in some of its many forms: Tim Otto found the Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco almost by accident. When he was a lonely little kid, one of their members, an artist, tried to teach him to paint. (“I was an utter failure,” he remembers.) When he grew up, he began to see in Sojourners, a Christian intentional community, a form of discipleship and an “art of love” that he admired and needed. more! I may as well say... Read more
After I finished Alan Moore’s hulking tome Jerusalem (of which more presently) I picked up a pulp classic which turned out to have more in common with Moore’s jawbreaker than just the Holy Land reference in the title. I’d actually never read ‘Salem’s Lot, despite loving Stephen King in general and pre-‘9os King specifically. It’s a great read, a luscious tribute to vampire tales of yore, with all of King’s trademark sadness and determination. Some notes: # King returns to... Read more
playwatching: Roe, the new play from Lisa Loomer about the woman at the heart of the 1973 Supreme Court case legalizing abortion, is much like its main subject: easily distracted, unbalanced, but undeniably compelling. Roe (at Arena Stage in Washington, DC through February 18) at first suggests that it will be a story of two women. The play opens with Norma “Jane Roe” McCorvey (Sara Bruner) and lawyer Sarah Weddington (Sarah Jane Agnew) speaking in unison. We’re encouraged to think... Read more
Compulsion: The other, other Leopold and Loeb flick (after Rope and Swoon, although idk, maybe Swoon is one of those things Only 90s Kids Will Remember) and it’s definitely worth watching if that sounds like your bag. Unlike Rope, Compulsion focuses on the social context: Prohibition–the law that everybody was above!–and the Golden Age of the gutter press. The KKK burning a cross outside the Clarence Darrow-analogue’s window. The fake surnames in this one are super Jewish, is what I’m... Read more
this is a good piece in the Grauniad: …Could we see a whole city go cash-free? From Seoul to Bergamo, cities big and small are at the forefront of a global drive to go digital. Many of us are happy to tap cards or phones to hop on a bus, buy a coffee or pay for groceries, but it raises the prospect of a time we no longer carry any cash at all. No spare change for the busker at... Read more
vs economists who scold men for not becoming the New Soviet Persyn the market demands: Why can’t a woman be more like a man? Henry Higgins demands to know in “My Fair Lady.” These days, labor economists are asking the opposite question: Why can’t a man be more like a woman? The decline of traditionally male blue-collar work like manufacturing has left many men adrift. There are growth industries, such as health care, where some of these men could get... Read more
Did you know that there’s a ’60s sunlit dystopia flick about a game show/social control mechanism where you hunt folk? Did you know it’s also a romcom starring Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress? The Tenth Victim is wigged-out, askew, sexy in a PG-13 adolescent kind of way, and the most Roman movie I’ve ever seen. (I’ve seen The Great Beauty.) I loved this thing. I loved the interview with the “hunter”: “Do you believe in God?” “Of course.” “Do you... Read more
Let’s do this. Previous years can be found here. I already did my top 10 books and my opinion there has not changed. Possibly my favorite review of my novel is Kate Havard’s: “A Paleocon, An Otherkin, And a Saint Walk Into a Bar.” (Buy the book here yo.) Best movies seen for the first time: The Fits Daisies Roger and Me ugh I can’t leave it off, I enjoyed Little Sister so, so much and can’t bear to bump... Read more
This is a great piece but I guess the reason the end disappointed me is that it turns out to be a sardonic, passive-aggressive (not that there’s anything wrong with that) reaffirmation of the meritocratic winners’ authority, when what I would rather read is somebody’s portrait of alternative authorities. So sure, here’s a list of reasons I’ve seen real people be treated as authorities. Andrews’s list would be different no doubt but that’s precisely why I would have liked to... Read more
So since I’m me, I took the time during this Octave of Christmas to watch “Holidays,” a horror anthology in which every tale takes place on some sort of celebratory day. It’s surprisingly good! The thing that makes the movie so powerful (esp its first half), I think, is that most of the directors/writers took the time to ask what each holiday is actually about. What are the underlying emotions called up by each day–the longings, beliefs, fears, dreams to... Read more
Eve Tushnet
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