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July Fourth always inspires a nostalgic feeling in me. When I was a kid, the holiday roughly marked the halfway point of summer break. Then, and now, it also means the beginning of the dog days of summer. The term “dog days” originated with the ancient Greeks, who coined it to describe the longest days of the year, which brought with them the most oppressive sunlight. (more…)
Jean Raoux, Pygmalion Adoring His Statue, 1717
Jean Raoux, Pygmalion Adoring His Statue, 1717
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Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice (1971) are both concerned with love and the ideal. If you love cinema, you will love these films, which I would rank among the greatest ever made. They can teach us a lot about love, idealism, art, and different sorts of desire. Be advised that there are a great many spoilers ahead.
Vertigo is the story of John “Scottie” Ferguson (played by James Stewart), a San Francisco policeman who retires from the force after a deadly rooftop chase leaves him with severe acrophobia (fear of heights). (more…)
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I’ve been reviewing Trump movies, and now it’s après moi, le deluge time. I saw The Father a couple of weeks ago in a typically empty theater, and was moved by its study of dementia and bravura acting by an excellent cast. Directed by Florian Zeller and based on his play, The Father tells the story of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), an elderly man who lives alone in his shadowy apartment. (more…)
Gustave Moreau, Hesiod and the Muse, 1891.
Gustave Moreau, Hesiod and the Muse, 1891.
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As another birthday arrives, I find myself getting closer to the dreaded age of 40. Although I still feel young, I have started to reflect on the meaning of my life and my own mortality. Some people would call this a “midlife crisis.” Yet the real crisis comes from the disenfranchisement of white men in our culture and society. For every white man with a stable career and a family, an unemployed white man is living in his mom’s basement playing video games all day. Regardless of age, the wisdom of Hesiod reminds us that one man’s crisis can be another man’s opportunity. (more…)
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1,132 words
Believe it or not, there was once a time in the now-enviable 2000s in which Midwestern indie bands were considered the epitome of cool. If you wore plaid shirts (sometimes, with a t-shirt over said shirt), could play passable guitar, and had a just-so-slightly off-kilter voice with which you could sing about outsiderdom and ennui, (more…)