A SHORT LIST OF WORDS which, through overuse, have been consigned to the meaning-deficient self-parody heap: Blatant Flagrant Offen(sive/ded) Rabid Sexist Racist Controversy Security Freedom Democracy Republican Terrorism Diva (There are others, but these are what I found in this…
Tag: Media
Fish talking about water.
How To Make Your Blog Sound Important
1. BEGIN EVERY PARAGRAPH WITH “I.” 2. Repost the same story as other blogs within your target demographic. 3. When commenting in other blogs, slip in the phrase “as I wrote” and flash your URL. 4. Call everyone by their…
5 Thoughts: Alternative Pleasantries
1. REGRET IS LIKE THE PROVERBIAL potato chip, which is why I am reluctant to taste even one. Living a reasonably full life keeps any real regret firmly in its place; i.e., away. Yet while I regret nothing, there are…
David Feldman, Post-Modern Comic Genius
PAY ATTENTION, CLASS: TODAY WE learn from David Feldman, American, how to correctly structure a portable visual joke (in this case, a bumpersticker) for maximum satiric and comic effect. First point: Understand the medium. The English-speaking American eye travels a…
Singularity, The; Downside, Cultural
I DON’T LIKE THAT specific nouns are being co-opted for brand naming. Twenty years from now, some teenager watching Star Trek: The Next Generation will say, “Hyuk! Data doesn’t look like a smartphone!”
Apropos Punditry
DOESN’T ALL THAT JERKING MAKE the knees hurt?
Something With Which All Pundits Seem To Agree, Post- “Arizona Tragedy”
“WE ALL NEED LESS VITRIOL from those other guys.”
Sorting Debbie
IN THE WAKE OF SINGER and prolific synagogue-music innovator Debbie Friedman, I find myself mourning her death but ambivalent about her legacy. The mourning: If you worship at most “progressive” (i.e., non-Orthodox) North American synagogues, you’re familiar with her work…
David Mamet’s Christmas Wishes
From our Wish-We’d-Found-This-Two-Weeks-Ago department: Over on Tablet, playwright David Mamet literally pens a Christmas card to the Jews from the Chinese “who do not completely understand your dietary customs.” To say more would sound horribly post-facto; let’s say instead we’re…
Mindfulness Question
EXACTLY WHAT IN YOUR LIFE requires an opinion? And can kneejerk acceptance be as valid a personal evolutionary strategy as kneejerk fulmination? Contemplating these questions may not make you wiser, but may make you happier. (But there’s no real guarantee…
Listen Up
TODAY IS THE NATIONAL DAY of Listening, which, if you hadn’t heard — and I hadn’t until about five minutes ago, which saddens me because it’s such a neat idea and it’s in its third year — is dedicated to…
Election Day Haiku
God who hears all, please — Don’t let the idiots win. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.