Gay marriage, gay everything… So we're not simply going to get gay marriage, gay sit-coms, gay propaganda; as Chick-fil-A's situation shows us we're going to get a totalitarian enforcement of speech, using social ostracism, economic warfare, and censorship.  This should come as no surprise.

Conservatives have been crouching under the sink while liberals looted their house for years, every now and then shaking an emaciated fist (as quietly as possible).
 
BUT WE PASSED THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT!
 
And then? Curled into a nap using a brillo pad for a pillow.
 
Conservatives have largely not been talking back about the depraved morality of social liberals; conservatives just want to be left alone.  No surprise then that with each PC victory liberals are more emboldended, rage-filled, and eager to sadistically punish anyone who differs with them.
 
Conservatives haven't bothered to figure out how to reframe these issues, thus they are always on the defensive, making weaker and weaker arguments, and seldom do they come together to defend one of their own -- ladies, it's just not done!  Conservative pundits won't unite on issues like this because half of them (at least) are quislings, trembling to disagree with the liberals in their social circles, while the reverse is never true -- liberals are always happy to thrust their divisive opinions into a conversation and then pretend it's you who is being upsetting if you raise your voice to disagree.
 
If we are to ever succeed in anything, this cannot go on -- liberals must be challenged, outargued, and slapped down whenever they have the audacity to pipe up.  This goes double for pseudo-cons, whose repulsive timidity is usually the first sign that the left is about to get its way.
 
It's often said that certain conservatives see only enemies to their right, but let's face it: the right is in a sad way all over, from the lunatic fringe of esoteric Hitlerists to the self-marketing loudmouths on the airwaves to the NYT opinion poodles like David Brooks.  We have our work cut out for us, but I'll be damned if I'm going to simper agreeably the next time some lefty assumes everyone present is a lover of depravity.

More at My Posting Career.   

Managerialism and effeminacy… I think there is a logic in managerialism that produces a feminized culture, because what managers do requires less creativity, aggression, and problem solving and more process, social manipulation, and consensus building. You can see how the managerial imperative would lead to more women and feminized men shaping the business culture.
 
Now where do you see men? Building start-ups. Doing high risk trades. Competing ruthlessly. Fixing things (a compulsive male trait). Woman's talents are grotesquely misused by putting her in a man's world and having her support and nourish bureaucracies with her grocery list organizational skills.
 
From this springs many sociopolitical ailments. We should root for the failure of the institutions that maintain this perverse, feminized managerial culture. I hope the universities go first.    

The Dark Knight Rises… I don't want to write out a long review right now, but I will say this is definitely a "see it first weekend" film.  It's a spectacular end to Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.  The character of Bruce Wayne has been very well developed through the series.  I also thought it was interesting that Nolan carried on the physical deterioration of Batman, which is one of the more realistic touches.

The script is also unusually good for action-adventure fare.  There are nice touches, like the explanation a character gives that fear can be a vital motivation, or the sharp exchange between Commissioner Gordon and one of his officers over just how clean his hands are.  This script doesn't let its characters coast by on expectations.

Great physical acting by Tom Hardy.  He's almost unrecognizable and he apparently modeled his voice after an Irish Traveller.  It's a very distinctive and intimidating accent.  And I always like it when an actor's body movements play a strong role in the performance.  When he smashes someone he throws himself so violently into the swing that you imagine instant coma.  Personally I think the result is every bit as impressive as Ledger's Joker and would hate to see Hardy fail to get proper credit for it.

Levitt is the other standout performance.  This guy has impressed me in everything I've seen him in, including some crap.  Levitt is just a smart actor, and he seems to have a perfect sense for what level of performance to give in each role.  He's not showy or stylized and seems to fit into everything.  A real chameleon, you would never dream he got his start on a three camera sit-com.

A note on critics.  A minority of the usual suspects have called Dark Knight Rises "clunky", which is simply inept criticism (I mean that it's inept for reasons other than that "clunky" is lazy snark used in place of acceptable critical description).  The movie flies by and is skillfully structured; its incidents proceed naturally and in proper proportion to one another.  There aren't many 2 hour 45 minute movies you can say that about.  But most critics can't write, so it's little surprise when they make expressionist stabs at language in their effort to get the jumble of almost-adult thoughts out of their heads.  (For a painfully bad demonstration, read this.)

Much more could be said about the abysmal state of film criticism, which is useless even disregarding the reliability of the critics to enjoy meaningful movies in our present film desert.  The biggest indictment of any decaying society is the low standard its elite set for themselves--not only do they promote triviality and self-indulgence, they do it with so little skill!  It is insulting to be lorded over by these people.   

