Culture 101

The Great Pronzini

April 13, 2013

Today marks Bill Pronzini’s 70th birthday, and I want to join the discussion on the blogosphere with my own tribute to this admirable author of mystery, suspense, Western, and critical works. Pronzini is a well-known and respected author, but he’s something of a rarity on the modern mystery scene: he knows a lot about the genre’s history. His collection of books and pulp magazines is massive, and he has written and contributed to several reference volumes, including three books on “alternative classics” (i.e. books so bad that they…

Motown in the Morgue

March 19, 2013

By Bruce Edward Walker

My first job after graduating from college was in Detroit. Prior to graduation, my high-school and college classmates and I would discuss our respective future plans — to a person we all declared we’d never take a job in Detroit. Once the mortar boards and graduation gowns were packed away, however, and wedding bells and wet nappies weighed-in on economic reality,At first, I lived in Dearborn, but eventually find an affordable house to rent in the Warrandale section on Detroit’s west side. In 1985, I…

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 4

March 7, 2013

By Larry Kaufmann

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 4

Technology and the Conflict of Visions Consider the populations of America’s two high-tech meccas: Silicon Valley/San Francisco, and Seattle. Both are filled with ambitious, hard-working and entrepreneurial people. Normally you might expect folks like this to skew to the right politically, but of course that is not true in either city. San Francisco and Seattle are two of America’s most progressive metropolitan areas, and this is not only because of their citizens’ libertarian-leaning positions on social issues. Both places are also intensely and flamboyantly “green,”…

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 3

March 6, 2013

By Larry Kaufmann

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 3

Technological and Cultural Change This leads me to another point, made in another newsletter from a National Review writer. In his February 27th “Goldberg File,” Jonah Goldberg referenced an exchange of letters between Whittaker Chambers and William F. Buckley, and highlighted the following statements from Chambers: …history tells me that the rock-core of the Conservative Position, or any fragment of it, can be held realistically only if conservatism will accommodate itself to the needs and hopes of the masses — needs and hopes, which, like…

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 2

March 5, 2013

By Larry Kaufmann

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 2

Virtual Reality vs. The Oregon Trail So where did this entitlement mentality come from? Obviously, this is a huge question with no easy answers. Many factors have likely contributed, but I doubt whether the Five Minute Transformational Montage is one of them. Even if The Karate Kid was more representative, it’s hard to credit every Hollywood ugly duckling-to-swan story with America’s growing sense of entitlement simply because this phenomenon isn’t pervasive enough to have such outsized influence. I also believe this view gives too much…

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 1

March 4, 2013

By Larry Kaufmann

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 1

This is the first of four, inter-related posts examining the relationship between culture, technology, and political ‘visions.’ f you subscribe to any National Review-affiliated newsletters, you may have noticed that they have been making interesting observations on America’s culture and the implications for our politics. For example, in the February 6th version of his “Morning Jolt,” Jim Geraghty discussed cultural fragmentation and the challenges it creates for political satire. S.T. Karnick, the editor of this website, wrote to Geraghty in response, and Geraghty reprinted this…

Phil Mickelson Earned His Money and Should Retract His Apology About Taxes

January 23, 2013

By Jim Lakely

Phil Mickelson Earned His Money and Should Retract His Apology About Taxes

Phil Mickelson, the affable “aw shucks” fan-favorite on the PGA Tour and one of the game’s greatest golfers, really stepped in it this week. He ticked off liberals by hitting it Dead Solid Perfect in a few off-hand comments about his dissatisfaction with current income tax policy. Poor Phil. He was too naïve to know that such talk is to be left only to the real pros — the tax-hiking, redistributive masters of our modern economy. He didn’t realize that his job in today’s American Culture is…

10cc’s in a Box: Tenology

January 10, 2013

By Bruce Edward Walker

Seeing the band performing songs from their first two albums (10cc and Sheet Music, respectively) hardly would seem all that impressive were it not for the impeccably crafted songs themselves that lovingly honor doo-wop, doomed lover, and jailhouse rock’n’roll traditions. Sly wordplay abounds in nearly all the songs captured in this collection, as does the stellar musicianship for which the band seldom receives enough recognition.

Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’—A Caustic, Comic Look at America’s Changing Morality

December 31, 2012

By S. T. Karnick

Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’—A Caustic, Comic Look at America’s Changing Morality

My recommendation for New Year's Eve viewing, if you're inclined to watch a movie: 'The Apartment,' directed by Billy Wilder. Turner Classic Movies is showing it tonight beginning at 10 p.m. EST. It's one of Billy Wilder's best films, and it won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star as a mismatched couple in New York City in 1960, a time when the nation's values were changing rapidly. Wilder catches the enormity of the shift in moral…

Forgotten Lore — ‘Anthem’

October 13, 2012

By Mike Gray

" 'Anthem' is essentially the future that awaits the world of 'Atlas Shrugged' if its protagonists fail in their struggle ..."

NYC Ban on Soft Drinks Is Now Official

September 14, 2012

By Mike Gray

"We're not taking away anybody's right to do things."

For Parents to Teach Their Children That God Created the Earth Is Tantamount to Child Abuse

September 1, 2012

By Mike Gray

For Parents to Teach Their Children That God Created the Earth Is Tantamount to Child Abuse

“You see, in evolution you have to look at that hummingbird feeding at your feeder, and assume that all of its parts have somehow come together by random, purposeless change combined with natural selection.”

“Capital Day”

August 27, 2012

By Mike Gray

"Any good economist will tell you that as complementary factors of production, labor and capital are not only indispensable but hugely dependent upon each other as well."

“Where White Man Went Wrong”

August 20, 2012

By Mike Gray

"...the chief leaned back and smiled."

“Theory Kings”: How Burke and Hegel Were on the Same Page at Least Once

July 14, 2012

By Mike Gray

“Theory Kings”: How Burke and Hegel Were on the Same Page at Least Once

"The group-think of credentialed experts in large establishments tends to stifle creative and independent thinking. Those who question the experts are shamed into silence. If you don't think so, try contradicting an expert some time."

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Culture 101

The Great Pronzini

Motown in the Morgue

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 4

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 3

Culture, Technology and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 2

Culture, Technology, and the Unconstrained Vision: Part 1

Phil Mickelson Earned His Money and Should Retract His Apology About Taxes

10cc’s in a Box: Tenology

Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’—A Caustic, Comic Look at America’s Changing Morality

Forgotten Lore — ‘Anthem’

NYC Ban on Soft Drinks Is Now Official

For Parents to Teach Their Children That God Created the Earth Is Tantamount to Child Abuse

“Capital Day”

“Where White Man Went Wrong”

“Theory Kings”: How Burke and Hegel Were on the Same Page at Least Once

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