Favre on 2010: “I’ll let you know in October”
Okay, that’s not what he actually said. Still, would you bet against it?
Read moreThe Best CDs of 2009: the Album of the Year, and the Band of the Decade
Constitution 2.0: Money Talks and Bullshit Walks
Bad attitude and strange bedfellows at the dawn of the Reich, and What Would Hunter Do, anyway? Ever since five members of the Supreme Court declared the Constitution unconstitutional yesterday morning I’ve been in something of a snit. Along the way, I’ve said a variety of things that struck me as insightful, pithy, even witty. Others, however – bitter, lonely
Read moreThe Best CDs of 2009, pt. 3: the Super-Platinum LPs
In Part 1 we noted that 2009 had produced some really good music. In Part 2 we explained that the past year had given us some really great music. Today, though, we take an unprecedented step, because a few of the platinum-level releases from 2k9 were simply a cut above the rest, necessitating the creation of a Super-Platinum LP award.
Read moreThe Best CDs of 2009, pt. 2: the Platinum LPs
In Part 1 we had a look at some very good 2009 releases, and in other years some of those CDs might have made a run at a Platinum LP. As I said, though, this was maybe the best year for new music since Jimmy Carter was president. So please, give these recipients of the S&R/Lullaby Pit Platinum LP a
Read moreHigh Country Wireless (Imbolc, 2000)
– for Angela 1. The spirit country is too vast to string with wire, to arc into a blade-sharp wind and stand tar-soaked poles across the bottomless miles.
Read moreS&R suspends fund drive; please support Haitian relief
We’re grateful for those who have contributed to our find drive, but after some discussion we’ve all agreed that it’s far more important that our readers devote their energies to helping the victims of the recent Haitian earthquake. We’ll resume the fund drive at some point in the future. Thank you, and please, give generously.
Read moreSports Weekend Roundup: Good Times, Bad Times
It was about as good a football weekend as it’s possible to have when none of your teams are left. Hate Kurt Warner: check Hate the Cowboys: check Hate Phil Rivers: check My hate is strong. BTW, let’s review what I said after last week’s games:
Read moreCovenant
Our legions are marching on the City of Rain, our bleeding feet, bone against concrete, tearing ruts in the King’s Highway. We remember the lash and the hole.
Read more9/11 happened on Obama’s watch! GOP noise machine already hard at work on the history books of the future
Something wicked this way comes. Item: Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino says “we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” Item: GOP apologist Mary Matalin says President Bush “inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history.” Item: Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani says “We had
Read moreClosing credit wisdom from a dumb sitcom
If you’ve ever watched a Chuck Lorre produced show (Grace Under Fire, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory) you may have noted the text cards at the end of the credits sequence. They flash by so quickly it’s impossible to read them, but fortunately they’re all archived online. At the conclusion of this evening’s
Read morePredicting the 21st Century: Nostraslammy’s ten-year review
Ten years ago, at the turn of the millennium, Nostraslammy took a stab at predicting the 21st Century, with a promise to check back every ten years to see how the prognostications were turning out. Odds are good I won’t be able to do a review every ten years until 2100, but I figure I’m probably good through 2030, at
Read moreDemocracy & Elitism 4: equality, opportunity and leveling up the playing field
Pulitzer- and Emmy-winner William Henry‘s famous polemic, In Defense of Elitism (1994), argues that societies can be ranked along a spectrum with “egalitarianism” on one end and “elitism” on the other. He concludes that America, to its detriment, has slid too far in the direction of egalitarianism, and in the process that it has abandoned the elitist impulse that made
Read moreHappy 2010 to our Facebook and Twitter fans; you can follow, too
Scholars & Rogues wishes a very special Happy 2010 to our fans – all 164 of them. Hey, it’s about quality, not quantity, right? We know there are more than 164 really smart people on Facebook, though, so if you aren’t already following us you can do so here or by clicking on the Facebook icon you see in the
Read moreTonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1499: Ireland outlaws blasphemy
On January 1 most of the world rolled forward into a new decade. The Catholic Republic of Ireland, meanwhile, rolled backward into a former century. Lawmakers in staunchly Catholic Ireland passed the law in July, but it came into force January 1. A person breaks the law by saying or publishing anything “grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters
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