We live in an age of miracles. It doesn’t always seem that way, though. When a maniac opens fire on a country music concert and the citizens of our country are locked in an ideological battle, it can feel like we’re hurtling toward the abyss. I don’t think we are. Not really, anyway. The miraculous surrounds us, we just have to remember to see it. When we think about the events of Las Vegas, we can’t help but be confronted by the numerous acts of heroism that inevitably overshadow the attack itself. When we consider politics, we have to remember that, as citizens, there’s... Read More

I’ve always held musicals at arm’s length. I’m weak that way. Everybody has a blind spot when it comes to movies, a certain genre or actor that they just can’t stand. My wife’s aunt has an irrational hatred of Tom Hanks. Every time she sees him in a movie, she shakes her head and says something like, “Nobody is that nice. I bet he’s really a serial killer.” For years, that’s how I was with musicals. I can suspend disbelief when it comes to subterranean creatures menacing a group of spelunkers, or a sociopath dressing up as a bat and committing... Read More

Okay, guys, time for another thought experiment. Imagine something you’re good at, whether it’s a job or a hobby. Turns out you’ve got a knack for it, even though you’ve sweated blood honing your craft. You’re trying to break into your chosen profession, and at the tender age of 25, you do so. Big time. For the next several years, you have a string of successes and a couple of not-quite-successes. But at the end of your run, the people in your profession turn on you. Why? Is it because you make your work look easy, even though it’s incredibly difficult? Is... Read More

There’s a line in Adam McKay’s new film, The Big Short, that perfectly encapsulates what the film means and how its characters relate to it. “The truth is like poetry. And everyone f**king hates poetry.” When we’re children, we’re taught to share, to be nice, to behave in a fundamentally decent way. Theoretically, anyway. As we get older, and it’s different for everyone, things change. We’re told that success is measured monetarily, that our self-worth is directly proportional to our net worth. We display a lack of empathy that’s staggering,... Read More