If only time had stood still for the young Iris Murdoch
I am approximately halfway through "Iris Murdoch: A Life" (2001), Peter J. Conradi's biography of one of my favorite authors. The fact that I'm writing about the book at this...
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Give West an `A’ for irking Harvard with scholarly aplomb
I am trying to imagine Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University and economist of renown, a man of dignity and decorum, sitting on a bus with a pair of...
The press raves about them. The public loves them. But to our critics, these artists are just plain Overrated
Tragic actors Jim Carrey Every time this gifted comedic actor tries on a straight face and doesn't get an Oscar nomination, someone cries "snub." Look, Carrey was effective in "The...
Why Giuliani was wrong for Time’s `Person of the Year’
It's been lying on my coffee table for a couple of weeks now, that captivating Time magazine cover with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on it. When I walk into...
J.R.R. Tolkien In Milwaukee
Just after Christmas 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the first sentence on the first page of what would become his "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of...
Something’s fishy
A thrill ride of sizzling stupidity! Columbia Pictures execs were embarrassed to admit over the summer that David Manning, the movie critic/blurbmeister who raved in ads about "The Animal" ("The...
CHICAGOANS OF THE YEAR
Artists explain and interpret our world, and we've needed their insights more than ever this year. The artists and arts administrators that our critics profile below are the cream of...
In light of Sept. 11, resolutions for 2002 have special clarity
If Christmas is the ultimate kids' holiday, then New Year's Eve must be the quintessential adult celebration, inducing as it does a familiar flurry of self-reproaches and subsequent resolutions: I...
9/11 adds new urgency to strips
June 20: "Sketchy reports: Couple combines art and advocacy journalism to tackle issues ranging from politics to the death penalty" They're still out to bewitch, bother and bewilder people in...
Learning our lesson from George O’Leary’s lies
The other day I installed a gas line to a fireplace. (OK, so a friend actually did the work, since I'm about as handy with tools as Notre Dame is...