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Propositions show what they say: tautologies and contradictions show that they say nothing. ↗

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

#nothing #propositions #say #show #they say

There is only one cure for gray hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine. ↗

— P. G. Wodehouse

#cure #frenchman #gray #gray hair #guillotine

A typical 'Larry King Live' is a pastiche whose absurdism defies parody. Wearing his trademark suspenders and purple shirts, he looks as if he's strapped to the chair with vertical seat belts, unable to eject. ↗

— James Wolcott

#chair #defies #his #king #larry

And what could be a hotter ticket than the improbable triumph of 'The Book of Mormon,' the musical-comedy moon shot of the season? Its creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, of Comedy Central's 'South Park,' are the most unlikely Rodgers and Hammerstein team ever to bowl a thundering strike. ↗

— James Wolcott

#bowl #central #comedy #could #creators

Book-jacket design may become a lost art, like album-cover design, without which late-20th-century iconography would have been pauperized. ↗

— James Wolcott

#become #been #design #iconography #like

High expectations weren't nurtured in my neck of nowhere back then - children weren't fawned over from an early age as 'gifted' and groomed for a prizewinning future; self-esteem was considered something you had to pick from the garden yourself. ↗

— James Wolcott

#back #children #considered #early #early age

Historically, Hollywood comedy has arrived in skinny envelopes. From fence post Buster Keaton to herky-jerky Jerry Lewis to wiry nerve-bundle Woody Allen to hung-loose Richard Pryor to whippy contortionist Jim Carrey, its comics and clowns have tended to be sliced thin and bendable. ↗

— James Wolcott

#arrived #buster #carrey #clowns #comedy

In 2008, Barack Obama did get Democrats hyperventilating, whipped up to a creamy froth, while John McCain creaked ahead like a cranky granddad whom Republicans let move to the front of the buffet line, deferring to seniority, as they had in 1996, when Bob Dole turtled to the top of the ticket. ↗

— James Wolcott

#barack #barack obama #bob #buffet #cranky

It was with 9/11 that I came to fully appreciate and embrace NPR's irreplaceability as a sanity preserver, its unique virtues as first responder on the burning scene. ↗

— James Wolcott

#burning #came #embrace #first #fully

It's the contemporary woman that movies don't know what to do with, other than bathe her in a bridal glow in romantic comedies where both the romance and the comedy are artificial sweeteners. ↗

— James Wolcott

#bathe #both #bridal #comedies #comedy