The Man With No Filter… He's still at it. He's still writing that goddamn blog daily. He still has no filter.
 
The world of James Lileks is not particularly complicated, or interesting. A gourmand may talk about his favorite meals; Lileks just talks about how much he loves chewing. The man could survive for years on a diet of cellophane, compulsively gnashing it for no better reason than that he was out of paper. Unfortunately, Lileks does not require paper--the Internet is his bottomless mental spittoon.
 

More at My Posting Career.   

QUESTIONGATE… The Atlantic Wire -- President Obama spoke from the Rose Garden about his new executive order, a DREAM Act-like policy that grants work permits to many young immigrants who entered the country illegally as children, and it was punctuated with a mildly dramatic exchange between the president and a reporter. The Daily Caller's Neil Munro, identified by several reporters on the scene, seems to have shouted a question in the middle of the president's remarks, and Obama rather angrily stopped his address to say, "Excuse me, sir, this is not time for questions. Not while I'm speaking." Obama later began a sentence addressing Munro to say "and in answer to your question." Munro used that occasion to speak over him and the President, once again flustered, replied, "I'm not looking for an argument" and "The next time I prefer you let me finish my statements before you ask a question."

Developing…

PRESIDENT INTERRUPTED IN RACIST NEWS SHOCK

DAILY CALLER HACK "TRAYVONS" PROUD AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT

VOICE ANALYSIS CONCLUDES IT WAS PRESIDENT OBAMA SCREAMING FOR HELP

"ARREST HIM!" SHRIEKS MSNBC STAFFER IN TEARS

TIME MAGAZINE: ARE QUESTIONS RACIST?

WHO WILL BE THE NEXT AFRICAN-AMERICAN VICTIM OF VIOLENT "QUESTIONING"

NEW "QUESTIONING" ATTACKS REPORTED IN MAJOR CITIES

"FLASH QUESTIONS" STYMIE BLACK MAYOR

"NEVER IN ALL MY DAYS" - CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER DECLARES AMERICA HAS HIT "NEW LOW IN RACISM"

MICHELLE OBAMA CUTS SHORT EUROPEAN SHOPPING TOUR AFTER "QUESTIONING" ROW

MASTURBATING KEITH OLBERMANN SURVIVES MAJOR HEAD WOUND

CNN VOWS TO STAY ON THE AIR UNTIL CRISIS IS OVER

CNN PREXY: "ANDERSON COOPER WILL NOT CASH PAYCHECKS FOR THE TIME BEING"

WOLF BLITZER WAR ROOM TRIANGULATES "QUESTIONER'S" POSITION DURING RACIST TIRADE

MADDOW: ELECTIONS ARE INSTITUTIONALIZED QUESTIONING

ROMNEY "QUESTIONED" "PROBABLY GAY" STUDENT IN HIGH SCHOOL

Prometheus… It has taken 30 years, since 1982's Blade Runner, for Ridley Scott to return to the science fiction genre. Finally, one might add, for Prometheus represents a considerable rejuvenation of the 74 year old director after a long career spent doing polished, small-think popcorn movies only superficially more artistic than his brother Tony Scott's action flicks. Why did it take so long, and why did his genre return involve revisiting his most successful film? (It is a first for Scott, who has never directed a prequel or sequel prior to this.)
 
Prometheus began as a straight prequel to Alien, but during its development morphed into something else. Scott, who had a desire to revisit some of the unanswered questions of the first film, was reluctant to simply rehash the "xenomorph" in Alien. For good reason: the xenomorph itself was relatively uninteresting; despite its bizarre appearance and unique life cycle, the creature had no way of expressing intention and seemed to have only the most primitive motivations. Learning more about it had no emotional stakes, and even so the commercial franchise of Alien sequels had rendered this creature as stale and over-familiar as the Frankenstein monster: just another shambling horror cliche with bolts in its neck and a ratty blazer.
 
Curiously (or not, given the directors), none of the lame, lamer, lamest sequels had bothered answering any of the questions raised by the original film. The origins of both the xenomorph and the "space jockey" (the giant humanoid found in the same derelict spacecraft) had been left totally unexplored. This then became Prometheus' jumping-off point, and with Damon Lindelof revising Jon Spaihts' script to further de-emphasize the role of the xenomorph, the film became a prequel which despite existing under the shadow of Alien manages to launch into a very different, tantalizing direction.
 

More at My Posting Career.