“What was odd about Harryhausen’s work was that it was obviously ‘fake,’ fabricated – even in its heyday, its invented, articulated falseness was as evident as it was bemusing. One wasn’t convinced by his skeleton warriors; one was amazed by them, a different thing.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Cleveland Kidnappings: An F.A.Q.?
The Plain Dealer actually has put together a list of Frequently asked questions about the three women who were rescued last week after a decade in captivity. Sasha Weiss considers – even as she understands why the paper did that – how coverage of the ordeal got to that point – and why the media narrative takes the forms that it has.
The Limitations Of Empathy
“Empathy has some unfortunate features – it is parochial, narrow-minded, and innumerate. We’re often at our best when we’re smart enough not to rely on it.”
Why I Teach a College Class On How To Think About Pornography
“Most of my students were born in the early-to-mid-1990s; they hit puberty under the influence of two conflicting social realities: the widespread availability of broadband and the Bush-era abstinence-only sex education policies. … [This] meant that Internet pornography became the primary and ubiquitous source of information about [sex] … It’s as if instead of offering driver’s ed, we taught you how to operate a car by showing you a James Bond movie.”
Bing Crosby Helped To Create Silicon Valley
You never thought of Der Bingle as being in the vanguard of anything, did you? Well, it turns out that – as a media star and as an investor – he was crucial to the development of the tech industry, both in general and as a mainstay of northern California.
The Great Gatsby – Can The Movie Work As Well As Cliff’s Notes?
“For whatever reason, Gatsby was consigned to my particular version of the list of classic books one pretends to have read while making small talk at dinner parties. My status as a Gatsby virgin, though personally embarrassing, proved useful to my editors.” J. Bryan Lowder takes a multiple-choice test and tries to write a high-school essay on the book after seeing Baz Luhrmann’s film version.
Showgirls! The Musical! – It’s High Camp And Therapy!
“Elizabeth Berkley played the lead role with such vulgarity that it parodied itself; to outdo her requires an inventory of something deeper and more manic. April Kidwell has that in her” – and the theatrical spoof of the notorious film flop “has become an unlikely form of personal redemption for her.”
Yet Another Client Sues Defunct Knoedler Gallery
“The once-celebrated Knoedler & Company gallery has been closed for more than a year and a half but the lawsuits keep coming. Last week, the philanthropist and former ambassador to Romania, Nicholas F. Taubman, became the sixth former client to sue the gallery in federal court.”
Why D.H. Lawrence, Misogynist Male Author, Has Lots Of Female Fans
“For these women, Lawrence’s embrace of gender is not a bug; it’s a feature. Acknowledging the way gender matters to ideas isn’t (or rather, isn’t only) about imposing hierarchy based on which bits you happen to have. It’s also about affirming the weirdness and power and centrality of bodies – and of those people who have traditionally been most associated with bodies, which is to say, women.”
Disney Backs Off Attempt To Trademark Mexican Festival
“After raising the ire of critics online, The Walt Disney Company quickly backed away today from its move to quietly trademark ‘Día de los Muertos’ for an upcoming Pixar animated feature.”