Culture and Entertainment

On this part of my website you'll find things I think about culture and entertainment; that includes philosophical ruminations on culture in general as well as more mundane cultural reflections such as movie and book reviews.

• Movie Reviews
  • Black Robe: I review the (mostly) excellent movie Black Robe, along with a few commentaries on the early history of New France (Quebec, mostly) and on missionary work.
  • Gran Turino: I'm not normally a big Clint Eastwood fan, but this one's a real gem. I review it for you in my usual humble (!) way.
  • Signs: Sure, M. Night Shyamalan movies sort of jumped the shark after a while, and some have been straight-up terrible (Lady in the Water, anyone?). But Signs has some deep significance to it.
  • Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: Based on a famous nautical novel, this movie is a fine adventurous romp through Napoleonic naval warfare, as well as a fascinating commentary on a hierarchical society.
• Heinlein: Libertarian Counterrevolutionary?: Some ruminations about a few of Heinlein's works, showing that even though Heinlein was definitely a libertarian, he had some very counterrevolutionary ideas.
• On Poetry: A brief rumination about this ancient art.