As many of you know, I do a regular column for The Huffington Post. Here's the latest....
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Philosophy on the Air!
I missed this story when it first appeared in the Los Angeles Times, but it's a cool one. A couple philosophy professors have a radio show in which they discuss---what else?---philosophy. Here's the link to the story:
In these uncertain times, people are struggling to make sense of their lives, to find sources of meaning and solace. I've read that so-called "philosophy clubs" are springing up all over the country, in which people get together to discuss the issues of the day in the broader context of idea and meaning that philosophy posits. There's even a guy going around hosting what he calls "the Socrates Cafe," a kind of philosophy seminar on the road.
More power to them. If the perennial treasures that the pursuit of wisdom offer were ever needed as a balm to a troubled world, now is that time.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sorry...I meant JOHN Pinette!
Re my previous post:
I guess I was laughing so hard at stand-up comic John Pinette, I mistakenly wrote his first name as "Jim." Sorry about that!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I "Discover" Jim Pinette
Sometimes, in the midst of all the gloomy news about the economy, global conflicts, and pandemic scares, you just need a laugh. Not a chuckle, or a wry smile---I'm talking big, hearty, fall-out-of-your-chair laughs.
A few days ago, I happened to catch a Comedy Channel special featuring a cherubic, sharp-voiced stand-up comic named Jim Pinette. Maybe you know him. Hell, maybe he's been around for years. All I know is, I'd never heard of him.
But that's changed now. Believe me, I haven't laughed so hard, and with such real joy, in a long time. Tremendously at ease on stage, Pinette uses his rapid-fire timing, vivid word pictures and hilarious sense of outrage to puncture myriad sacred cows. And yet, while a truly modern comic in the usual sense, his booming voice and clownish facial expressions bring to mind the classic comics of vaudeville, the Borscht Belt and the Catskills. He's part Bert Lahr, part Jackie Gleason, and part Buddy Hackett.
Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's a paisan. Though, trust me, you don't have to be Italian to enjoy his hilarious riff on getting over-fed at a small, family-owned cafe in Italy. It's not only fall-down funny, it makes you want to jump up afterwards and find the nearest Italian restaurant.
Like I said, up until a few days ago, I'd never heard of Jim Pinette. If he's new to you, too, I recommend you go check him out. In my clinical opinion, it might turn out to be the most therapeutic thing you've done for yourself in a long time.
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