The Hollywood Left is from Venus?

David Koepp, the screenwriter behind the current blockbuster movie War of the Worlds has said: “the Martians in our movie represent American military forces invading the Iraqis.” As InstaPundit observed, you just can’t make this stuff up. It’s hard to lampoon the Hollywood left any more, because they keep uttering inanities that venture beyond far,… Continue reading The Hollywood Left is from Venus?

Gayness is hard, lesbianism soft

Fascinating. This NYT article bears out a suspicion I’ve held for a long time about the plasticity of sexual orientation. The crude one-sentence summary is that, if you go by physiological arousal reactions, male bisexuality doesn’t exist, while female bisexuality is ubiquitous. I’ve spent most of my social time for the last thirty years around… Continue reading Gayness is hard, lesbianism soft

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Categorized as Sex

Punishment, Coercion, and Revenge

Because I’m both both a libertarian and famous for conducting a successful propaganda campaign, libertarian activists sometimes come to me for tactical advice. During a recent email exchange, one of these criticized me for wishing (as he thought) to “punish” the Islamist enemies of the U.S. and Western civilization. I explained that I have no… Continue reading Punishment, Coercion, and Revenge

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Categorized as Politics

Lies and Consequences

Eason Jordan has resigned as CNN’s chief news executive following rumors that he said at a conference in Davos that the U.S. military had deliberately targeted journalists for death. Jordan denied making this allegation, but two U.S. legislators who were present agree that he did, and the Davos organizers have denied repeated requests to release… Continue reading Lies and Consequences

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How the Left Betrayed Iraq

Every opponent of the war in Iraq must read this essay by an Iraqi, How The Left Betrayed My Country. Short, sweet, and devastating.

A Unified Theory of Male Slobbishness and Female Preening

It’s all about asymmetrical investment, boys and girls…. One of the hot topics in the blogosphere recently has been the difference between male and female standards of attractiveness, and what this has to do with feminism and “the beauty myth”. Ann Althouse has been having fun at the expense of Laura Kipnis’s column bemoaning the… Continue reading A Unified Theory of Male Slobbishness and Female Preening

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Categorized as Sex

Appreciating Joe Satriani

I like to listen to instrumental electric guitar, and have a very large collection of the genre from the pioneering Jeff Beck albums of the 1970s forward, and including most of the output of Jeff Beck, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Gary Hoey, Marc Bonilla, and half a dozen other guitar virtuosi. The seldom-disputed… Continue reading Appreciating Joe Satriani

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Categorized as Culture

Susan Sontag is Dead

Imagine a writer/playwright/intellectual whose most famous single remark was “the black race is the cancer of human history”. Who said “The Pinochet revolution is astonishingly free of repression and bureaucratization.” Who praised the attack on Pearl Harber as a brave deed. Do you suppose such a person would collect laudatory tributes and glowing obituaries on… Continue reading Susan Sontag is Dead

The Journalist as Herd Creature

In September 2004, well before the elections, I wrote an essay on the collapse of mainstream media influence. I predicted that the Rathergate scandal and the Swift Boat Vets would lock up the election for George W. Bush, despite the MSM’s most determined efforts to get Kerry into the White House. I related this to… Continue reading The Journalist as Herd Creature

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Hacking My Way To Stardom

This is storyboard art for a movie called Nightmask, with the interesting property that I will probably get a speaking part in it if it’s actually produced. “Whoa!” you may well ask. “How does a middle-aged geek with no showbiz history beyond a few singer/songwriter coffeehouse gigs in his college days land a part in,… Continue reading Hacking My Way To Stardom

The Revenge of the Nerds is Living Well

Grant McCracken has argued in his book Plenitude that one of the defining characteristics of the last fifty years is an explosion of subcultural variety — people creating new lifestyles and new identities around occupations, sexual tastes, hobbies, genres of art and music, religions, and just about any other investment of time human beings have… Continue reading The Revenge of the Nerds is Living Well

Upgrading to WordPress

The WordPress update is now complete. Unfortunately, I deleted some recent comments while clearing out comment spam. Comment spam is now blocked using a simple and clever method which I will not disclose in public.

The Racist of Earthsea

In Slate magazine, SF author Ursula LeGuin complains that the producers of the new Earthsea miniseries have butchered her work. One form of butchery that she zeroes in on is by casting characters who she intended to be red, brown, or black as white people. I have mixed feelings. LeGuin has every right to be… Continue reading The Racist of Earthsea

Free Falling

My friend Howard Tayler, the cartoonist behind Schlock Mercenary, invited me to post this.

Condoleeza Rice in 2008!

So Condi Rice is going to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State. I have to think this means she’s being groomed for the Republican ticket in 2008. Well, I hope so anyway. I know very little about her, but I’ve discovered that I really want to have a ringside seat on the farcical hijinks… Continue reading Condoleeza Rice in 2008!

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Hurray for Dollywood

Hot damn! I wonder if this here post by Iowahawk means I’m gonna git me someplace near here in Pensylvay-ni-ay that can serve up a decent mess of Texas barbeque? Put me down as a proud purple-stater. I like guns, but I hate country music. I love burnt-ends sandwiches, but I despise chewing tobacco. I… Continue reading Hurray for Dollywood

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