Beyond classification Archives
"We're All We Have" - I suggested it was time for the 9.5-year-old to make her list for Santa. She wiggled two fingers on each hand --- air quotes – and said, “
2010: Hey, hey, goodbye - With this edition, I kiss 2010 goodbye and, like the butler/chauffeur of “Sabrina,” head off to spend the holidays with my family in our m
2011: The Bad and the Beautiful -   “The first cure for illusion,” Philip Slater wrote, “is despair.”   This was the year in which certain things beca
2012: The Best Videos - “Hello darkness my old friend.” Paul Simon sang "Sounds of Silence” at the funeral for a teacher killed in Connecticut, and in
9/11: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” - It seems to be an unwritten law for writers with web sites and members of the Bloviating Class that something must be said about 9/11. I have thought
9/11: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” - It seems to be an unwritten law for writers with web sites and members of the Bloviating Class that something must be said about 9/11. I have thought
Aaron Swartz: An open letter to his prosecutor - I had a piece ready to publish about Highclere Castle, the English country house --- okay: castle --- featured in "Downton Abbey." This seem
Bob Wooldridge (1961-2006) - Bob Wooldridge (1961-2006) Bob Wooldridge died last weekend, killed by a car as he skateboarded in fron
Bonjour Paris Special Subscription - BonjourParis.com Readers of Head Butler are natural travelers, even if they never go anywhere --- for what is a book, a movie or mu
Books by Friends and Neighbors - “Another book?” the child says, as the doorman hands her one of the thick, padded envelopes that arrives each day.
Books for Thirteens - An obsessive reader turns 13 and stops reading. Cold. Is it the weekend blur of Bar Mitzvahs? The lure of video games and Second Life?
Butler's 500th - Butler's 500th Careful what you wish for --- I asked for suggestions for the 500th review, and several hundred of you had at least one.
Charity: Adopt a Soldier - Adopt A Soldier http://www.cornbreadshow.com/Soldier/adopt.htm   Head Butler has steadfastly resisted discussing politics on these screens --- b
Charles Nolan (June 3, 1957 - January 30, 2011) - I rolled off the plane, clicked the New York Times and there, on the main screen, was Charles Nolan --- dead. How could this be?
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -   Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Butler loathes musicals.
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley -   Doubt by John Patrick Shanley When Butler was still in his prime and fame was but a breath away, he attended a dinner party given
Father's Day 2007 -   Father's Day 2007 My grandmother belie
Father's Day 2005 - There isn't a tie you could stand to buy Dad this year. Seriously. Have you seen what they're calling neckwear this season?
Father's Day 2008 - I have the usual grievances about a “day” for me: Am I retiring? Dying? Will there be a postage stamp?
Father's Day 2010: Words & Music - Whatever objections I once had to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are gone. Life seems harder now. Parents seem smarter, maybe even wiser.