Andre Previn

Dead at 89.

Just one recommendation out of many: his recording of Walton's First Symphony.

“The grinning legatee who taints the Prime Minister's office”

What a glorious description of Justin Trudeau.

What the former attorney general described tonight is a sickeningly smug protection racket whose participants must have been astonished when she refused to play along.

Some more reactions:

• Blatchford strikes a hopeful note 
• Coyne
• The Toronto Sun

And this prediction about Trudeau's tactics.

UPDATE Friday 1 March: Rex Murphy has a little fun.

Lying to our face

I don’t mean Cohen, I mean NBC.

I guess India-Pakistan air combat is a distraction too

Françaix At 72

A nice little piece by Jean Françaix, written and performed by him at age 72.

And I haven’t linked Frank Martin in a while.

American politics is worse than you think

One thing I try to convince my Canadian and European friends Of is that they do not fully understand how dysfunctional American politics and governance is. Here is a case in point, a school district. I have linked to this saga in the past but it is ongoing.

Brian Wilson plays the studio

Recording Wouldn’t It Be Nice. 9 minutes.

Cartoon, Please Don’t Riot

Daily Beast is despicable

More malicious and petty doxxing, this time of a pastry chef with a silly conspiracy theory. Yes, a pastry chef. Here is a summary. Some good reactions, for example the one by Greenwald.

When did Gladys Kravitz become the role model?

Shamelessly Stolen Graphic

Victimhood Culture and Hoaxes

Another interesting article from Quillette.

A Constitutionalist

I have had difficulty over recent years describing myself in terms of American politics. Broadly libertarian was the best I could do, until the Russian Collusion fantasy came along, and the wild talk of impeachment and the 25th amendment. And I discovered the word I wanted: constitutionalist. Trump was elected, he is entitled to govern, as was Obama before him. Conrad Black gives a good summary of the ongoing extra-legal attempts to undermine Trump.

Wolf-Ferrari

Here is his cello concerto. It won’t blow your socks off but it’s very appealing music, with some lovely passages.

The 20th century is the golden age of the cello concerto. To mention just a few of the more well known ones, the two by Shostakovich head the list, Walton, Barber, Elgar. But well worth a listen are Thomson and Weinberg, which I have linked, Honegger, Myaskovsky, Rota, Glass, Kabalevsky. Of these the Weinberg is the best.

ADDED: The bassoon concertino is a lovely piece.

Green Litmus Test

Do you support nuclear power? The green answer is yes. Yes is also the right answer if you care about reducing poverty or promoting prosperity.

I'll take Corbyn's word for it

Labour investigated its own supporters:

“Labour staff have seen examples of Holocaust denial, crude stereotypes of Jewish bankers, conspiracy theories blaming 9/11 on Israel, and even one individual who appeared to believe that Hitler had been misunderstood,” Corbyn admitted.

TDS and decriminalizing homosexuality

Trump does good stuff and bad stuff. Pushing to decriminalize gay sex is unambiguously a good thing. But not to Out Magazine.

A Thought About Jussie Smollett

Here.

Hate-knitting

Here. At this point, no one should be surprised at accusations of knitting as a hate crime. The accusations are always only about power.

Social Media Quotes

Some arresting and unflattering quotes about social media.

Rota Harp

Saraband and Toccata for Harp by Nino Rota.

And a bit of fun from Per Norgard (and a certain Mr Bach), Bach to the Future.

I must reread Hofstadter

Eugene Volokh highlights another example of woke anti-intellectualism.

Book.

Smollett

Jussie Smollett has not only refused to let the cops see his phone, he has even refused to give them his phone records. He gave them a “redacted” listing. Details. It's not easy to find an innocent explanation of this.

Eastory: Operation Barbarossa Animated

10 minutes. There are follow ups for subsequent years.

Double Edged

Razor blades that is.

King Gillette invented the double edged blade and the safety razor, and Gillette still makes superb blades, but there are a lot of other choices.  One site I have used is ItalianBarber.com, and they seem to have good prices. They carry their own line of shaving soaps and gear, RazoRock, which I have been quite pleased with it. Another site is Maggard Razors.

I don’t actually like the German Croma blades we saw in the video very much. Russian made blades are generally superb. Rapira and most Gillette blades are Russian.

It's wise to start with a blade sampler, as different people like different blades. EBay is usually the best spot for blades.

Some recommendations:

• Edwin Jagger DE89 razor
• Polsilver Super Irridium or Astra Superior Platinum blades
• Razorock Plissoft brush
• Razorock Mudderfocker or Razorock Zi Peppino or TOBS Avocado soap

The $8 Razorock razor is pretty good for a starter if you are pinching pennies. The Fine Accoutrements lathering bowl works incredibly well. 

On the plus side

No CNN host has expressed a desire to punch any multiply accused rapist Democrat politician in Virginia. Or suggested that Democrats in blackface and/or Klan hoods look punchable.

Baby steps, baby steps.

AirBnB sanctioned

Good for Florida. I posted about this last year.

A. J. Casson

A Canadian painter who belonged to the Group of Seven, and who lived in my hometown for some years.

Shamelessly stolen graphic

Gimme that old atonal music!

Here.

The Lawsuits Begin

Against the Punch-a-Kid crowd. Here. I hope there are more to come. Not all Punching advocates are on the list of course, only ones who made false factual claims.

Nyman Burning

This is from the score to The Claim, a disappointing movie aside from the score. Here Nyman does something quite remarkable in the way he extends the climax on and on, doing something I cannot describe with a section using piccolos. Remarkable music.

Delicious, but

There has been some delicious hypocrisy about Northam. I am enjoying it. But stupid is stupid, and demanding he resign over old pictures is stupid.  Eugene Volokh gets it right. So does Ann Althouse.  Once more we are seeing Hofstadter's “100% mind” on display in the media and political class.

Talking to Klansmen

... while black. Here.