Young Pioneers

Richard Dawkins has hit upon a novel idea: why should only religious children be miserable during the summer months?

Eric Blair-o-gram

A lesser-known poem by George Orwell(!), written in 1943. It may be one of my favorite things by him.

Easing the long slide down with fryer grease

I’ve long held a theory that once a country becomes sufficiently irrelevant, it becomes possible in this country to go to a resteraunt serving its national cuisine. (A corollary to this is that if NPR runs a story about a famine somewhere, you can rest assured that the hipster-friendly quarter of the nearest major city serves food from that place.)

Now that we’ve begun the long road to the bottom of the heap in earnest, it’s happening to us. What’s the national cuisine of a nation that invariably chooses the cheapest, most fattening option? Why, anything that’s served in a mediocre mid-priced eatery. Our children will live to see the day when the only manifestation abroad of the once-insuperable might of the United States will be countless TGIFs, Chilis, and, God save us, Baker’s Squares.

Et tu, Tintin?

Link.

edit -nb

Those Germans!

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,601122,00.html

Delenda est Germania, I’ve been saying it for years. Just in case.

Working Blue

Social Justice activists in Italy are claiming that showing Brokeback Mountain with what is apparently a key scene of homosexual intercourse redacted would be akin to showing a picture of the Mona Lisa “without the head”. That’s possibly truer than they realize.

Two Minutes Hate

These are your new directives from higher authorities:

LOLCatting is grounds for immediate termination.

Nobody who likes John Ringo novels is a good person, not really.

Regardless of your ideological background, American Carol was a bad movie.

We bet you feel pretty foolish for liking Heroes now, don’t you? You always should have.

That is all, for now.

For their own good

I propose the summary execution of anyone who “blogs” about American politics during the next sixty days, regardless of their inclinations or beliefs.

The first sip of a bitter cup

Something very simple to ponder: we are on the way out. Every decade of this century will summon forth new humiliations for western democracy as its power and influence wanes irreversibly throughout the world. Our children will live to see a world where we are a second-rate power.

Apropos of nothing

It is mind-boggling to me—and, judging by their output, many film producers—how nitpicky science-fiction and fantasy fans will be about films set in existing universes whilst simultaneously liking any piece of crap without antecedents that throws them even the smallest of bones.