Latest Posts

Blonde at Its Best Highlights What’s Worst

Director Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, now available on Netflix and starring Ana de Armas as “blonde bombshell” Marilyn Monroe, is a long film. Not merely because of its almost three-hour run time but also because it feels long when you’re watching it. Continue Reading...

Not Jonesing for the Jones Act

Just a few years ago, very few people knew or discussed the Jones Act. Now everyone is talking about it. In a colossal but somewhat predictable fiasco, while Puerto Rico was being pummeled by Hurricane Fiona, the Jones Act prevented a cargo ship from docking off its coast to deliver some 300,000 barrels of much-needed diesel fuel. Continue Reading...

Does College Get in the Way of Education?

Is college worth it? This has been the question for the past few years, especially in the wake of dropping enrollment. This drop has largely been a response to many college campuses going fully online and imposing a wide slew of mandates and prohibitions in response to the COVID pandemic. Continue Reading...

Lord Shaftesbury: Evangelical Social Reformer

“I want nothing but usefulness to God and my country” (Diaries, February 22, 1827) When the funeral procession of Lord Shaftesbury progressed through the streets of London toward Westminster Abbey on October 8, 1885, thousands of people lined the streets, bands gathered to play Christian hymns, and hundreds of banners were held high with Bible verses. Continue Reading...

How Cars Can Keep Us Human

Truck drivers are cowboys. I work at a food warehouse. Truckers show up with 40,000 pounds of primal-cut beef, equivalent to maybe 50 head of cattle, driven from Nebraska, by a team of horses, bit, bridled, and reined by internal combustion. Continue Reading...

Godard Is Dead. Is Cinema?

Jean-Luc Godard died on September 13, 2022, and the news in the world of cinema and culture was received as confirmation that cinema itself was dead. Godard had a remarkable influence on cinema in the ’60s, but his fame went beyond that. Continue Reading...