Much as I enjoy a good Hitch polemic, I'm not sure he's really my go-to guy for an appreciation of the meaning of America on our Independence Day (try Lincoln --curtsy to NLT). Nonetheless, I enjoyed this, not only because he raises a valid question about opinion polls, but also because of this conclusion:
Thus, for a Fourth of July message, I would suggest less masochism, more confidence on the American street, and less nervous reliance on paper majorities discovered by paper organizations.
Hah! Whenever I read about "the Arab street," I always wonder how 'come no one else gets a street, but now he's gone and given us one. Curtsy: ninme, who as always has other interesting stuff linked, so you should stop by.
- The Pope, bearing up well after Germany's elimination from the World Cup, spoke about St. John at his weekly audience (news story; translation will be here later.) He also reminded everyone that July is the month devoted to the Most Precious Blood --did you know that? In a day or two he's off to Spain, and then vacation, so no more audiences until Aug. 2.
- A reader just sent me this Clive Davis interview with Will Friedwald --he's kind of the anti-Kitty Kelley where Frank Sinatra is concerned. Plus you get tips on where to hear something cool in Manahattan. (For the record, the best Sinata album is Songs for Swingin' Lovers. Not muchuva fan of the ballad albums, 'though Mr. Wheat is).
- I agree with ninme that this guy's a little late to the party, but he still makes the right point about Hollywood and irony. If you're going to spend all 90 minutes apologizing for the film, how 'bout just not making it in the first place? Serendipitously, she linked the piece just as I happened to have seen Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, and then, in an unhappy coincidence, stumbled across the Adam Sandler remake of same. I need not say that Sandler is no Gary Cooper, but the whole film is just the Capra flick scene by scene, except cheap and ironically detached.
- On a related note, why do the stars of Hollywood's golden age look so much more intelligent and interesting than our celebs? We know from their kiss-n-tell bios that the older stars weren't living any better, so innocence isn't the answer. Is it color? The melting-pot reducing all interesting features down to mongrel blandness? Or is there some change in the culture that accounts for our "stars" looking so insipid by comparison?
