Arts & Culture
Steyn's Song of the Week
Cinderella Rockefella
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What with all the Jew-hate around on the streets of Europe in recent days, I thought it would be nice to have a big Europop hit from that fleeting cultural moment when the Continentals regarded Israel not merely as a normal sovereign state but in fact a rather cool and enviable one. Half-a-century ago there was a slightly goofy Israeli zeitgeist that made global stars of such unlikely figures as Topol.
The great cultural artifact of the era was a nutty novelty song that I last heard in London a couple of years back. Zapping my remote, I came across one of those Channel 4 specials in which various style gurus dote snidely on naff pop culture. In this case, it was the all-time Top Ten duets: there was John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease, Frank and Nancy doing "Somethin' Stupid", a ton of Peters and Lee – and Esther and Abi Ofarim singing this...
Mark at the Movies
Fahrenheit 9/11
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A decade ago, Fahrenheit 9/11 opened to critical acclaim and fawning profiles of its creator, Michael Moore. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats organized a special screening at the Capitol, and at the party convention a few weeks later Moore was seated next to Jimmy Carter in the presidential box - a signal honor for someone who on the very day of 9/11 had complained that al-Qaeda had hit Gore-voting states rather than Bush states, as if Mohammed Atta cared one jot about which infidel you ...
Ave atque vale
Chemistry Lessons
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James Garner was one of those actors who was watchable in almost anything, even commercials. He had great sexual chemistry, which is why his leading ladies loved working with him. For my money, when it comes to Sixties sex comedies, he was better with Doris Day than Rock Hudson was, and not just for the obvious reason. In Move Over, Darling, Doris and Polly Bergen crank it up a tad too much too soon, and it's Garner dialing it back and reeling it in who keeps the picture's contrivances from ...
Steyn on Culture
New Balls
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I was sorry to see my compatriot Eugénie Bouchard lose in the Wimbledon ladies' final. A Montrealer, she's named after the Queen's granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, yet bears the illustrious francophone surname of the former future président de la république himself...
On the Town
Crying Uncle
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American TV's Uncle Walter died at a grand old age five years ago, bringing to an end the media's obsequies for Michael Jackson...
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