From Tom Toles, in today's Washington Post: If only the GOP was even looking for a solution. Jeez. I wish.
Category Archives: art and humor
New Yorker editor: Hostility is the soul of wit
Bob Mankoff, who has been editing New Yorker 'toons since God knows when, while publishing his own there, in a recent essay with 'toons explored the connection between malice and wit. Spectacularly. Here's the opener, slightly pruned: Shakespeare was wrong when he wrote that “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Perhaps “hostility” is a betterContinue reading “New Yorker editor: Hostility is the soul of wit”
For Mother’s Day, a spiked New Yorker cover
From a fun new site called Blown Covers, a New Yorker cover that could have been:
Eulogy for a watershed: Tam Valley in Marin County
My good friend David Healy sends along a touching/troubling essay about the development of his Marin County town, Tam Valley, in the days of his and my youth, approximately fifty years ago. When I was a kid in the valley, we didn't need "facilities." We had the hills to hike in and the fields to playContinue reading “Eulogy for a watershed: Tam Valley in Marin County”
Rilke: gathering the sweetnessnesses of plant love
While walking the Appalachian Trail with a friend a couple of weeks ago, all through Georgia and into far western North Carolina I found myself in the company of wild violets. Brought to mind this quote from the fourth of Rilke's wide-ranging and ever-fascinating Letters to a Young Poet: …all beauty in plants and animalsContinue reading “Rilke: gathering the sweetnessnesses of plant love”
The feminism of The Hunger Games: Katha Pollitt
It's cultural news when an esteemed writer/critic/poet goes head over hells for the latest in pop culture. Expresses his or her love for a work's artistry, even if a million other people love it too, even if it's making a gazillion dollars. To a believer in democracy, this ardency speaks for itself. Philosophers such as PlatoContinue reading “The feminism of The Hunger Games: Katha Pollitt”
Elizabeth Taylor: The accidental feminist
A new book titled The Accidental Feminist: How Elizabeth Taylor Raised Our Consciousness and We were Too Distracted by her Beauty to Notice argues that the movie star's explorations of gender in (National Velvet) desire (in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and rage (in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) changed our understanding of women andContinue reading “Elizabeth Taylor: The accidental feminist”
The sound of climate change: Tom Toles
From the Washington Post's Tom Toles, of course:
Editorial cartoons: The candy of political opinion-making
Joel Pett, with his squiggly lines and understated style, may be the most charming of editorial chartoonists today (although not the best self-promoter, as it's often difficult to figure out where to go to see his work). While I'm off for a week with a friend on the Appalachian Trail, I thought might be niceContinue reading “Editorial cartoons: The candy of political opinion-making”
The fun of ignoring climate change: Ted Rall
Ted Rall said he enjoyed drawing this 'toon. I think he deserves credit for putting together two impressive stats (even if I can't find the number for those Americans who don't think climate change is a problem, one-third of voters is in the ballpark).
Kit Stolz 