In the New York Times, William Kristol gives reasons why Conservatives can rejoice at Obama's inauguration. The column includes the tidbit that the new president will be sworn in using the Lincoln Bible, the bible our sixteenth president used at his first inaugural in 1861. Also in the Times, Thomas Friedman, dismayed that SUV sales have gone up again (from a combination of low gas prices, big dealer discounts and winter weather), does his level best to sell the idea of a gasoline tax.The Christian Science Monitor has a cool story about a couple who tried to live off a dollar's worth of food a day. The tone is preachy, but the experiment is interesting. Their poverty diet, by the way, works. Both husband and wife lost lots of weight.
With this great piece in the Wall Street Journal, Lee Siegel takes Hollywood to task for demonizing the suburbs. Specifically, he cites "Revolution Road," the new film from Sam Mendes that reunites Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. From "The Stepford Wives" (both versions), to "The Ice Storm," "Edward Scisorhands" and Mendes' own "American Beauty," Hollywood has consistently portrayed the suburbs as a destructive, even malevolent force. Think of "Poltergeist," a film in which the very existence of the suburb itself is the heinous crime for which the family must pay.
But what, the Grind wants to know, is so bad about having a house on a quiet, tree-lined street? Isn't a safe, comfortable home part of the American dream? Sure suburbs aren't that exciting. But with the nation fighting two wars and our economic well-being under threat, a little bit of boredom doesn't sound so bad.
Finally, Sophie Gilberton on the blog, Culture11, writes an elegy for the Polaroid camera. We like this one a little bit better.
