Posts by David Benjamin
“The tube is flickering now … “
by David Benjamin “When the shouting and tumult dies, the American people and president will realize that the unprecedented mudslinging against the committee by the extreme left-wing elements of press and radio was caused solely because another Fifth Amendment communist was finally dragged out of the dark recesses and exposed to public view.” —Sen.…
Read MoreSeven Mutations of Recollection
by David Benjamin “There’s a holdup in the Bronx, Brooklyn’s broken out in fights, “There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights, “There’s a scout troop short a child, Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild! “Car 54, where are you?” MADISON, Wis.—Occasionally, to test my memory, I try singing to myself……
Read MoreThe Houthis in our midst
by David Benjamin “The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?” — Sigmund Freud, to Marie Bonaparte NAPILI POINT, Hawaii—Once, in the course of writing a novel, my…
Read MoreThe osmotic effect of Mickey Mouse and Miss September
by David Benjamin “… Our morality is based, in large part, on mystical dogma, not reason, our lives are governed by superstition and prejudice rather than knowledge. Self-sacrifice is prized above self-interest and self-esteem. Society is placed above the individual. And the goal of happiness is lost in a labyrinthine maze of emotional responses, self-doubts,…
Read MoreFat Linda throws an incomplete pass
by David Benjamin “Data technologies do not simply predict the future by guessing what an individual or group might do or want to do in the future. It is rather that those futures already exist, completely realized, and they reach backwards into the present to guide it. The possible paths for our desires to travel…
Read MoreCharacterization in shades of gray
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—A growing phenomenon in film and TV entertainment, especially over the last quarter-century, is the morally vacuous villain, a badass so totally devoid of redeeming qualities that he or she is not character but caricature. This trend is manifest in the proliferation of films, and an entire studio—Marvel—rooted in comic books.……
Read MoreDo helicopter parents have heliport kids?
by David Benjamin “Herbert T. Gillis: Son, is this the book you were looking for? “Dobie Gillis: Oh, yeah. Thanks, Dad. I don’t know what I’d do without you. “Herbert T. Gillis: Yeah, neither do I, but just thinking about it has made my whole day.” —“The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” MADISON,…
Read MoreCES ’24: ‘Ah feel ya, man.’
by David Benjamin “… Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it again in my arms/ Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it/ Whoa, oh, again” — Morris Albert LAS VEGAS—Watching a relay team of Sony, Honda and Microsoft execs at a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) “press conference”…
Read MoreThe Hinauslehnen Hundred
by David Benjamin “Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them.” ― Pauline Kael MADISON, Wis.—My favorite movie maven, Nick Hinauslehnen, who publishes a film periodical called Flashback, poses an annual question for readers. This year, he asks, “What movies…
Read MoreThe rabbit pellet in the caviar bowl
by David Benjamin MADISON Wis.—I’ve decided to end the year cathartically with a rant against one of my career-long nemeses, the literary agent racket. I recently remembered an exchange with an agent named Alice, whose name I won’t mention because these people are vindictive. Before sending Alice my query, I had researched her thoroughly. I……
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