Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Bloody Mary Morning"

  Via Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns Money comes a link to not only this fine, long profile of Willie Nelson, but also this little-seen gem: Willie from almost... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2014 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)"

  It's very easy--and entirely justified--to write A Flock of Seagulls off has a band who only manged to break out in the early days of MTV because of singer... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2014 SOCIETY

• I'm Pretty Certain Week Two is Actually the Name of a Band

  

  Stolen without apology from the Twitter feed of Kieran Healy, one of the greatest (and wisest) academic wits of the whole blogosphere. Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2014 SOCIETY

• My Five Favorite Stories from the Life of Jim Henson

  

  I received a copy of Brian Jay Jones's wonderful, if somewhat workman like, biography of Jim Henson for my birthday last December, and I've only just finally... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Any Dream Will Do"

  I've embarked on a project to read the entire Old Testament (using the Revised English Bible and Robert Alter's translations and commentary, if you must know),... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Libertarianism, Paternalism, and Pot

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] From 2003 to 2005, we lived in Craighead County, Arkansas, while I taught at Arkansas State University. Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Two Comments on Last Night In Ferguson, Missouri

  

  Last night my wife's Twitter feed went nuts, and we ended up--like thousands of other Americans, I'm sure--opening up the laptop and watching, stunned, the... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2014 SOCIETY

• "The Other Times You're Just a Stinker."

  I don't remember when I first saw To Have and To Have Not, but I suppose it was probably during my frustrated early college years--which might explain why, to... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Five Favorite Comedy Concerts

  

  Last night, Melissa and I went back and (like probably many thousands of people) watched again Robin Williams's classic comedy concert, "A Night at the Met"... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Robin William's Five Best (Live) Film Performances

  

  Damn, damn, damn, damn. Depression. Suicide. What a terrible, terrible loss.Of course, I can be critical. Robin Williams manic, surreal, free-associating,... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Line 'Em Up"

  I remember Richard Nixon back in '74 / and the final scene at the White House doorand the staff lined up to say good-bye / tiny tear in his shifty little... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2014 SOCIETY

• What Happens When Parties and Elections Change, and Constitutions Don't

  

  [Cross-posted to Political Context] Yesterday, Ezra Klein summed up the Obama presidency thusly: "Obama [has] pushed more change through the political system... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2014 SOCIETY

• What Kansas Republicans Should Learn From Yesterday

  

  [A quick follow-up from yesterday:]Primary contests don't necessarily tell you much about general elections. The number of people who show up to vote is so... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Happy Birthday, Mr. Berry

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] Today, Wendell Berry turns 80. There is much which could and perhaps should be said in honor of him on the occasion of hi... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Primarily About Kansas

  

  It's primary day here in Kansas. I voted earlier this morning, at a polling station at the church a little more than a half-mile down the road from our house. Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Summer Movie Round-Up

  

  Summertime is a good time for films--you're staying up late, you get too tired to do anything besides stare at a screen, you had to the theater to get out of th... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2014 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Hallelujah"

  Last week, our second daughter performed in a musical revue, "That's Entertainment!," put on by the Wichita Children's Theater and Dance Company. She sang this... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2014 SOCIETY

• A Dad Worth Aspiring Towards

  Stephen Colbert is asked by Rookie magazine to answer some questions from their female readers, as part of their "Ask a Grown Man" feature. Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2014 SOCIETY

• James Garner, RIP

  

  In the annals of mid-20th-century popular entertainment, there are few, if any, names more worth praise than James Garner, who has just died. "Maverick." The... Read more

  Posted on 20 July 2014 SOCIETY

• "Baby, I Live In A Lighthouse (But Not That Lighthouse)" Is, Of Course, Brian...

  

  A friend of mine found this the other day, posted it to Facebook, and we haven't stopped laughing since. It's genius, I tell you: pure genius. Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2014 SOCIETY