The New Devil’s Dictionary: A Quick Look at the Lexicon of the Left
By Robert Arrington
Beginning in 1881, and extending up through 1906, the American newspaper writer and noted cynic Ambrose Bierce compiled what he called “The Devil’s Dictionary”. It contained wry and sometimes humorous, but always cynical, definitions of words and phrases. The copyright has long since expired, and the entire slim volume can be found at no cost on a number of internet sites.
Bierce suggested his definitions were what people really meant in practice, as opposed to the formal dictionary definitions of the same terms.
One of my favorites is his definition of “bigot.” He wrote that it means “[o]ne who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion you do not entertain.”
Although Bierce wrote this definition well over 100 years ago, the mentality that inspired his biting definition is very much with us. This column will offer some examples of how our political left really defines some terms commonly in use, even though the copy of “Webster’s” on your desk won’t include them.
PreTeena: March 25 – March 31, 2019
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected]
Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
“Tron” Versus “Pixels” – a War of the Video Game Movies
By Tamara Wilhite
“Tron” and its “Tron: Legacy” along with “Pixels” count as video game movies. They both take it one step further than movies like “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” by bringing the video game to the real world instead of dropping the theoretically real life characters in the video game. Yet they are nearly exact opposites in their approach of merging the war in the virtual world with the real world.
New Fiction: Their Deformed Ideology
By Mike P.
I stand over the FNP soldier, gun pointed at his head.
The sky is dark, the field a landscape of muddy trenches. The only remaining hint of living vegetation lies some three hundred yards away, a sketchy dark outline against the ring of mountains beyond. Bright muzzle flashes pop in and out of existence across the field like a swarm of fireflies. It smells of metal, ozone, and death.
Rain streams down my gloved hands, across the matte black of my gun barrel. Droplets form and slide one-by-one down the muzzle like marching soldiers, collecting into one large drop at the tip that falls…and is quickly lost in the dozens streaming from the sky to spatter my enemy’s face. His sickly eyes squint up at me from underneath thick greenish folds, like a zombie, or an alien.
Hard to believe he’s one of my fellow countrymen.
Mary Pickford: The Archetypal (Canadian) Actress
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 21: The Blank Screen
By Josh Lieblein
The history of Canadian actors is unlike the history of Canadians in any other medium. Canadian novelists are celebrated at home and barely noticed abroad. Canadian musicians are oddities and curiosities with hardcore fanbases. Canadian directors are singular visionaries who engage (or refuse to engage) with the meaning of life itself.
But Canadians have been such an integral part of Hollywood that you have to remind people that a famous actor is, or was Canadian. And so, as I introduce the archetypal Canadian actress – Gladys Smith, aka Mary Pickford – I really have to squint to pick out what makes her Canadian.
PreTeena: March 18 – March 24, 2019
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected]
Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
2 Photos: Attila and the Monarch
By David Churchill Barrow
*Submit your photographs of nature and the outdoor life to [email protected] to participate in this weekly feature exploring the natural world.*
Why Are So Many Horror Movies an Allegory for Modern Parenting?
By Tamara Wilhite
“Birdbox” and “A Quiet Place” are recent horror movies featuring parents trying to protect children in a world full of monsters. What is interesting to me is how often I’ve heard both horror movies considered an allegory for modern parenting.
Pulp Fiction Reviews on Mike Baron’s Disco: ‘a New Side to His Fabulous Imagination’
By Liberty Island Links & Excerpts
A generous review from Ron Fortier on one of Liberty Island’s new novels.
Green Book: The Worst Best Picture Winner I’ve Ever Seen. My Rankings…
My Oscar Viewing List Isn’t Complete, But I Haven’t Seen One As Lousy as last Year’s Most Blatant Oscar Bait
By David M. Swindle
So Green Book finally became available on Netflix and April and I watched it over the weekend, both in a similar state of annoyance and almost embarrassment that this silly, formulaic, insulting movie had won Best Picture. It was about as bad as predicted, save for a handful of entertaining and redeeming moments from Mahershala Ali. I can see why the family of Dr. Donald Shirley would be so angered by the obvious false scenes inserted into a narrative based on a true story.
Roma should have won. Black Panther was good enough to deserve to win too. (Blockbusters in the past such as Avatar being nominated and the third Lord of the Rings winning so I think Black Panther as the winner would have been legitimate.) BlackkKlansman is much better than Greenbook and one of Spike Lee’s rare upper tier films. It’s still fairly B-level, mediocre, though (and totally unworthy of a best picture nomination or the screenwriting award Lee won). But that’s such an improvement over his usual C or D-level offerings.
