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The Satirist - America's Most Critical Journal - HomePolitical SatireAre You a Conspiracy Theorist? Take the Test! A Modest Proposal to Convert Shopping Malls into Prisons. Converting shopping malls into prisons could be a good solution for the U.S. economy! Jesus Look-alike Arrested for Feeding 5,000 Homeless People Man Who Finally Developed Great Abs Says Life is the Same IRS: Frozen Bodies Still Subject to Income Tax US Supreme Court Overturns Social Security Act Meat Packer Introduces “Pink Slime Classic” Amsterdam High School Relocates to Save Historic Coffeeshop Man Proposes Raising Titanic; Plans to Open Theme-park New Reality TV Show "Foreclosure" U.S. Drops 10,000 Tons of Boots on Libya Obama Still Says “No Boots on the Ground” Americans Protest Public Healthcare, Retirement Benefits, Student Loans, and Public Water Psychedelic Re-education: A Policy Proposal for the Incarcerated Give prisoners drugs to calm them down. King Willie the Slick, Then Junior Bushleague Letter from Saint Nicholas to the Tax Inspector: A Poem Saint Nicholas has a pithy response for the tax collector. Psychology Satires
The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient Cult Leaders gives valuable advice for those seeking to start their own lucrative religious cults.
Are you an AEIOÜ? Take the Breyers-Devere Probe of Human Worth! With only 15 questions, the Breyers-Devere Probe measures five personality categories, as opposed to merely four used by Myers-Briggs. Take the Test! Dr. Claire Hoyt: "Shrink to the Stars" laments the loss of Dr. Hoyt, who treated famous Hollywood stars, but failed to keep their secrets. Sat-Critters: the Pathetic Lives of Satirists and Critics - a psychological assessment of the satirical or critical personality Movie SatiresDisney's Genesis describes Disney's latest venture into the Bible. Disney's King David bravely depicts Old Testament sex and violence. Disney's The Book of Revelations is a beautifully animated rendition of the Biblical apocalypse.
Disney's "1984" reviews Disney's remake of George Orwell's anti-totalitarian masterpiece. Disney's "Animal Farm" reimagines Orwell's satire of communism in a friendlier light. Quentin Tarantino's Harder recycles Tarantino's familiar cinematic tactics. Jake Steiger: the Great Director reviews the career of the critically acclaimed movie director. Reviews of Imaginary NovelsThomas Pynchon's Dys - imaginary review of a modern Pynchon conspiracy work. John Irving's The Third Leg sees Irving recycle his familiar themes. William Faulkner's Sons of the South shows his unique command of deranged first-person narration. Lost GeniusesLost Geniuses chronicles the life and works of the most important overlooked creative geniuses of our time. Sazonov: Russia's Greatest Poet? traces the hapless life of Maxim Sazonov, who may have been either a total idiot, or the greatest poet in Russian history. Felix Spielenhammer: The Heavy Mahler reviews the life and works of an avant-garde German composer and musicologist. Claude Roget: Philosopher or Fraud? retells the life and works of Roget, a French philosopher whose possible plagiarisms eventually led to his downfall from the heights of academe.
The Anti-Artist reviews a Washington, DC exhibition of the great artist, Karl Kinski. Hans Donkerzijde and His Amsterdam Portal tells the story of the most ludicrous failure of golden age Dutch architecture. New Faulkner Novel Found heralds the discovery of a lost William Faulkner manuscript, Sons of the South. Dr. Claire Hoyt: "Shrink to the Stars" laments the loss of Dr. Hoyt, who treated famous Hollywood stars, but failed to keep their secrets. Alexandra: True Psychic tells the life story of an honest psychic Cultural SatireThe New Dictionary of American Cultural Literacy - Excerpts from our Cynic's Dictionary Genesis Satire: The Story of Adam and Steve Guidoism: A Historical, Gendered Study — The roots of Guidoism go back much further than you think. (Jersey Shore Satire) Author Interview: Rick Dewhurst — Inside the Author's Head April Fool's Month - a proposal to extend April Fool's Day to the whole month. Tweeting the Apocalypse - transcript of a Twitter feed as the world comes to an end. Charity - a very modest proposal for dealing with Portland's homeless. Book Reviews and CriticismNovels
An Accidental Family (The Adolescent) — Fyodor Dostoevsky. Powerful, underrated portrait of adolescence in crisis.
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare — Henry Miller. Henry Miller's On The Road.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — Lewis Carroll.
The Celestine Prophecy — James Redfield. A fantasy validation of New Age beliefs.
A Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess. Interesting little book might have been forgotten but for Kubrick’s movie.
Cracking India — Bapsi Sidhwa. An engaging and extremely well-written story of a young girl growing up in Pakistan, at the time of the partition of India.
