The Art Institute Project

Brooke got me an Art Institute of Chicago annual membership for Christmas, and I finally got there Thursday (it's only open late on Thursday). I'm going to shoot for a blog about a painting or two once a week. Art is something I haven't written about very much at all, so don't get your hopes … Continue reading The Art Institute Project →

My Three Favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman Roles

I'm certainly not an expert, nor was I his biggest fan or anything, but for me, Philip Seymour Hoffman was the sort of "character actor" who could really lift a movie from good to great by finding a understated way to embody a role that otherwise might have been smaller, and left the movie feeling … Continue reading My Three Favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman Roles →

The Last Glenn Gould Records – Beethoven, Scarlatti, CPE Bach, Gould, Scriabin, Haydn, JS Bach, Brahms, Strauss

These weren't the last recordings Gould planned; they weren't meant as some sort of departing "testament" to the world. Gould's death, though predictable in hindsight, wasn't something he had planned for or desired (at least not consciously). These last seven recordings just happen to be the final ones he made before dying. #56 - Beethoven Piano … Continue reading The Last Glenn Gould Records – Beethoven, Scarlatti, CPE Bach, Gould, Scriabin, Haydn, JS Bach, Brahms, Strauss →

Enough with this “Golden Age of Television” stuff already!

Big confession I'd like to make: I'm way, way over the upper middle class's current infatuation with television. This is probably more just curmudgeonliness, or an in-born contrarian impulse than anything else, but I'd still like to say a few things. For one, I'm tired of boring conversations about binge-watching. I don't think most people … Continue reading Enough with this “Golden Age of Television” stuff already! →

Three “Open-World” Video Games

I've just had two unexpected snow days, which has finally given me the time needed to finish the "main quest" of Skyrim. I thought I'd write a little bit about how video games (at least roleplaying game video games) have evolved since I was younger. The biggest thing that exists now (at least in video … Continue reading Three “Open-World” Video Games →

Drugs, Liberty and Justice

After yesterday's post I wanted to flesh out the consequences of my argument more specifically for the context in which it arose - an argument about drug legalization. I won't do much more work here to defend justice over libertarianism per se (we're arguing about that on the other thread). That's not because I think I've … Continue reading Drugs, Liberty and Justice →

Why Libertarianism is Dangerous

Over the past week or so, I've had a running good-natured argument on facebook about drug legalization - a friend has been arguing that (among other things) marijuana use shouldn't be restricted by the government, because it's an individual's right to use it if they want. I've been arguing that "individual rights" isn't the best … Continue reading Why Libertarianism is Dangerous →

Gould Records 50-55 – Bach, Hindemith, Sibelius

Gould's frequent protestations in interviews notwithstanding, he really was a Bach specialist, so far as I can tell. It's strange that when asked about his favorite composer, he usually answered Orlando Gibbon, of whose music he recorded something like 12-20 minutes. There are hours upon hours of Bach. And if you want to put in … Continue reading Gould Records 50-55 – Bach, Hindemith, Sibelius →

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

My pictorial depiction of the world's major religions, drawn for my students in World Religions: Religion And along with the sketch, four questions to frame our ridiculously brief examination of the world's major religions: 1. How does R characterize ideal existence? What’s so great about it? 2. How does R characterize mundane existence? What’s so … Continue reading A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words →

Finnegans Wake – Book IV

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (III.4) - next post ("Deeper into the Night")] Book IV - Finnegans Wake's final book - contains only one chapter. It stands for the last of the four stages in Vico's theory of history - the "ricorso." The chapter read like the finale to a symphony, and also like … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book IV →