It is not surprising that where Canada geese are protected, they defile golf courses, beaches, and attack cyclists in parks. One of my coworkers from Ottawa refers to them as cobra-chickens. Low flying slow heavy geese do however save my pride at the end of a lackluster deer hunting season.
It is in the nature of alien invaders, if they arrive in sufficient numbers, to impose their language on the conquered people, and it is in the nature of ideological revolutions to distort and reshape the language as a tool for imposing their revolution.
In Soviet times, “nationality” – meaning race – was, just like a subject’s given name and surname, a legally obligatory declaration. The famous “Fifth Line” on his internal passport was part of his destiny, perhaps the most important part, because once he was “Russian,” “Jew” or “Tatar,” his education, employment, and other material opportunities were set in stone. He was labeled for life.
I’m horrified by the kidnapping of four Americans and the killing of two of them in Mexico. If you live near the border, you know such things happen.
In 2016, Douglass Mackey was telling jokes under the nom de Twitter “Rocky Vaughn,” after the character played by Charlie Sheen in the 1989 movie “Major League.”
In this episode Dr. Fleming and Stephen discuss High Noon (1952) and how it has endured despite the intentions of its creators. Homework for next episode: watch Rio Grande.
In this episode Dr. Fleming and Stephen discuss the virtues of the 1929 Victor Fleming adaptation of Owen Wister’s novel The Virginian. Homework for next episode: watch High Noon
“The past changes so quickly,” a Twitter pundit has observed, “you have no idea what will happen yesterday.” Not very original, as the gentle reader may remark, seeing the thought is basically taken from Orwell or maybe a writer of a still earlier era, like Karl Kraus, but a sinuous phrase none the less, something undeniably well noted and prettily put. Try trawling for a mot this juste in The Spectator these days, to say nothing of The New Yorker.
Among the most precious parts of a cultural revolution is language, and it is inevitable that the language of a subject people is treated no more gently than religious shrines or historical monument.
In the 1930s, MGM’s top directors were Clarence Brown (a favorite of Garbo’s), the prolific W. S. Van Dyke, of whom I’ve written for FF, and Victor Fleming. In 1939, MGM observed its silver anniversary. Since it was the biggest American movie studio, it launched a campaign to make 1939 known as Hollywood’s greatest year
