Lileks, the King of Us All, pulls off one of his patented enharmonic modulations, side-slipping from politics to the arts in a half-beat:
It is more likely that a true unalloyed Democrat will be elected than a brass-tacks Republican. Get used to it. The number of people who want a particular Government program exceeds the number who want none. You want the NEA abolished? That will require two nuclear attacks on American soil. After the first the NEA will be more important than ever, as we sort out our feelings about the event through a nationally coordinated series of interpretive dances. After the second, the economy will be so far down the crapper-pipes that someone will point out that we shouldn’t fund the Mimes-for-the-Blind symposium when we really need the money for anti-radiation drugs.
As I always say after watching a Fred Astaire dance routine, I wish I could do that.
You’ve heard about Snarkwatch, right? If not, Colby Cosh explains it all for you:
Have you seen Believer magazine’s new weblog Snarkwatch? It’s the latest manifestation of Dave Eggers’ infuriated conviction that Anglophone literature is being destroyed by critics. The mission statement of Snarkwatch reads thus: “This is a place to record enthusiasms, mystifications, as well as disgruntled reactions to