The Corrections. — Jonathan Franzen. A funny, convincing portrait of an American family at the end of the 20th century.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues — Tom Robbins. Clever language shrouding a weak story with philosophical trappings.
The Crying of Lot 49 — Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon's short masterpiece on the distortion of communication leads to innumerable interpretations.
The Fourth Hand — John Irving. John Irving must have quickly dashed off and polished this funny, feather-light book.
Freedom — Jonathan Franzen. Franzen solidifies his reputation with a worthy follow-up to The Corrections
Gravity's Rainbow — Thomas Pynchon. "Gravity's Rainbow: The V-2 Rocket Cartel as Multinational Corporate Conspiracy". At its center, Pynchon's great novel shows us the nature of corporate power during World War II.
The Handmaid's Tale — Margaret Atwood.
Hapworth 16, 1924 — J.D. Salinger. Salinger's anticlimatic last published work on the Glass family.
Inherent Vice — Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon for the Masses! A funny, nostalgic surprise for Pynchon fans everywhere.
J.D. Salinger – In Memoriam. Future generations may never understand the unique affection Salinger's readers felt for Salinger and his characters.
Life After God — Douglas Coupland. Gen-X Fast Food
Look Homeward, Angel — Thomas Wolfe. Beautiful passages, pasted together by Scribners editor Max Perkins.
Outer Dark — Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy's vision is unrelentingly dark.
The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde.
The Prague Cemetery — Umberto Eco. A fascinating blend of history and fiction.
A Prayer for Owen Meany — John Irving. The Sorrow of American Sports. Another funny John Irving production.
A Son of the Circus — John Irving. As hilarious as anything he's written.
Swann's Way — Marcel Proust. I agree with the publisher who said: "I fail to see why it takes thirty pages to describe a man turning over in bed." Yet the Swann-Odette courtship is a profound meditation on desire.
Tyrannicide: The Story of the Second American Revolution (a novel) — Evan Keliher. Hilarious skewering of DC corruption.
Vineland — Thomas Pynchon. America as a "Scabland Garrison State"
A Widow for One Year — John Irving. Hilarious opening is not sustained.
Winesburg, Ohio — Sherwood Anderson. Novel or stories? Plays
The Cocktail Party — T.S. Eliot. A play with rhythmic dialogue and ponderous themes. Philosophy
The Genealogy of Morals — Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's greatest work, featuring sustained arguments rather than incisive fragments.
The Holographic Universe — Michael Talbot. Is the universe one big hologram?
Man's Search for Meaning — Viktor Frankl. Frankl's Logotherapy School (discovering our purpose heals us) was inspired by Frankl's own experience as a concentration camp survivor.
Parables of Kierkegaard — Soren Kierkegaard. More readable than most philosophy. Kierkegaard's fascinating, little stories illustrate his theories.
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature — Richard Rorty. For Rorty, philosophy is one part of a changing cultural dialogue that will always address the questions of one era, without having answered any previously asked philosophical questions.
The Psychoanalytic Movement — Ernest Gellner. Probing and hilarious critique of the West's embrace of psychoanalysis to describe behavior and emotion. Religion
The Book of J — Harold Bloom. Genesis is great literature, not the intended foundation of world religions.
The Four Noble Truths — The Dalai Lama. Excellent summary of Buddhist tenets
The Gnostic Gospels — Elaine Pagels. Controversial history of early Christianity
The Gospel According to Jesus — Stephen Mitchell. A noted translator's attempt to identify the authentic sayings of Jesus, and uncover their spiritual meaning.
The Kabbalah of Money — Rabbi Nilton Bonder. Money is an ineffable mystery. But it’s ok to make lots of it.
Omens of Millenium — Harold Bloom. Strange, fascinating work on Gnosticism, religious history
Zen At Work — Les Kaye. IBM was nice and let the author be a zen monk. So he wrote about it. Criticism
The Anxiety of Influence — Harold Bloom.
The Conquest of Cool — Thomas Frank. 60s Counterculture as unwitting shill for Madison Avenue
The Erotic Silence of the American Wife — Dalma Heyn. It's OK for women to cheat too.
New Close Readings of The Crying of Lot 49 — Robert E. Kohn
The Western Canon — Harold Bloom. After some anti-PC rants, 26 rich essays on some of the West's greatest books. Politics
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot — Naomi Wolf. Wolf argues that The Bush Administration took steps toward achieving totalitarianism in America.
No Logo — Naomi Klein. This is THE book of the anti-corporate movement. History
The Dutch Republic - During this Golden Age, the Netherlands became the richest, most progressive, and technologically advanced country in Europe. Amsterdam became the financial capital and entrepôt of Western Europe.
The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution — Barbara Tuchman. Barbara Tuchman's compelling view on the American Revolution highlights the key role played by The Netherlands in the struggle, first as arms merchant via Saint Eustatius (Dutch Antilles), and later as creditor and ally.
