On 'Crash': The Most Loathsome Best Picture Of Them All
@Danzig! "The Pursuit of Happyness" makes me raise my hand here.
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On Ask Polly: I Can't Resist Great Sex With My Crazy Ex!
@melis Methinks I hear the premeditated softness of Evil Melis' footsteps, and yet, Melis-?
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On Transcendent Model Of Creativity Turns 25
PREACH. A sandwich shop was letting this song rip through a cheap speaker hung outdoors and I stood beneath it, mesmerized, thrilled to sing along.
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On The Killer Crush: The Horror Of Teen Girls, From Columbiners To Beliebers
Holding American males (and America) up to the mirror to examine collective crush on Ayn Rand in 3...2...
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On Burn It Down: The New Terrible Million-Dollar Brooklyn Apartment
Curious if this is the neighborhoods one could see in the "Welcome Back Kotter" show open?
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On Ask Polly: I Don't Like My Friends Anymore
Polly/Heather, glad to see you here! While this may have been a tough debut (religious beatdowns make me sad; do unto others, etc) I'm a fan of your writing and look forward to the column.
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On Before 'Catcher In The Rye': J.D. Salinger's First Holden Caulfield Stories
Is Salinger still banned? My local library didn't have him and somehow I've become an Old without ever reading him. I'd recently come across a small collection ("Nine Stories"), of which one was the story for little Esme. Am I now so spoiled by snark and reality TV that I was a little creeped out by the solder's fascination of the little girl?
I liked the Holden we met in "Catcher." To me he seemed to still feel himself in his dead brother's shadow, one he couldn't step out of because any success would take the place held by his brother. He didn't strike me as rebellious so much as shellshocked. He knew all the rituals to be part of society- he just didn't think much of that society. It was an intelligent, informed disdain. He had compassion for those who were squeezed out by the supposed desirable members. I'd happily let my kid read this book, and be interested in talking to them afterward. I did read S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" as a teen, but "Rye" would have been better for my character.
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On Harry Potter and the Deathly Epilogue
@Ari You've nailed it when you said, "The movie loves the idea of peaceful domesticity" it seems to me. If you got your start writing in cafes because the heat's turned off at home, normal would sound pretty good.
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On Classic Live Concert Screamers (And Me)
I've long harbored a hate towards the guy who whistles during Elton John's "Benny and the Jets." Also worthy of a mention is the douche who walks in and does a Fonzie "Ayyy!" during Rod Stewart's studio recording of "Every Picture Tells a Story."
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On Smell Like A Man
Karen. What were you thinking! Too hot for you, apparently