Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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The British actor and director released his first film, Henry V in 1989, when I was a tender thirteen years old. It passed without notice for me during its theatrical run, but the video rental store, that monument to entertainment, where most families made at least a weekly pilgrimage before the rise of streaming, was… Continue reading How Kenneth Branagh changed a fantasy geek’s life and transformed him into a Shakespeare fanatic
The people have spoken and they have shouted: We will not be told what to do, what to think, what to believe, how to act, how to live, and how to vote in record numbers. At the risk of sounding like Michelle Obama, I have never been more proud of my country than last Tuesday… Continue reading Why Trump’s massive victory gives me hope for the future and renewed pride in the American experiment
Are we masochists when it would be much, much easier not to have one in the first place, both in terms of mourning their loss and the truth that this animal depends on you for everything? Or does it represent something far more wonderful and special in human nature, that we voluntarily bring another creature… Continue reading Lessons on the passing of an aged coonhound
“It kind of has this origin in anti-immigrant sentiments, right, all the way to January 6th, when we think about that white exceptionalism, and this notion of a kind of white ownership of Shakespeare,” claimed a supposed professor of English at Arizona State University, in a truly bizarre syllogism. The average person doesn’t equate… Continue reading Shakespeare, January 6th, and the continued madness of the academic world
This is Shakespeare’s Othello in the modern age. Othello is so easily manipulated by Iago because he doubts himself and can’t possibly believe a fair noblewoman would choose him. In Springsteen’s telling, we do not know the speaker’s scars, save that he’s a “lonely pilgrim,” but it doesn’t matter. We don’t need a villain either. … Continue reading Springsteen’s brilliant “Brilliant Disguise” and the inescapable nature of doubt
“The oldest hath borne most; we that are young. Shall never see so much nor live so long.” It might be easy to believe that we’re beyond these challenges four centuries later, but how many times have you heard that the future is going to be worse than the past these days? William Shakespeare’s King… Continue reading Shakespeare’s King Lear and the limits of power in the modern world
Perhaps it was compiling a collection of unreleased songs in 1998 that inspired Springsteen to enter the second half of his career, rejuvenated and reinvented after what most consider a moribund 1990’s. There’s a lesson here, about life’s ups and downs, finding the future in the past, letting things go, hoping they come back, and… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Loose Ends” and the songs that got away
Rather than the fearless, master horseman who led charges, the film depicts a far more reserved and fearful man. Rather than the dynamic, workaholic it shows us a moribund, borderline depressive. Rather than anything resembling the whirlwind of actions and contradictions the real man must’ve been, we are left with only with a poor, bittersweet… Continue reading Only Hollywood could make Napoleon a boring, lovesick mope rather than one of the most dynamic and engaging personalities in world history
In this official selection of the Independent Horror Movie Awards, a failed actor tormented by his nagging mother lands a dream audition to play the titular prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s greatest creation, but all is not as it seems when the actor might be as crazy as the Danish prince himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFxX3GrcoX0 Written and Directed… Continue reading Hamlet: Full Dress Rehearsal
We’re all looking for something better, but are unlikely to achieve it through some magical moment, some mystical epiphany, or some mythical transformation. Ironically, Bruce Springsteen’s two albums most focused on positive outcomes and the possibility of redemption, are also his most underrated if not outright forgotten. After spending almost two decades penning songs about… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Better Days” and the promise of a more limited redemption
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 