oz the mostly great and, surprisingly, powerful (at TFPO)

The pop-culture prominence of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and, much more recently, the magical world of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, stand on the shoulders of two classic fantasy realms: Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland and Frank L. Baum’s Oz. Of the two, Wonderland received much fanfare and reinvigoration in the form of a recent blockbuster movie. Oz had to be content with the musical Wicked, until Disney stepped in.

I cannot say, however, that the renewed interest in the land of munchkins and yellow bricks road did anything to revise my rather lukewarm relationship to anything Oz-related. Given a choice of exotic travel destinations, my unhesitating choice would be...read the rest at The Front Page Online 

a debate that's out of (gun) control (at TFPO)

A topic so big, it took two parts for me to (barely) scratch the surface.

Part 1

In discussing gun rights and gun control, let’s begin with a clarification: While gun bans can be elements of gun control policy, the reverse isn't necessarily true. Gun control is, by definition, a set of policies intended to manage the ownership and use of firearms. Inconveniently, perhaps, for gun rights ideologues, the very idea of gun control begins the moment we...

Part 2

Another understandable, albeit less reasonable, concern on the part of the gun lobby is the worry that arises from requiring universal background checks, an idea that strikes gun rights advocates like the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre as equivalent to a gun registry. If the government knows who has guns, the argument goes, they will know where to go to confiscate those guns. But let’s consider the conceptual difference between a universal background check and a gun registry...

Les Miserables (at TFPO)

I never did get the chance to see the theatrical production of Les Misérables; such are the vagaries of the calendar. Fortunately, there is this magnificent film from the director of the superlative crowd-pleaser, The King’s Speech. The leap from stage to screen is entirely sensible for the sort of big-spectacle theatre. What cinema lacks in the energy of a live performance, it makes up for in a kinetic energy all its own as well as a natural affinity for grandeur. What an epic story Les Misérables is, the human condition writ upon a canvas with bold strokes of revolution, hope and love amidst humanity’s cruel capacity for inhumanity. 

Read the rest at The Front Page Online...

my week with windows 8 (at TFPO)

Well, two weeks actually.

Part the First

If you believe the tech trades and the various opinionators who lurk in the articles’ comments section, Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 8, is the second coming of the much-maligned Windows Vista or, if you really want to give yourself the heebie-jeebies, Microsoft Bob...After a week working with Windows 8 on my office workstation, I'm gaining enough experience to reach a verdict of my own. Thus, the questions: Is Windows 8 a win or a fail? Read the rest here.

Part the Second

After almost two weeks of working with Windows 8, I’ve gained enough experience to reinforce my suspicion that critics of the OS are either operating with a bias against Microsoft or are simply old dogs whimpering at new tricks. An unfair characterization, no doubt, but I remain baffled at the hostility towards Windows 8. In my experience, Windows is just like Windows 7, only with a Start screen instead of a Start menu. Read the rest here.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (at TFPO)

I've returned to active writing duty at The Front Page Online, beginning with a review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey...

Time has passed since Jackson first materialized Middle Earth in a trilogy of films that made pure fantasy fashionable again, although I’ll stick with the Harry Potter films as the superior accomplishment. My opinion of Tolkien’s work hasn’t changed – imagination and exhaustive attention to detail put to the service of a dull and shallow narrative – yet I’ve come to appreciate that imagination and detail through Jackson’s breathtaking rendition of Tolkien’s universe...

Read the rest of "An Unexpected Pleasure" at The Front Page Online.