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The 2017 Oscars Debacle Proves No Heretical or Heuristic Difference Between Winning and Losing

The 2017 Oscars will be forever remembered as a debacle over naming the “Best Picture” in a mixup that was more human than mechanical, and for that pleasure, I’m grateful. We continue to prove, even in our dearest moments, we are not beyond the touch of the fallible, and that we are mortally are bound to fail — by proxy of The Gods — for even tempting to create beauty over form, and meaning over function.

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Luck Runs Out… of Beating Dead Horses

Luck was one of those sorry cable television series on HBO — from David Milch and Michael Mann — that looks good on paper, but in execution and airing, the drama and the ideals of the show failed.  Yesterday, HBO mercy killed Luck — but blame for the extermination was placed on the deaths of three horses who died during filming instead of the real reason:  The show had lousy ratings despite its mega-star power and HBO renewed it for a second season much too early.

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Dr. Howard Stein and the Habit of Intelligent Choice

At the end of the nineteenth century, in a graduation speech to Barnard College graduates, William James made the following statement:

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