Weekly Review

"The Good War: How America's infatuation with World War II has eroded our conscience." Based on Chris Hayes' "The Good War on Terror," with updated numbers.

The message (of Saving Private Ryan) is clear. In the great struggle for the future of the free world, the intellectual cannot be trusted. His concern for the laws of war means he is weak and cowardly, and will contribute to defeat. Only the true soldier can win the war. This is the ethos of the Cult of the Soldier, which would come to entirely dominate our politics in the years to follow.

"The Virtuoso: A Tech Pioneer's Final, Unexpected Act" (from The New Yorker).

As the show opened, Sun entered at the back of the auditorium, in costume as the fiddler. His cap covered his scalp; the dim lighting concealed his damaged eye. He made his way down a set of shallow steps onto the semi-darkened stage while playing the haunting opening solo. After intermission, the orchestra played the Williams film music, and Sun rose from his seat in the orchestra and moved to center stage. He launched into the cadenza, playing with a passion and a virtuosity I hadn’t heard from him before. He blazed through the runs and easily landed the highest notes. When he finished, there was a standing ovation, even as the orchestra resumed. Sun smiled, acknowledging the applause. Then he blew a kiss to the crowd and the spotlight dimmed.

10:04 by Ben Lerner. A bildungsroman, meta-novel full of delicious use of language and quotable quotes. (The title taken from Back to the Future.) Below, talking about how old movies - such as Planet of the Apes - portray the future.

Nothing in the world, I thought to myself, is as old as what was futuristic in the past.