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Jim Goad has produced a short video to accompany his latest essay, “June Is the Gayest Month,” on the signs that the Pride coalition is sparking a backlash by inundating America with ever-more ridiculous propaganda for the LGBTQ agenda in relation to Pride Month. See below. (more…)
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Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one below or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.”
“April is the cruellest month,” wrote T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) in his 1922 poem “The Waste Land.”
As we all now know — whether or not we’d rather forget it, they won’t let us forget it — June is now federally designated as Pride Month, but I doubt that on the surface, Eliot would have had a problem with the abstract notion of pride. (more…)
Aristophanes
Aristophanes
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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
Strepsiades Flunks Out
It hasn’t gone well. First Socrates bursts out of the Thinkery swearing an oath: “By Respiration, by Chaos, by the Air.” The usual places of gods in his oath are occupied by three natural forces. Socrates then rants about a particularly bad student who is “rustic . . . resourceless . . . dull . . . and forgetful.” Then he calls this student to come out. And out comes Strepsiades.
Socrates then quizzes Strepsiades on what he has learned. (more…)
Thomas Mann: breakthrough Black [sic] author?
Thomas Mann: breakthrough Black [sic] author?
Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
Thomas Mann: New Selected Stories
Translated and with an introduction by Damion Searls
New York: Liveright, 2023
“It is really curious that a life of playing games and dreaming can — if only you go on with it long enough — lead to your being treated like royalty.” — Thomas Mann, author of Felix Krull, Confidence Man
“What a royal gift the imagination is, and what pleasure it affords us!” — Felix Krull, confidence man (more…)
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I finally saw this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once, by directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and enjoyed the film. Like many of you , I think it’s a shame Tár didn’t win, and note that The Banshees of Inisherin also didn’t win — but I think many of you are glad about that. Nevertheless, Everything Everywhere All at Once hits all the bases for this year’s woke base — but it’s also a fun movie, very fast-paced and a visual delight. (more…)
East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway wielding a National Justice Party bullhorn.
East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway wielding a National Justice Party bullhorn.
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It’s nearly April: The time for rain. As I write, there is a drenching downpour in my neck of the woods that has lasted all day. Being forced indoors for a spell has allowed me to reflect upon white advocacy at the end of 2023’s first quarter. (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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See also: Good Book, More of the Good Book, Doors & Bolts & Bars
I recently watched the 1966 movie The Bible: In the Beginning. It was the last of the big-budget movies with a cast of thousands and a plot centered on ancient history. In the 1950s, these sorts of films — The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben Hur (1959) — were big winners. The Bible, however, didn’t capture the magic of those earlier features. The lukewarm audience reception likewise helped to make The Bible the last of such epics. (more…)
Hawaiians shown from before their beautiful civilization was destroyed by the white man.
Hawaiians shown from before their beautiful civilization was destroyed by the white man.
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Rishu Sunak
Rishu Sunak
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We’ve tried the cowboys, now for the Indians
There is nothing so exciting or colorful as the election of a Hindu Prime Minister. The splendor of India, the heat and dust, the parade of many-armed goddesses and elephant gods, the dusky maidens in bright saris doing that thing with their necks that parrots do, the flowers, the smell of spice, the . . . (more…)
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Not long ago I was chatting with some people I’d just met, and TV programs came up for discussion. I had nothing to add because I don’t own a television. They were wondering why, and I said that I don’t need all that propaganda. There were understanding nods all around the table. It’s very well known that the mainstream media is a gigantic lie factory. (more…)