Monthly Archives: June 2009

transformers: revenge of the fallen

By anewnadir | Published: 30 June 2009
Francis Bacon declared that the Egyptian pyramids were the highest achievement of Western art. He was right: no other work of art so successfully conveys a culture’s obsession with death, its desire to be known throughout history. The pyramids evoke man’s epic battle against entropy: against waste, old age and eventual obscurity. Michael Bay’s Transformers: [...]
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addicted to a different kind of high

By anewnadir | Published: 29 June 2009
Adrenaline (Epinephrine) is a hormone which produces the so-called “fight or flight” response in human brains. Several different events can trigger the release of adrenaline: skateboarding coffee falling from great heights intense sexual activity among several others. How many of your decisions are made under the influence of this mysterious chemical?
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I dub thee…

By anewnadir | Published: 29 June 2009
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died at the age of 50. Jackson wasn’t the only titled member of the musical aristocracy. Besides the obvious James Brown (The Godfather of Soul), many other artists have been given honorific titles to better remind us of their pioneer roles in music: The Architect of Rock and Roll: [...]
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holy trinity

By anewnadir | Published: 29 June 2009
Junior Brammer AKA Trinity was born in 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica. He attended the catholic Alpha Boys School; another notable alumnus is Desmond Dekker. Trinity’s first hit as a reggae artist came in 1977 with the hot single “Three Piece Suit”. The song samples Alton Ellis’s “I’m Still In Love With You” rhythm; a riposte [...]
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the dyspeptic critic

By anewnadir | Published: 28 June 2009
Mark Steyn asks us to imagine the state of our republic if Miss Bethea gets her way, and the national bureaucracy in Washington becomes responsible for grade- school paint jobs from Maine to Hawaii. What size of government would be required for such a project? And is it compatible with a constitutional republic? Was Montesquieu right? Once [...]
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hello

By anewnadir | Published: 20 June 2009
I’m back. Just got in from a road trip.
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in desire, sin?

By anewnadir | Published: 3 June 2009
The interminably moralistic Roger Scruton advises the young and crazy to pursue a flight into temperance: In just such a way we should define sexual temperance, not as the avoidance of desire, but as the habit of feeling the right desire towards the right object and on the right occasion. That is what true chastity consists [...]
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and judicial activism

By anewnadir | Published: 1 June 2009
Sotomayor’s nomination has drawn ire from the usual circles of republicans and libertarians. This is more an instinctive reaction to the idea of a democratically-nominated judge than to any substantive aspect of her record or stated opinions. Yet the salient point to be had in this debate is lost on most: the Supreme Court (and, [...]
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tiller at the till

By anewnadir | Published: 1 June 2009
It seems no matter how hard Barack Obama tries, events continue to conspire against him. George Tiller, a doctor who provided late-term abortions in Kansas, was murdered yesterday while he attended church services. He had previously been shot and his clinic had been bombed. Current debate seems little concerned with the moral permissibility of his [...]
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