nice

True. But the desire to create a pointed morality tale out of a contemporary issue is responsible for more bad art than marijuana. Was she trying to say that the play needed more complexity?

So, the article you linked contains no such admission. According to it, Warmbier said in an obviously pre-scripted and coerced statement that he was put up to the theft by his church, a secret society at his college, and the CIA, none of which--in the article--is coorborated. North Korea has a history of fabrications…

What is the evidence that he stole that poster? Is there anything more that North Korea’s word, his forced confession, and that grainy video? I think it’s jumping the gun to talk about why he did something, his privilege, whatever, when I don’t think it’s certain at all that he did a damn thing.

Interesting. Lydia is a great example of edgy punk-rock feminism, which is actually very different than the purity feminism of today. I’m curious how deep this documentary will go. She’s strong. She isn’t correct.

Is it possible people really didn’t understand what she meant by “murder my vagina.” While I had never heard that before, it’s meaning was always clear to me.

We’re seeing a push towards what might be called contextual/historical ethics, as opposed to the more intuitive ahistorical, individual ethics that have largely informed our understanding of what is right and wrong up to this point. From an individualistic, ahistorical perspective, I think you can argue that no harm…

While you’re not completely wrong about the teenage brain, what she did was far outside the norm, even given that.

I guess we’ll find out if what she did was a crime. I had read her texts encouraging him to commit suicide, but this is the first time I have heard that she was actually in communication with him during…

Yep, this has been quite a comeuppance for Mr. Seinfeld. I fear he may never recover.

I thought he handled that about as graciously as one can, put on the spot like that. If some stranger came up and tried to force a hug on me, I would be dropping f bombs on him.

Sidenote, Kesha interrupted an interview with Slash once to lick his face, which he was a good sport about but clearly not into. He told the…

And just like that, you destroyed the premise of essay or review or whatever it is.

Since Young Sheldon is apparently based on my childhood, I’m going to have to watch it. They need to make Sheldon the solution and not the punchline.

Mostly agree. Cultural appropriation is in many ways the life blood of the arts, and always has been. And writers imagine themselves as people other than themselves as a living, that’s the nature of what they do, thank god, and their ability to do it is conscribed only by their imagination and empathy.

Interesting take. I didn’t like the film because I thought it was too tidy, which is exactly the opposite of what Kermode seems to be saying. After it showed exactly what happened to Laura Palmer, I felt let down. I had thought it it was all so much more than that.

Yep, the cynical takeaway is a reductive, passionate message trumps (get it?) all other concerns, such as the reasonableness of that message or the baggage of the person delivering it. I mean, I wish I were surprised, and the truth is, okay, I was surprised at the degree to which people were able to ignore Trump’s…

If she were a man, she would have won.

Du murdered her, despite the physical altercation in which, after the initial confrontation, Harris punched Du several times, knocking her to the ground, something not mentioned in this article. But these types of omissions are a consistent problem, because they sustain this sense that a victim must be a perfect angel…

I haven’t read the article, so I didn’t know they club had female members. That does change things.

The title was a problem, and he was right to change it. The story was about this particular group at Northeastern University, and although larger implications were drawn, the title and lede need to represent the verifiable information. That said, as a former journalist, if there are no girls in this group, then that’s…

I’m corrected. Federer has dominated the men’s side. I am perhaps swayed by the seeming fragility of Federer’s game, precise and beautiful, no doubt, and I am a fan. But he always has me on the edge of my seat, even when he’s winning by an overwhelming margin. But yeah, he’s great.