I’m in the middle of adding old issues of UJ to the web site, and putting finishing touches on the new Paperback edition of UJ 29, and I find myself being told something I already suspected: Yup, it’s that bad. Just as Hollywood is incapable of making a major-budget film that isn’t an existing IP,… Read More Publishing is Pravda
Every now and again I like to indulge in the temptation to rail against the mindless repetition of uninteresting facts. I know it will accomplish nothing, and indeed is probably counterproductive, but I cannot help myself. This is stupid and I’m going to tell you why. Cry about it in the comments, nerds. I could… Read More Why in the Hell Does Anyone Care That It’s Carrie Fisher’s Birthday?
It seems that people have been left by their education unable to put values in the correct order. People who consider themselves intelligent and sober are defending twerking 11-year-olds for no better reason than to annoy conservatives, because apparently child exploitation doesn’t count if it’s done on the set of a movie in France. Let’s… Read More I Don’t Care If Cuties is a Good Movie
Back in the 90’s, when concepts such as “youth culture” seemed relevant to me, I was known to lament the chokehold Boomers had over pop culture. Every time the same damn Beatles songs were repackaged into a new format, I got incredibly annoyed, especially when someone my age bought it. Looking back, this exercise seems… Read More The Milennial Nostalgia Machine
I almost wrote a whole blog post about Leaving Neverland, the new documentary about Michael Jackson accusing him of pedophilia. I didn’t. Because ultimately I decided I didn’t want to wade into that morass. I don’t know if Jackson did anything. I wasn’t there. Rumor is less than truth and accusation less than proof. He’s… Read More So Barbara Streisand is a Monster…
Book Awards are becoming increasingly ridiculous, an extension of Twitter rhetorical battlefields with some side-talk about literature. You should read it in full, as it nicely encapsulates the descent into madness that has resulted from the beachhead politics has made into fandom and entertainment. But this in particular amused me: I’ve tried understanding American politics… Read More Sri Lankan Author Finds Himself on Nebula Ballot, Completely Baffled By American Political Discourse
Is that a Hasty Generalization or a Sweeping one? I lack the data to tell. I also don’t care that it’s illogical. It’s how I feel, therefore it’s true. What am I talking about? This. Long story, short, an author allowed internet bullies who spoke for the “community” to shame her into not publishing her… Read More Anyone Who Refers to Themselves as Representing a “Community” is an Ass
So here’s how the Kevin Hart thing went down: The Academy (whoever they are) offers a comedian a job being meh funny for a few hours while pretty people in gowns walk across the stage to announce other pretty people in gowns and then give each other shiny statues. Activists on Twitter (whoever they are) digs… Read More Do the Oscars Really Need a Host?
A good discussion of the most modern of complaints: the University-as-therapy and the concomitant eradication of Free Speech. Apart from its intellectual content and institutional structure descriptions, The Coddling of the American Mind makes being a contemporary college student in some schools sound like a terrible experience: Life in a call-out culture requires constant vigilance,… Read More The Coddling of the American Mind — Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff — The Story’s Story
Content Blues 