Our resident book expert, Joseph Amagliani, drops by today to share the three books he is most looking forward to for the month of May. Read more
Archives
TV Review: House of Cards
“Politics have no relation to morals.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
“Don’t worry, I hate spoilers.” – Joshua Smith
When House of Cards was pitched to me, it went something like this: “It’s The Godfather meets The West Wing.” Ok, I’m listening. “It’s based on a UK miniseries, based on a novel.” Oh, great. So I’ll have to endure the endless procession of tweets about how it didn’t capture the novel and the British version was more understated and poignant. “It has Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty) and Robin Wright (The Conspirator, Moneyball).” Alright, there’s going to be some stiff competition for Emmys this year. “It’s a collaborative effort between director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) and producer Andrew Davies (BBC’s Poet Laureate, probably). Ok, I’m in. But since I don’t have 13 hours to spend on a show I’m not watching with my wife, I have to wait until the opportune moment. Cold virus ravaging our bodies and making it impossible to move any more than is necessary to pay the pizza guy and keep the kids alive (same thing)? That’ll do. Read more
Marshall Henderson and the Argument of Class in Sports
There is a particularly famous episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry sees a painted portrait of Kramer (called, um, “The Kramer”) and remarks:
“He’s a loathsome, offensive brute. Yet I can’t look away”.
Perhaps there is no better description of the national sentiment towards Ole Miss shooting guard Marshall Henderson. Read more
The Vertical Slum
On the northern tip of the South American continent and the country of Venezuela lies the latter’s capital, Caracas – a city full of culture, commerce, and home to about 2 million citizens. Much of Caracas is similar to many other major Latin American cities. Wealth is present, but the well-known areas of the city are the mass slums that exist there. Caracas is no exception, as slums are most definitely present in this major Venezuelan city.
But one slum in particular stands above the rest. Literally.
623 feet. 45 floors. 700 families. Read more
Discovery Through Questions
Growing up in an environment where you are constantly being taught things in a community where you are constantly pressured to conform creates moments where one inevitably questions everything. You might question why you are in the environment in the first place, or why you follow what every other person in the environment is doing. You start wondering and coming up with answers as to how or why something is done. OR, you might even ask yourself if it is okay to question these things. Read more
What Could Have Been: Louie Giglio & Obama’s Inauguration
As 2013 gets started, we’re honored at The Wise Guise to not only add new contributors and guest writers, but also expand the topics we cover, questions we raise, and issues discussed. Today’s post is written by one of Joseph’s best friends in law school, Parker Hancock. We hope Parker will continue to contribute to The Wise Guise. Today’s post stems from some current events that Parker and Joseph discussed in detail recently as they caught up during the first week of the new semester.
Today, silently simmering below the lead stories on firearm accessories and commemorative coins was a story about an evangelical pastor asked to give the benediction at Obama’s inauguration, who had to step down because of a fifteen-year old sermon on homosexuality. It was a tremendously hopeful story that has turned tragic. The story really starts in 1997.
Book Review: Home
Home. Good and bad. Comfort and turbulence. Stability and volatility. Clarity and confusion.
The wide range of adjectives people use to describe their particular home life merely scratches the surface of just how massive and dynamic a topic this is. For many, home is a place of rest, a place where comfort and clarity reign. However, for countless others, home is a blend of strife and unrest. Read more
Charlie’s Top 100 Films: 1-10
A couple weeks ago we started a new series in which a new friend of The Wise Guise, Charlie Forrester, began unveiling his personal top 100 films. That list comes to a close today with Charlie’s Top 10. If you missed the start of the series, here are 11-25, 26-50, 51-75 and 76-100. For a refresher on Charlie’s criteria for selecting these films, check out his original post detailing numbers 76-100. Read more
Alex Beene’s Top 12 of 2012
December 18, 2012
in Featured, Guest Spots, Misc. Posts, Misc. TV, Movies, Music, Television
5 Comments
If the modern-day prophets who swear by the Mayan calendar are correct, then we only have a few days remaining on this wonderful paradise of a planet called Earth. Sad I know, but you couldn’t have asked for a better year from a pop culture perspective to bring things to a close. Every aspect of the arts – from music, to theater, to film, to gaming – was firing on all cylinders throughout the year. Read more
