John Presnall

After speaking of the HBO series Girls and its brilliant stupidity, I received nothing but remarks about how following that show must be indicative of deep depravity on my part—even though I called the show crap in my title. In my post, I took the show seriously because I think what is not . . . . Continue Reading »

The cynic in doglike dismissal says the HBO TV series Girls is the most asinine way to spend one’s half hour on Sunday nights. Yet the cynic continues to watch—even as he waits for the new season of Game of Thrones too. The trials and tribulations of Hannah and her loosely held crew of . . . . Continue Reading »

Remi Brague is no stranger to PomoCon and First Things readers. So it goes with saying that he is one of the most brilliant and knowledgeable thinkers and writers living today. His immense erudition, his intense study, and his mastery of Greek philosophy, as well as medieval Islamic, Jewish, and . . . . Continue Reading »

I took these words from a response to a fine post by Carl Scott, and decided to make them into a not so fine post of mine here— A long time ago Peter Lawler mentioned doing the most unconservative thing, i.e., writing some kind of postmodern conservative manifesto. It would at least help to . . . . Continue Reading »

So the Texas State Legislature is considering a law allowing conceal and carry of firearms on the campuses of public schools. Faculty, students, administration, and staff would be eligible to conceal and carry. If the law passes, I’m considering taking the license for myself, even though I . . . . Continue Reading »

In lieu of a review, here is  Michael Totten’s  case for seeing Zero Dark Thirty. His piece primarily addresses the controversy surrounding the movie’s depiction of the use of torture, and whether or not such practices led to actionable intelligence. While ZDT’s action . . . . Continue Reading »

So let’s do it Peter Lawler style by the numbers— 1. I saw Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained today. What I expected is what I saw, except unlike Inglorious Basterds, Django didn’t rewrite the Civil War to the extent that Inglorious rewrote WWII where Adolf Hitler was actually . . . . Continue Reading »

It pleases me to speak to you all in the passive voice about Oaxaca. One wonders how much it is that the rules of grammar play with one’s moods. In Espanol, it’s all about “me gusta” instead of “I like” or even “I love.” There is “te amo,” but you . . . . Continue Reading »

A bad poet visited me earlier this evening, and like a rhapsode, I have recorded his song. “Fiscal Cliff at Sunset in Galveston” Come you and I To a place, where looking upon this cliff— At that which would in its necessary counting we can’t See, but which could determine the . . . . Continue Reading »

So for some reason my YouTube is not working. I wanted to watch Fr. James Schall’s final lecture, but my computer won’t read it. It has nothing to do with my usual tastes because I was able to see Jurgen Habermas on the idea of ritual at the Berkley Center, but I couldn’t see Fr. . . . . Continue Reading »