The Tarantino furor
Re J. Hoberman's review of Inglourious Basterds ['Quentin's Final Solution!' August 19–25]: Like every other moviegoer, J. Hoberman is entitled to his enthusiasms, but I am puzzled when he says about Hitler that "the evil genius of the 20th century is already a joke everywhere." Is that true? One swallow does not make a summer, nor one Mel Brooks film/play a historical reality. If it is true, then we are indeed living in surrealistically dangerous times.
I wonder how many persons are laughing at the neo-Nazi/neo-fascist/skinhead cults that are not disappearing from our landscapes. Indeed, there is a publishing house in Virginia whose mission is to keep Mein Kampf in print. Some joke.
Then the reviewer refers to "the sandbox war that cost 50 million lives." To what does the adjective "sandbox" refer? To Tarantino's turning World War II into a child's playground? To the war itself?
Manhattan
Hoberman replies: Suggesting that Hitler was now widely seen as a ridiculous figure did not mean that everyone considers Hitler or Nazis a joke—I don't—but rather to put Tarantino's movie in the context of The Producers, Dani Levy's My Führer, and, especially, the German movie Downfall. (The notion of Hitler as an absurd villain can be found in Chaplin, Brecht, and much Anglo-American war propaganda.) By using the oxymoron "sandbox war," I meant to underscore Tarantino's childish sense of World War II—something stated more explicitly elsewhere in my review.
Sick society
Re Roy Edroso's 'Barack Obama's Dastardly Plans,' [August 19–25]: Strange that the anti-reformists would express their alleged love of democracy by thuggishly disrupting town meetings in order that nothing be discussed rationally. Stranger still that one of the subjects of the article is one of those immigrants whom conservatives love to hate. I guess if you toe the party line, you're not told to go back to where you came from, freeloader!
Strangest yet that guaranteeing health care for all, like everyone else does, is somehow communist, socialist, fascist. Presumably, premature death and widespread suffering are hallmarks of a Jeffersonian democracy.
Manhattan
Let us remember that our leader is the most powerful person on the planet. He has put all his chips on getting a health care reform passed. It would be foolish to expect him to lose the biggest bet of his political career. Backroom pressures will get more than 60 senators to pass the bill.
via internet
Stop your wining
Re Graham Rayman's 'Sour Grapes' [August 12–18]: Actually, the liquor stores do have reason [to lobby against supermarket wine sales]. If you look at what has happened in England, you will see why. There, pubs are closing at an unprecedented rate even while boozed-up, feral teenagers stagger around town centers after dark, vomiting, urinating, and frightening everyone else. The reason? The giant supermarkets use alcohol as a loss-leader, selling it at below cost, which has decimated independent outlets.
Teens now sit at home getting blasted on cheap plonk, then head to the center of town to finish off. Is that what you really want? There is such a thing as the law of unexpected consequences, you know.
Clive
via internet
Lobbyists, shmobbyists—your article was the most sickening performance I have ever witnessed in the pages of a New York newspaper. If you have your way, the pace at which this once-lovely city continues to lose its small businesses, which used to give it its unique flavor and are dying by the day (mostly, of course, for other reasons), will only quicken.
Trader Joe's and Gristedes are doing fine without the needless slaughter you are advocating. You should all be ashamed.
via internet
*indicates required fields. Please enable browser cookies before filling out this form. All reader comments are subject to our Terms of Use. By clicking Add Comment, you acknowledge that you have reviewed and agree to these Terms.
Comments may take a few minutes to process and appear on the site. Please do not click the "Add Comment" button again while your comment is being added.
Webster HallNew York, NY |
Spotted PigNew York, NY |
Corner BistroNew York, NY |
Schiller's Liquor BarNew York, NY |
Gramercy TavernNew York, NY |
PachaNew York, NY |
SURVIVED 01/25/2010 2:57:07 PM
I currently live in the great state of NJ. Garbage, Graveyards, and beautiful methodically planned Gardens to hide the evil that only Satan could hide. The Ted Haggart, McGreevy, Madoff culture is carefully lined in the walls of church after church on each corner, in every city. Both the women and men are as vile and mean spirited as they come, and not from other places. They're vermin, which means they can barely live two states away before they turn to the same old rat wheel. NJ is racist, and hateful to the core. I'm glad the floods are sweeping the shit out this motherfucker, with the snow to be "DAY AFTER TOMORROW". A curse provided by "traditional hypocrisy". My landlord, an upstanding man who gives to charity, and has been married for over 20 years has been in a sexual relationship with the toothless heroine addict that he picked up off the streets fresh out of prison. Failed rehab over 47 times, dead beat dad, sells cocaine from the building, sacrifices animals, stalks, harasses, and slanders those that disagree with the smell of his rotted flesh. The both of them together couldn't get a ounce of good heart, and I'll be glad when this is on the news. This family is the epitome of iniquity, and the only hope one has is to be reminded that God lives within. I hope and pray to God that by the time I press send for this, that this entire cesspool of trolls, drug addicts, sex addicts, and ho' FOLDS!!! NJ is as low as humanity can go. May every secret be exposed, and may NJ return to the wasteland that it's intended to be.