Category Archives: Culture

Rolle bolle

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Stephen W. Browne

“What the hell is rolle bolle?” I can almost hear. Well, this Saturday I went to cover a local festival in Russell, Minnesota (pop. 338.) After the parade I went to the local rolle bolle (pronounced “roley boley”) court to … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | 12 Comments

Vampire$

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Stephen W. Browne

My wife rented ‘New Moon’ prepartory to seeing ‘Eclipse’ on her next girl’s night out. She’d seen ‘Twilight’ in the theater and wanted to be up to speed. I stayed up and watched it because I hadn’t seen any of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Literature, Movies | 5 Comments

None explain it better, few as well

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Stephen W. Browne

“For every hundred men who can design a utopia on paper, you’ll find maybe three who can run a chicken farm.” -Author unknown When Thomas Sowell passes from this vale of tears (Not soon I hope! But he is in … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics | 1 Comment

Demonstrations that bring down governments

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: A slightly different version of this appeared as the weekend editorial in the paper.. I’m watching the demonstrations in Iran with the oddest feeling I’ve seen this movie before. In fact, I think I was an extra in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Social Science & History | 1 Comment

Battlestar Galactica, not the frakkin’ end!

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Stephen W. Browne

“What seems human, is human.”– Cordwainer Smith (Dr. Paul Myron Linebarger) Battlestar Galactica concluded in a two-and-a-quarter hour special last night, and it wasn’t bad at all. I actually feared they might have painted themselves into a corner they couldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Movies | 4 Comments

A bad time for lovers

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Stephen W. Browne

There has been a bit of Net buzz lately over Kay Hymowitz’s two articles about the marriage and dating scene, published this year in City Journal. Hymowitz first looked at the scene from the point view of women’s complaints in … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, Culture, Relationships | Tagged | 7 Comments

Ivy League elitism, some observations

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Stephen W. Browne

Note: Either before of after you read this post, try this one by Victor Davis Hanson on the subject of elitism: http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson092808.htmlI like to think one will enrich the other. Some years back, a young friend of mine, the son … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Education, Politics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Father’s Day, lessons for an older dad

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Stephen W. Browne

About seven years back I found myself an expectant father, much to my surprise. It happened right about the time in my life I had given up hoping that it would ever happen for me, a time when many of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Personal, Relationships | Leave a comment

Fritz the Cat, his own personal 60s

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Stephen W. Browne

Last night I watched Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat for the first time in… a long time. Fritz was Bakshi’s first feature film, and the most commercially successful. The fate of Bakshi’s subsequent works seems to have been to flop … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Movies, Social Science & History | 5 Comments

Finally saw Apocalypto

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Stephen W. Browne

We finally watched Apocalypto last night. It was unfortunately a marred library DVD so we periodically had to fiddle with the controls and change players when the scene froze, and missed some seconds of the action, of course right at … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Movies | 8 Comments