Archive for the 'Entertainment & Culture' Category

Anti-Advertising Agency

We must keep an eye on these misfits, the Anti-Advertising Agency. It seems that their entire mission is to destroy both culture and living standards. That being said, I am still going to *try* the Add-Art application, despite the fact that if everyone does, we are doomed to advertisements in much worse places. (h/t Hunter)

Theory of Price Notes, Part I: Tastes

Recently, I visited the subterranean area of Library West where the good old fashioned economics texts are located. Fellow UES luminaries accompanied me. I checked out several books that will make for interesting summer reading. Among them was The Theory of Price, 4th Ed. (1987) by the late George Stigler, a renowned Nobel prize-winning University […]

Santa Tracking

I will be watching for Santa. You can catch all the latest developments, including Santa’s taste in architecture and history, here.

Mobile Specialization

Having recently acquired a new phone after about 3 years, I was amazed by how far cell phone tech has come. I had seen the commercials for the iPhone and the Blackberry, but having a new generation phone in my hands and interacting with it is really neat. The internet was very quick, it […]

A Worthy Cause for Public Funding: MacArthur Memorial

Every now and then a genuinely worthy cause for taxpayer money happens across our paths. Today, I discovered such a cause: the renovation of the brilliant MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia.
Although it is true that Norfolk is a “Navy” town, its politicians offered a sweet deal to General MacArthur that he would have been stupid […]

Constitutional interpretation, Part I: Of queermo rabbits and grocery lists

While this is a topic belonging more to Admiral’s formidable legal mind than my layman’s reasoning, I feel compelled to write and take comfort from Locke’s stance on the power of reason over the Law.
In the foofaraw over wizards who ride their brooms sidesaddle and oral-fixated rabbits, one Columbia-based law professor took the opportunity […]

Regulating the Art World

Recently, the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries has made major news by mismanaging just about everything it could. Whether it was exorbitant rent for its townhouse gallery ($156,000/mo.) or losing millions of dollars worth of art, Salander screwed up. Big time. My impression, noted on my art blog, is that Salander was an entrepreneur who attempted a daring […]

Pottermania

It seems that Dumbledore, of all people, was a friend of Dorothy. Who knew.

Dolce & Gabbana Metallic Leather Jacket

I know, I know, I know. You have a lot of questions. First and foremost should be, why is the Admiral web-browsing anything remotely related to Dolce & Gabbana Metallic Leather Jackets. The answer to that is, as you know, I am first and foremost a fashionista but of a different century. You might also […]

Musical Revolutionaries or Retreads? Part II

IT’S UP TO YOU. NO REALLY. IT’S UP TO YOU.
So says Radiohead, the thought-dead “band” full of interesting characters with interesting perspectives. Basically, their formula for music is: grab some synthesizers, throw in some wailing, add a dash of dancing based on the movement of trees in wind, and one cockeyed dropout from a Coast […]

And now for something different…

As is well known amongst the UES Council of Elders, I am a huge fan of Milton. I esteem him perhaps a better poet than Shakespeare (who in turn dominates Anglophone drama). In reviewing some of my notes from my last concerted reading of the blind poet’s works, I thought I would share the following […]

Ruminations on Drug Use after Legalization

Our best debate in UES regarding drug legalization occurred about a year and a half ago, if I recall. Someone, let’s call him JHJ4USA, stood on one side, perhaps with Sammy, while the vast majority of us stood on the other side. We favored legalizing drugs, whether instantly or over a long period of time, […]

What Gov’t Can Do, We Can Do Better, Part III: Art Trade

While we would not wish to live in a world without laws, and a great deal of them are borne of the best intentions, it seems as though sometimes laws have unintended consequences. Broadly speaking, I suspect that the Import/Export laws of various countries throughout the world may also have some unintended consequences. As examples, […]

Ottoman Musings, Part I

I’ve long argued that both the Ottoman Empire, and in particular, the Byzantine Empire, have been underrated and woefully under-studied by scholars. With the exception of Dumbarton Oaks, it just hasn’t seemed terribly fashionable to spend one’s life’s work on these long-lasting kingdoms of yore. Even Dumbarton Oaks, however, plays a key role in the […]

Beware Prophecy of Hermit Jedi

In October of last year, I bookmarked this article from Variety because I could not believe what I had read. Although very few people are surprised by anything George Lucas does these days, even these comments have to give you pause:
The creator of “Star Wars,” which stamped the template for the franchise-tentpole film, says many […]