Short Fuse
“Mad Men” gets all manner of undeserved attention. Yet I attend to it.
Read MoreIf Plato had known of mind meld, you can be sure he would have applied to be a Vulcan.
Read MoreIt’s notable and heartening when informed critical opinion manages to stop a juggernaut in its tracks.
Read MoreWhat is Harvard Square today but a shopping spree waiting to happen, a student lounge, a food court? What could a novel gain by being set in that venue?
Read MorePart of what made “The Dream Merchant” so compelling, and at times, harrowing, a read for me are its themes: love, loss, rags and riches, to be sure, but also the theme of aging, and associated loss of power and possibility.
Read MoreIsrael has genuine enemies without, to be sure. But “The Gatekeepers” leaves the impression that it has no less mortal an enemy within.
Read MoreBut there’s something else going on in “Mad Men,” all the more because it’s latent, unannounced, episode by episode. It’s this thing about art and advertising, and the difference, circa that era, if any.
Read MoreThe once proudly and authentically counter-cultural paper The Boston Phoenix went out ugly, fawning on mobster Whitey Bulger.
Read MoreIt’s not a simple story. It’s a story about dreadful ideas, hideous politics and their interaction with art and aesthetic judgment.
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