Adrienne Rich has died
She was 82. Here is one of her many great, necessary poems that holds up a mirror to her own country: Sleep well, great lady. Blessed be thy name!
Artsy-Fartsy Culture Stuff
Festive Left Friday Blogging: Gorgeous, George!
OMG, look who got arrested earlier today: Yes, that’s George Clooney. The movie star. He’s now free, along with his dad and a group of other prominent activists who were…
Economics for Dummies: The scariest poet in Britain?
Funny, he doesn’t look so intimidating to me: But then again, I’m not a corporate tax dodger.
Romance or misogyny?
Sometimes, it’s SO hard to tell, eh? No, this is not to make 18-year-olds look particularly appealing, or older-than-thou women especially alluring. It relies on some pretty mindless stereotyping of…
OMG, Adele is adorable!
Pardon my gush, but it’s true. She really IS a doll. She’s funny, she’s unpretentious, she’s blessedly drama-free in spite of everything she’s been through (how many pop stars can…
The art of the WHAT?
As I prepare to get cracking on my first-ever book-length Spanish-to-English translation (yes, congratulate me, kiddies, your auntie is going pro!), I found some videos while looking up an idiomatic…
Bradley Manning, the movie
Prevention of Injury (POI) from kyle broom on Vimeo. An indie film takes a fictional look at real, currently unfolding events. Must see!
Music for a Sunday: I still dream of Organon…
Kate Bush’s poignant classic. Based on Peter Reich’s story of his father’s arrest for building a device that, so it’s said, actually DID make rain. (And yes, that IS the…
The state-sponsored murder of Pablo Neruda
The official version of Pablo Neruda’s death goes something like this: World famous Chilean poet and Nobel winner dies of metastatic prostate cancer, age 69. But recent investigative findings put…
Happy 75th Birthday, Jim Henson
And to show their appreciation, your creations would like to sing you a little song… > “Nothing really matters…(big breath)…but MOI!!!”
Jack Layton on This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Jack gets Marg’d. And other choice moments. Lots of Canadian politicians have been great sports about the merciless satire this CBC fake-news show dishes out on their (usually) all-too-deserving heads,…
“If you see me in the street”
A spoken-word poem worth taking to heart about just how unpleasant it is to be a woman in public. (And yes, I can vouch for just about everything she says,…
If a bankster falls in the forest…
…it makes the odd news headlines: “Shark in a boat” seems so last month. Now it’s “shark in the forest.” A call to police reporting an unusual odor on Thursday…
Planned Parenthood meets Bollywood!
In celebration of the new law requiring all US health insurance providers to cover birth control and other preventive health measures for women with no “co-pays” (out of pocket expenses,…
Music for a Monday: A lament for Che
Yes, I know, this is very belated; I should have put this up yesterday: Steven Soderbergh’s two-volume movie of Che’s Cuban triumph and his Bolivian downfall is hugely ambitious, and…
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Courtesy of Roger Ebert, a gem from the past. The BBC’s original adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel. Enjoy!
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
A Canadian documentary that starts with the CIA’s failed, lame attempt to develop LSD as a truth serum/mind-control agent. Instead, it became the catalyst for thousands of old beatniks and…
Looking for something to do tonight?
Broadway: It’s not just for gays anymore! (And look! Doogie Howser can SING! And so can Stephen Colbert and Brooke Shields!)
Some beautiful bedtime reading for all you parents out there
And I think you’ll agree that they picked the perfect narrator: Well played, sir.