Something for the weekend
I’ve noticed a strange absence of good pieces on 9/11 in the run-up to the anniversary. Perhaps they will turn up today, or perhaps we’re all battle-weary. Has the failure in Afghanistan emptied out our ability to talk about the whole thing? As Henry James once wrote, “The war has used up words… and we are now confronted with a depreciation of all our terms.” For more on the fascinating rabbithole of semantic satiation, try here.
There is still good writing on the culture war however. Including this. My favourite sentence: “It is like a series of whodunnits where the murderer is ‘the capitalist hegemony’ every time.”
A very different twenty year anniversary: the launch of The Office, a bleak sitcom with an edge of snobbery that grew into a great – and remarkably universal – love story. “Besides the US, The Office has also been adapted in Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Israel and, most recently, in India.” Gervais’ more recent effort After Life is also excellent, and won Best Comedy at the National Television Awards.
Music: That’s The Way The World Goes Round. Happy enchilada.
I’ve noticed a strange absence of good pieces on 9/11 in the run-up to the anniversary. Perhaps they will turn up today, or perhaps we’re all battle-weary. Has the failure in Afghanistan emptied out our ability to talk about the whole thing? As Henry James once wrote, “The war has used up words… and we are now confronted with a depreciation of all our terms.” For more on the fascinating rabbithole of semantic satiation, try here.
There is still good writing on the culture war however. Including this. My favourite sentence: “It is like a series of whodunnits where the murderer is ‘the capitalist hegemony’ every time.”
A very different twenty year anniversary: the launch of The Office, a bleak sitcom with an edge of snobbery that grew into a great – and remarkably universal – love story. “Besides the US, The Office has also been adapted in Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Israel and, most recently, in India.” Gervais’ more recent effort After Life is also excellent, and won Best Comedy at the National Television Awards.
Music: That’s The Way The World Goes Round. Happy enchilada.