An evil omen — of that there’s no doubt. After Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), hero of Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men, shoots and wounds a deer while hunting in the West Texas desert, he comes across a trail of fresh blood crossing at right angles the trail of deer blood that [...]
Archive for May, 2008
A bonfire of vanities
Posted in Film and documentary, tagged black dog, bonfire of vanities, no country for old men on May 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Vastly outnumbered, again
Posted in Foreign affairs, History, Philosophy, tagged anthony pagden, East & West, worlds at war on May 22, 2008 | 2 Comments »
For those of you interested in the rather big question of how concepts like East and West have evolved, and how such abstractions have influenced global history and continue to influence the politics of our day, Anthony Pagden’s Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle between East & West is very much worth reading. Here’s a [...]
Reading the Bible to Tatters
Posted in Philosophy, Popular culture on May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My friend Brett Grainger grew up in a hardcore fundamentalist Christian household. So thoroughly did he imbibe his family’s creed that one day, when he came home to an empty house, he feared everyone had been taken up by the rapture and he was left behind to endure the turbulent reign of the anti-Christ. Fundamentalist [...]
What’s a nice bookstore like you doing in a place like this?
Posted in Literature, Media, tagged Ben McNally Books, book retailing, Books on May 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
It took me nearly a year to notice this place, despite the fact that it’s located about half a block north of my office. Maybe it’s because I don’t frequently walk north (the GO train lies in the opposite direction); maybe it’s because there’s no glaringly bright signage announcing its presence (if you don’t look [...]
National Post Condemns Sans Everything Writer
Posted in Foreign affairs, tagged Israel on May 6, 2008 | 7 Comments »
If you read tomorrows National Post, you’ll find an editorial condemning me. Oddly enough, the basis of the condemnation is an article that was commissioned by the Post itself (which will also run tomorrow).
Context is everything. The Post had asked me to write about Israel’s 60th anniversary, as part of series of articles by many different writers that [...]
Israel at 60
Posted in Foreign affairs on May 1, 2008 | 3 Comments »
David Frum and I talk about the future of Israel here in a National Post podcast. (There is no permanent link but it can be found under the May 1 2008 heading). Since these debates get a bit tedious and repititive, with both sides rehearsing their long settled talking points, I tried to interject a personal element by telling [...]
