A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

pop culture

  • Dark Knight pre-blogging

    I haven’t seen The Dark Knight, and probably won’t for at least a couple of weeks, but – while I enjoyed Batman Begins – the NYT review gives me pause: This is a darker Batman, less obviously human, more strangely other. When he perches over Gotham on the edge of a skyscraper roof, he looks Read more

  • Of course, the James Dean/Ricky Nelson duet was inevitable

    Nice appreciation of the great Howard Hawks/John Wayne flick Rio Bravo as a kind of “cinema of democracy” and John Wayne as something quite different than the symbol of rugged indivdiualism. Note: the author is neither Charles Taylor the canadian philospher nor Charles Taylor the evil dictator, but Charles Taylor the film critic. Read more

  • A Muswell Hillbilly boy

    Jesse Walker reviews a new study of the lyrics of the great Ray Davies and his unique political outlook: this outlook translates into an intense distrust both for large corporations and for the state. Like many rock stars, Davies has written songs attacking venal Big Business. Unlike most rock stars, he has written songs attacking Read more

  • Elvis, rock, modernism, and authenticity

    I’ve recently been reading Charles Ponce de Leon’s (awesome name!) biography of Elvis, called Fortunate Son. One of the running themes is that Elvis’ “rebel” image belied an underlying conservatism that was born of his working-class Southern upbringing which emphasized deference to authority in order to earn “respectability.” But also important was Elvis’ love (and Read more

  • The right profile

    I heartily recomment the new documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. I saw it yesterday afternoon and loved it. The live footage of the Clash is electrifying and worth the price of admission alone. But even if you’re not a big Clash fan (and if not, well, what’s wrong with you?), the movie is Read more

  • A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll

    You can listen to the new Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album here (click “Listen to album” on the top left). Good stuff. (via) Read more

  • Indie rock

    Too white or too class-based? Or just sexless and boring? 😉 Read more

  • Christian metal – not just for Stryper fans anymore

    In case you thought ATR was the only place on the web where Christianity and heavy metal fandom intersect, the blog Metal Sucks offers a “guilty pleasure” playlist of Christian metal. I’m not crazy about any of it, though the As I Lay Dying song is ok. And yes -Stryper does make the cut. Read more

  • The angry American

    The Washington Post Style section had a short interview with Merle Haggard this morning, with Hag sounding off about the current state of the USA. (He also has a new bluegrass album out.) The interviewer refers to Hag’s politics moving to “the left” from the days of “Okie from Muskogee” and “The Fightin’ Side of Read more

  • Fryblog

    My wife and I have recently been watching the DVDs of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, the hilarious British sketch comedy show with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (now playing a misanthropic doctor on House, M.D.). They also, of course, did the Jeeves and Wooster series based on P.G. Wodehouse’s books. Today the Young Read more