in love with death-row inmates, particularly with serial killers, is not new: Women flocked to Ted Bundy’s trial — his trial for raping, torturing, and murdering young women as a prelude to acts of necrophilia — and he received… Read More Charles Manson, Star Wars, and the Joy of Hate
New Content: Demon-Killing and Caliphates
I have long been fascinated by the Crusades, the Crusader states, and the military orders. Piers Paul Read’s The Templars is a magisterial book that fits in well with the newer generation of Crusade historians (good-bye, “ambitious younger sons”, hello “pious armed pilgrims”). The Templars, of course, met their brutal end before the Middle Ages were… Read More New Content: Demon-Killing and Caliphates
Why Do Europeans Hate Jews? Who Cares?
Spengler hits his usual note about the dullness of European civilization, post-nationalism: the tribes of Europe had their folly baked into the cake of their culture during the dark ages. In his view, Isidore of Seville and Gregory of Tours are the “Bialistock and Bloom” of Europe, inflating these upjumped Germanics with the desire to… Read More Why Do Europeans Hate Jews? Who Cares?
P.J. O’Rourke Tells Hard Truths About Scots Independence
It’s like the old days, man. I don’t say this as a prejudiced Irishman. Even though the thistle-arse sheep-shagger Scots swiped Ulster and sent a herd of Presbyterian proddy dogs and porridge wogs to squat on our land and won the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 by using unfair—indeed, unheard of —- organization, discipline,… Read More P.J. O’Rourke Tells Hard Truths About Scots Independence
Man goes into Barren Desert, Declares Himself King
He’s not entirely wrong yet. Although one of the main reasons Heaton claimed the area is that he hoped to fulfill his daughter’s wish to become a princess, his family also has wanted to transform the land into a needed agricultural resource. Once he finalizes his vision for the desert, he intends to meet with… Read More Man goes into Barren Desert, Declares Himself King
Content Blues 