If subtlety is central to good art, then the new Miramax presentation of Brideshead Revisited fails on every account. Not only does this film fall short of a decent adaptation, but it was painful to watch. Evelyn Waugh’s novel by the same name ranks as one of the greats of the 20th century. In it, Waugh portrays the terribly flawed Marchmain … [Read More]

The concept of “culture” permeates many aspects of our lives.  A ‘culture’ search for recent articles on Google News returned no less than 70,000 hits.  One hears of high-brow culture (or used to), low-brow culture, American culture, black culture, white culture, gay culture, cultural homogeneity, cultural wars, and, more recently because of immigration, cultural assimilation. Historian Arthur Schlesinger wrote that without … [Read More]

Even the editors of Time magazine can occasionally display some some wisdom, and to begin the new year, they got two things right: first, they canned Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer; second, they named President Vladimir Putin "Person of the Year." Putin may not be very well understood in the America, but he’s certainly deserving of the prize. The recent Russian … [Read More]

  Even the editors of Time magazine can occasionally display some some wisdom, and to begin the new year, they got two things right: first, they canned Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer; second, they named President Vladimir Putin “Person of the Year.” Putin may not be very well understood in the America, but he’s certainly deserving of the prize. The recent … [Read More]

Quodsi tales dei sunt ut rebus humanis intersint, Natio quoque dea putanda est…, quae quia partus matronarum tueatur a nascentibus Natio nominata est.” - Cicero, De Natura Deorum, III.XVIII.   In July of 2007, Rep. Ron Paul wrote:   We must remain focused on what ideology underlies the approach being taken by those who see themselves as our ruling-class, and not … [Read More]

On almost any political topic we can expect these days to find talk of ‘rights’. We hear of human rights, women’s rights, fathers’ rights, civil rights, gay rights, polygamy rights, immigrants’ rights, religious rights, animal rights, the right to choose, the right to life, etc. And if a particular right does not now exist, be patient; it is probably only a … [Read More]

The Battle of Thermopylae, the subject of Zack Snyder’s animated 300, was memorialized by the Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories.  Herodotus’ purpose in writing about these events was to preserve the kleos (fame) of heroes.  What a testament to his efforts it is that over 2,000 years later Mr. Snyder portrays these heroes on the big screen. The Battle of … [Read More]