I'll continue my list later, but I feel compelled to share this. It's from Philippe Ariès' Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of the Family, 100. Here he quotes from the physician Heroard's journal, which described in massive detail the upbringing of the future king Louis XIII. Ariès quotes it to show how attitudes toward children and ( Read more... )

Because I think it would be morally wrong for me not to do anything for Halloween, I thought I'd try to post my own top 25 horror films. The limit would be that I wouldn't name the same horror director, icon, or series twice, nor can I count "horror comedies" like Army of Darkness. Also the list isn't really in any particular order. I don't ( Read more... )

From an economics of British empire book I have to read:

"...free trade seemed to offer only...the export of capital and manpower to our industrial rivals; and the fragmentation of the empire itself which would eventually be pulled into the economic orbit of larger, more rapidly growing industrial nations."Thankfully the US realized that as well ( Read more... )

I've got a French question to throw out there for any Francophiles out there. The sentence in question is "Il a un rendez-vous", which seems painfully obvious but it doesn't seem to match the context (it's a doctor responding to his secretary who's saying that he should look at a draft of an article). Is there some idiomatic thing I don't know ( Read more... )

Ah, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, don't worry. I'll probably keep up this Livejournal until the whole institution sinks into digital oblivion, although I probably will set up a "mirror blog" at some point. I feel like I have an obligation, since people musing on pop culture are so rare on the Internet, after all ( Read more... )

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Yes, I am trying to depress you horribly.

I've decided on my final words: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Julie Brown's failed sketch comedy series with Jennifer Aniston and Wayne Knight. I've watched Pee-Wee Herman in an ill-advised drug PSA. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

Should I submit an entry to the Washington Post's "America's Next Great Pundit" contest?

Actually, I probably should, since ten years from now - at most - political pundits will be among the few who won't need care packages dropped into the US by the Canadian government to survive.

First off, if you haven't read the great Robert Darnton's book The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History and you have any interest at all in history, go grab a copy ( Read more... )

Normally I'd just link to this post by August Pollack, but I agree with him so strongly I just have to share the whole thing:

If there's one thing I've learned about politics, it's that Americans just don't care. Even with all the rhetoric of the 2008 campaign of "hope" and all that, when it comes down to it voting is based mostly on things ( Read more... )