Arts & Culture
Jules Feiffer, Sketchy Character
Fri, 09/03/2010 - 12:11 — Dave CulverThe award-winning 81-year-old cartoonist talks about kids' books, his troubled childhood, and his still-sharp satire.
Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones
Jules Feiffer, from Backing Into Forward
In his new memoir, Backing Into Forward, Jules Feiffer describes channeling dyslexia, anxiety, and a troubled childhood into a prolific career. "There's some brain damage," he jokes, "but I've never met a cartoonist who isn't quirky or weird in some ways." Fortunately, the Oscar-, Pulitzer-, Obie-, and Polk-winning author and illustrator's quirks remain in full bloom. The 81-year-old is still cranking out political cartoons and working on kids' books with his daughter and—after a 50-year hiatus—The Phantom Tollbooth author Norton Juster.
Not that he's gone soft; his satire remains as sharp as ever: "The grown-ups, or the ones I choose to go after, deserve everything they get."
Mother Jones: I should start by confessing that I named my son after Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth and, like a lot of people, became familiar with you through your children's books. How does it feel to have that be the way into people's hearts—the softer side of Jules?
Summary: Intolerance, Hate, Intimidation, Fear-mongering, Violence, Incivility, and Ignorance Move Mainstream: Week of Aug 29
Sat, 08/28/2010 - 08:34 — Dave Culver5 New Items including:
- Facebook devolves into dark web of anonymous hate speech
- International Protests Begin Ahead of Sept. 11 Koran Burning Event in Florida
David Culver, ed., Evergreene Digest
Sabaaneh
Pursuit of Happiness, Stuart Klawans, The Nation
- What is the point of having an imagination, I ask you, if the only thing that can be imagined is mayhem, perpetrated without regard for even the appearance of human life?
- Reviews of Christopher Nolan's Inception; Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime and Samuel Maoz's Lebanon.
Facebook devolves into dark web of anonymous hate speech, Mike Adams, NaturalNews.com
Pursuit of Happiness
Tue, 08/24/2010 - 15:30 — Dave CulverWhat is the point of having an imagination, I ask you, if the only thing that can be imagined is mayhem, perpetrated without regard for even the appearance of human life?
Reviews of Christopher Nolan's Inception; Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime and Samuel Maoz's Lebanon.
Stuart Klawans, The Nation
From Leonardo DiCaprio, speaking in the respectable blockbuster of summer 2010, we learn that no virus multiplies more explosively than an idea; in which case, I'd like to know why the Centers for Disease Control allowed all those people to watch Inception. Lax government supervision of Christopher Nolan, whose credit will hereafter be changed in my book from "writer-director" to "primary vector," has allowed a fresh strain of twisted ideational RNA to burrow into the nervous systems of tens of millions of Americans, when they'd already been infected with that characteristic disorder of our time, Wachowski Syndrome.
It was, of course, through the authors of The Matrix that the virus became pandemic: the notion that you, hero, should feel free to use the snazziest conceivable arsenal to kill as many people as you like, because they're not real. Those human-shaped objects are just shades of an illusory world to which you owe not the slightest responsibility. In The Matrix, this dreamland was controlled by monsters from outer space, from whom Earth had to be liberated. In Inception, it is not quite controlled by corporate spies, and the liberation (for DiCaprio) requires the snapping of tentacles that are emotional rather than ickily extraterrestrial. And yet, in either case, the activity within the fantasy realm is exclusively a matter of bang! bang! kaboom!
Summary: Intolerance, Hate, Intimidation, Fear-mongering, Violence, Incivility, and Ignorance Move Mainstream: Week of Aug 22
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 11:45 — Dave Culver5 New Items including:
In today’s world, it’s play or be played
40 Religious Leaders Denounce Sarah Palin and Fox’s Hate Speech
David Culver, ed., Evergreene Digest
Clay Jones
In today’s world, it’s play or be played
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 07:14 — Dave CulverPsychiatrist Eric Byrne, in his seminal 1964 book "Games People Play," defined a game as, "a recurring set of transactions ... with a concealed motivation ... or gimmick." That nails the world in which we live.
Syl Jones, Star Tribune | MN
Has our modern life become a series of entertainments and diversions staged for our viewing pleasure, and to manipulate us? Are we becoming like the ancient Romans, whose bloody games were part of their rites of worship? As an example, consider Haiti. We've all seen the suffering in Haitian eyes; we watched as some heroically survived under rubble for weeks. So why haven't certain governments -- including America's -- forked over the promised funds to aid in Haiti's recovery?
According to CNN, only about 5 percent of the more than $5 billion promised to Haiti has been delivered. Perhaps the donor nations meant well and the money will be arriving later, after thousands more have died. Or perhaps some made noble-sounding pledges that they never intended to keep, hoping to look good in the bright light of constant media coverage. Now that the media is gone, the promises, too, have evaporated.