The Island at the Centre of the World: The Untold Story of the Founding of New York — Russell Shorto. The Dutch impact on New York (New Amsterdam) was much greater than you think.
Nixonland — Rick Perlstein. Colorful, electric chronicle of the political history of 1964-72, and the Nixonian comeback (and repression).
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy — Jacob Burckhardt. Often hilarious account of political struggles in Renaissance Italy.
From Dawn to Decadence — Jacques Barzun. Masterful survey of western civilization since Renaissance finds 20th century to be without much decent art since Cubism.
Modern Times — Paul Johnson. An engaging portrait of the giant political figures during the 20th century, the age of moral relativism. Technology
Engines of Creation — K. Eric Drexler. Nanotechnology. How will it all turn out?
How Buildings Learn — Stewart Brand. Buildings should be designed for reuse, not for magazine covers. EssaysSmoking as Religion describes the similarities between smoking and religion. Gossip as Social Currency Gossip is a form of legal tender, a social coinage we enjoy spending or saving as we would any other form of currency. To hear gossip is like finding coins in the street. "I can use this later," you may think as someone tells you something, in a whispered hush, or from a quiet place. Satire Defined It is understood that didactic attempts like these are themselves vulnerable to satirical skewering, but there are times when the desire to clarify surges more powerfully than the desire to attack human foibles. Amsterdam Essays
Saturday at Amsterdam's Noordermarkt - Apple-pie is but one gastronomical delight you can find at the Noordermarkt, the biological market held each Saturday on the Prinsengracht near the Brouwersgracht. Amsterdam's Westerpark - our own piece of grass on warm weather days. Cycling in Amsterdam - There may not be hills, but battling the elements is no picnic. Ice Skating on Amsterdam Canals Learning Dutch describes one man's fledgling efforts to master the Dutch tongue. Weather in Holland - Does it rain every single day? The eternal question. Movie Reviews
The Big Lebowski (1998). Lebowski remains the Coen brothers' funniest movie.
Bob Roberts (1992). Tim Robbins' ruthless satire of American politics.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) This funny, sexy comedy shows the limits of sexual freedom.
Canadian Bacon (1995). Michael Moore's 1995 comedy about a wag-the-dog war against Canada rings true today.
Citizen Kane (1941). Orson Welles' classic satire about Hearst and media sensationalism.
Dr. Strangelove (1964). Landmark satire took on the military establishment.
Fargo (1996). Yes, it is brilliant, but why do people love this movie so much?
I'm Not There (2007). I'm Not There will be fun for Dylanologists, but others may find its riffs on Dylan lore slow going.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Quentin Tarantino pushes the envelope of violence still further.
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). Tarantino's comic book action/adventure is rivetting, but probably a waste of Tarantino's talent.
Pulp Fiction (1994). Pulp Fiction gives us violence in broad daylight, hip dialogue and circular structure.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Love it or hate it, this is a movie where you see more the second time around.
Rushmore (1998). Wes Anderson's breakthrough movie paved the way for The Royal Tenenbaums.
The Social Network (2010). Fast-moving, entertaining movie about the origins of Facebook. TV Review
I watch Boston Public and I'm Ashamed reviews the sensationalist high school TV drama. FictionFast Food Satori - a short sketch of a character standing in McDonald’s thinking he lost his mind, but that might be a good thing. My First Cubicle - relates a young man's nightmare job at Golden Publishing in Florida. But it’s supposed to be funny. Fridays at The Blind Pig’s Pub - relates a young man’s humorously inept attempts at meaningful human contact with an eclectic set of people in a Florida bar. But it’s supposed to be funny. News ArchiveU.S. Drops 10,000 Tons of Boots on Libya Americans Protest Public Healthcare, Retirement Benefits, Student Loans, and Public Water Republicans Morally Superior to Democrats Las Vegas Opens Niagara Falls Hotel Prostitutes Win $4.3 Million Suit Against Screenwriters' Guild Michael Moore Fears Death in Plane Crash Capitology Fastest Growing Religion in U.S. Election 2004: Bush Still Deciding On Margin of Victory Letter To Republicans: Why You Should Not Vote for George W. Bush 9/11 Commission: Cheney May Hold Bush’s Hand During Testimony Cheney Ponders Whether to Seize Saudi Arabia’s Oil Now or Later Supreme Court Declares Bush President of Iraq by 5-4 Vote Democrats Don’t Love Families As Much, says GOP Candidate The "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" Man March Draws Millions to DC, Ends In Disaster Old Document Proves "Puff the Magic Dragon" a ’Drug Song’ Gore "Too Knowledgeable" For Highest Office, Bush Better Dinner Companion, Poll Finds The Scripted 2000 Presidential Debates |
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