Category Archives: art and humor

Boiled Frogs May Die, but the Metaphor Won’t

A week ago James Fallows declared victory over the boiled frogs metaphor, when the hard-htting Paul Krugman brought up the old saw about frogs who won't jump out of a pot brought slowly to a boil. but didn't fall for it. But tonight on his web-only sketchbook Tom Toles, who can draw as well asContinue reading “Boiled Frogs May Die, but the Metaphor Won’t”

Otto Heino, World’s Oldest and Richest Potter, Dies at 94

All the big papers lead this evening with news of the death of the great Walter Cronkite, whom I often saw but never met…well, not as famous, but just as wonderful a man was Otto Heino, one of the many great potters who have come out of Ojai, who died today. Otto was ninety-four, butContinue reading “Otto Heino, World’s Oldest and Richest Potter, Dies at 94”

Karl Malden: The Greatest Mitch Ever Rests in Peace

News just in that Karl Malden, who is apparently remembered by most people for some dumb TV show and advertisement, has died. For yours truly he will always be Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire, perhaps the best work of fiction ever produced by an American. He won an Academy Award for the movie role,Continue reading “Karl Malden: The Greatest Mitch Ever Rests in Peace”

Republican Nonsense in Climate Protection Debate

The US Global Change Research Program, which has been studying climate change since the early 1990's, issued an unusually blunt, cogent report this week, with numerous alarming points, such as: 1. Global warming is unequivocal and primarily human-induced. 2. Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow.3. Widespread climate-related impactsContinue reading “Republican Nonsense in Climate Protection Debate”

How to Communicate with Anyone

Yours truly has become convinced that John Cheever, the short story writer often called "the American Chekhov," is vastly underappreciated as a wit, and even (much like Chekhov himself) as a thinker: Here's an example of his thinking…more to follow soon from Blake Bailey's spectacular biography: You can't expect to communicate with anyone if you'reContinue reading “How to Communicate with Anyone”

Threat Against Americans Issued by Major Power

BURBANK, CA—Telling the movie-going public that it had "better start falling in line," executives at Touchstone Pictures announced Monday that if they do not immediately see a significant increase in box-office receipts they will not hesitate to produce a sequel to the 2000 film Coyote Ugly. The original movie—which follows a small-town girl who supportsContinue reading “Threat Against Americans Issued by Major Power”

Ralph Gets the Old “Fuck Ye” from Elizabeth Yet Again

Life in NYC, from the great Overheard in New York: Hispanic guy, noting hot chick passerby: Hey, baby.Hot chick: (rolls eyes)Hispanic guy: (takes off shirt and puts it on the ground for her to walk over)Hot chick, stopping: I'll give you some credit for that one…but fuck off. (continues walking)

The Options Society vs. The Decisions Society, or Endless Search for the Right College

Yet another hilariously true essay/piece by the great Joel Achenbach, perfect for parents with kids about to enter college, called Endless Search for the Right College.

We don't take family vacations anymore, we just make college tours.
Over the past couple of years, my wife and three daughters and I have
mined a thick seam of colleges in the bedrock of the Eastern seaboard,
including William & Mary, Penn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, U-Mass,
Amherst, U-Vermont, Skidmore, Bard, Cornell, Hamilton, McGill,
Dartmouth, Bates, Bowdoin and SUNY Geneseo. We've also been interested
in Wesleyan, Lafayette, Bucknell, Penn State, Colgate and Hartwick.
Also Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wisconsin. And Colorado, UCSD, UC Santa
Barbara, Reed and Whitman.

And the University of Guam.

And the College of Antarctica.

And Venus A&M (scorching, but a great environmental science program!).

Why, you may ask, did we narrow our list to just 750 colleges and
limit our search to the inner solar system? Because we're Americans,
and more than anything else, Americans like to have a lot of options.

Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution

A memorable totem pole from the great Steve Brodner: Based on a Frontline documentary called Poisoned Waters. At a panel in the Festival of Books in Los Angeles over the weekend, Sharon Waxman, a NYTimes reporter now with The Wrap, made the interesting point that a lot of the best investigative reporting these days isContinue reading “Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution”