Listening to the cultural conversation on Gaza over the past year has been deeply disturbing, and not just for the obvious reasons. Instead of providing serious context or analysis, the chatter has focused mostly on parsing the ongoing genocide through an individual rather than systemic lens. This failing extends to those who should know better,…Read more On Michael Moore, Gaza and Political Personalities
Essays
“Conan O’Brien” Truly “Must Go” or A Once Great Comedian Finally Gets Old
When I was growing up in the 90s and 00s, the late-night comedy landscape was bleak to say the least. Old, creepy and painfully unfunny figures like David Letterman and Jay Leno reigned supreme. Conan O'Brien was a breath of fresh air when he unexpectedly replaced Letterman in 1993. His show's patented brand of surreal,…Read more “Conan O’Brien” Truly “Must Go” or A Once Great Comedian Finally Gets Old
“It’s What it Is”: On The Irishman’s Evolutionary Portrait of Ordinary Evil
When it comes to Martin Scorsese’s epic biographical crime drama The Irishman, it is safe to say that peoples’ mileage may vary. While full of craft, the movie’s 3-hour portrayal of the life of WWII veteran and mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his friendships with crime boss Russel Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and union…Read more “It’s What it Is”: On The Irishman’s Evolutionary Portrait of Ordinary Evil
“That Was the Turning Point”: On Spaceman or How Brandon Flowers’ Past Changed the Killers’ Future
If there is one thing that nobody would ever call me it's topical. Grandiloquent? Sure. Pessimistic? Ad nauseum! Tedious? Quite possibly. But certainly not topical. You probably could tell as much from the title of this essay. The first clue is that I am talking about The Killers and specifically the band's frontman Brandon Flowers.…Read more “That Was the Turning Point”: On Spaceman or How Brandon Flowers’ Past Changed the Killers’ Future
“A Really Good Investment for the United States”: On Ukraine, War Profiteering and Historical Revisionism
On Dec. 21, Hilary Clinton appeared on Anderson Cooper to fawn over Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to the U.S. Just the night before, the Ukrainian President had given an impassioned plea to the U.S. Congress for humanitarian and military support in their fight against Russia. Beaming psychotically, Clinton proclaimed the Ukrainian war a “really good investment…Read more “A Really Good Investment for the United States”: On Ukraine, War Profiteering and Historical Revisionism
Saturn Devouring His Son: On Francisco Goya and Today’s Generational Conflict
Few images evoke the acrimonious relationship between America's younger generations and the old fogies that govern us more than Francisco Goya's early-1800s painting: Saturn Devouring His Son. In this Romantic-era masterwork, the gigantic Titan feasts on one of his children with startling savagery. According to the myth, Saturn decided to chow down due to his…Read more Saturn Devouring His Son: On Francisco Goya and Today’s Generational Conflict
On Ben Rhodes and the Dangerous Fecklessness of Modern Democrats
"During my decade as a speechwriter for Barack Obama, he used to say that our entire job was to tell a really good story about America." - Ben Rhodes, Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting for Barack Obama What is America and who gets to define it? Ben Rhodes' recent piece…Read more On Ben Rhodes and the Dangerous Fecklessness of Modern Democrats
Burnham’s Long Defeat: On “All Eyes on Me,” Tolkien and the Prospect of Eucastrophe
"Together through the ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.”- Lady Galadriel to Frodo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Late in Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, Lady Galadriel speaks to the novel’s protagonist, Frodo Baggins, about how she has fought the “long defeat” for literal…Read more Burnham’s Long Defeat: On “All Eyes on Me,” Tolkien and the Prospect of Eucastrophe
On Freaky and the Horrifying Connection Between Meat and Mind
Freaky, the enormously entertaining 2020 body-switch horror-comedy, is a movie that straddles several different genres. Yet more than anything it’s a coming-of-age story. While hardly a novel subject, the film also stages a discourse on bodies, on human meat, which allows for a resonant and interesting take on its tried-and-true story. Freaky proposes that bodies are central…Read more On Freaky and the Horrifying Connection Between Meat and Mind
“Colossal We Come These Renegades in the Ring”: On the Triumph of Male Fragility in The Greatest Showman and Eurovision Song Contest
We can all agree that the last few years in Donald Trump's America have felt like an eternity - filled with a dizzying array of national outrages and humiliations. But if there has been one theme that has consistently defined this period it is raw male fragility, particularly white male fragility. Being a part of…Read more “Colossal We Come These Renegades in the Ring”: On the Triumph of Male Fragility in The Greatest Showman and Eurovision Song Contest
Adam Mohrbacher 