I liked the documentary, for many of the reasons people have cited as disappointments. I already know enough about Cohen. I didn't need him to recapitulate a bunch of stuff I've already heard (and which is available through archives, books, clippings etc.) anyway. I did find Teddy Thompson's perform...

"Following the logic of your argument that would mean that all albums in the charts would be down to ‘old people’, which of course is clearly preposterous." Please don't turn my statement into a strawman. Instead, address my statement. Dylan's #1 has certainly been helped along by the fact...

Dylan went #1 because we old people (Dylan's core audience) are the ones who still pay for music and buy CDs. The world of free, illegal downloading among the young'uns has made Dylan's big news "#1" a dubious one. Fewer than 200, 000 units in a first week wouldn't have been news back in t...

I have to retract my statement about Barry Goldwater's "admirable position on Native American rights." I had believed he was something of a land claims legislative pioneer, but a little Internet research has revealed that the historical record is not without blemish. I don't usually improv...

No doubt Dylan's lies about his background were not as serious as Bush's lies about WMDs--but Dylan presents the idea in a general way, as though this is how people generally should approach the world. I consider it a very anti-social attitude and it makes me kind of sad to hear it from him :cry: Fr...

"I don't think it's wise or brave to 'stop bravely at the surface'" Fair enough, though I didn't modify it with "always" but with "sometimes" and I qualified my statements by acknowledging that a depth paradigm may have insights to offer sometimes, too. By the way, it a...

Steven wrote: "were Gibson to have said that he loves and always will love his father, but has come to conclusions that are different than his dad, this wouldn't be taken by the public as a 'calling down' of his father in public or a 'dishonor.'" You may be right, but it would create a cir...

Steven wrote: "The extent that the copy is true to the original varies, but what doesn't is that the attitudes (and the parents, generally in their positions as role models) do have tremendous affect . . ." No one is going to argue with the easy truism that parents' attitudes influence tho...

Steven wrote: "Within [Mel Gibson], though, would be a rather volatile presence of vitriole, considering his dad (and Gibson's unwillingness to even distance himself from positions of his father or to disavow them)." Steven: I don't presume to have as developed an ability to read Mel Gibso...

Steven: I don't know Mel Gibson. Neither do you, I suspect. I have no idea if he has a "passionate hatred" toward anyone. I do know he made an indefensible generalization about an ethnic group while he was inebriated. I don't believe that such stereotypes hold up when a person is given the...

There's no defending anti-Semitic (or other ethnic) slurs, but throwing tomatoes at Mel Gibson and turning him into the abjected shit will do nothing to address where his foolish remarks came from. I don't believe he's an anti-Semite, but I believe on some cognitive level he's carrying (at least som...

FYI--the Linda Thompson that David Foster was married to (I think divorce proceedings are underway) is NOT the same Linda Thompson that Richard was married to. Thompson's _Front Parlour Ballads_ is a good little record but not RT's best recent work. If you want a better example of his recent work, c...

All the speculation in this thread shows how prickly people can get about things they don't have any idea about. It's possible that Cohen didn't credit a co-writer in the "#2" because he wanted to hog royalties. Yes, it's possible. He ain't the messiah, kids. However, it's also possible th...

Leaving a temporary "mist" rather than a permanent "scar" on the foliage . . . hmmm . . . its a deliberately erotic image, for sure--a lyrical, and surrealist take on the classic "gather your rosebuds while ye may" Sexual congress as "celebration" rather than ...

The thought is nice, but Cohen is going to tour and put out a new CD soon. Some money will come in. I don't think he's going to be going to the poor house. It's terrible what happened to his retirement savings and I hope that he gets justice (or better yet, $$$$$$$) in court, but I don't think that ...