Essays
1093 results
Page 99
An ad man makes his case
Confessions of an advertising man, or:
Why my mother took the subway to Macy's
Many people, filled with smug self-satisfaction, claim to be above it all. They tell us that they're just not influenced by ads or commercials. This is self-delusion.
Essays
3 minute read
Life imitates Hollywood
Stranger than fiction
A preposterous incident in the 1939 Howard Hawks film Only Angels Have Wings actually occurred this month. What, if any, are the implications for America’s incoming administration?
Essays
3 minute read
Satirizing a black president
Obama and Bush walk into a bar...
With Obama’s election, satirists must grapple with the unique problem of walking the tightrope between humor and racism. We all need some practice— not in recognizing satire, but in sorting it out from racism in satire’s clothing.
Essays
2 minute read
Obama: The guilt-by-association ploy
On 'pal-ing around' with William Ayers
Campaign attempts to link Obama to William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Zbigniew Brzezinski beg a larger question: So what? Why should we worry if a candidate "pals around with" former terrorists or critics of Israel?
Essays
2 minute read
Baseball, love and rock "n roll
The very last baseball metaphor, or:
Love, life and the Phillies' World Series victory
Sometimes the concert is perfect and there are seven encores. But how many times did you send your soul's Mitch Williams out there and watch your own hopes, like a baseball, sail over the back wall into hellish oblivion and black nights?
Essays
2 minute read
Bush: The final days
The case for impeachment (even now)
Most Americans have forgotten George W. Bush as his administration winds down. Yet the pace of its destructiveness has accelerated as January 20th approaches. The case for impeachment still needs to be made, if only for America’s self-protection between now and the inauguration.
Essays
7 minute read
Studs Terkel: The art of winging it
Studs Terkel:
The virtues of a life played by ear
The empathic mensch interviewer Studs Terkel, who died on October 31, reached voraciously for life’s opportunities and rarely paused for breath. You don’t get to choose your parents, but I and thousand of others were blessed by Terkel’s tutelage. He taught me how to look and ask questions.
Essays
4 minute read
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An "unresponsive' critic's response
Some of us dance,
and some are critics
Choreographer Myra Bazell argues that her peer dancers make better critics than outsiders who “shark around desperately.” As one such shark, allow me to bite back.
Essays
3 minute read
Pre-fab dwellings at MOMA in New York
Pre-fab housing:
Confessions of a convert
Where I grew up, factory-made homes meant trailer trash or cookie-cutter suburban sprawl. But the creative pre-fab homes on display at MOMA provide us with intelligent solutions to many pressing environmental and economic issues.
“Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.” Through October 20, 2008 (Part I) and October 26, 2008 (Part II), at Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 St., New York. (212) 708-9400 or www.moma.org.
“Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.” Through October 20, 2008 (Part I) and October 26, 2008 (Part II), at Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 St., New York. (212) 708-9400 or www.moma.org.
Essays
4 minute read
The vice presidential debate (2nd review)
Sarah Palin's body mike
(and two other reasons not to underestimate her)
Sarah Palin’s debate strategy and her execution of it were quite sophisticated and carefully orchestrated. That “Can I call you Joe?” greeting, for example, was a mater stroke of manipulation.
Essays
2 minute read