Warren Beatty (30 March 1937 – ) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. Strikingly handsome with a style that is self-consciously cool and opaque, he was the classic screen idol of his day. He has been nominated for 14 Oscars, including his performance in 1967 for Bonnie and Clyde. He won the Oscar […]
Tucker Carlson: paleo-conservative megaphone
Tucker Carlson, arguably the most influential voice in American media, has enjoyed a spectacular rise to pre-eminence as a spokesperson for an increasingly cynical and divisive political electorate. He’s been described as a “paleo-conservative,” expressing right-wing views that embrace nationalism, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. And yet his opinions merely reflect those of many conservative politicians, […]
Bernie Madoff, Crown Prince of Ponzi
The name of Bernie Madoff is now inextricably linked to the largest financial fraud in history. At its peak the massive Ponzi scheme, wherein Madoff claimed through fictitious reports that the $18 billion contributed by investors had enjoyed handsome annual returns though shrewd investments, had a paper worth of a staggering $64 billion. When the […]
Jordan Peterson: agent provocateur
Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Thanks to three published books, and a substantive YouTube presence, he’s also become a media personality and a lightning rod for intellectual debate on a wide range of subjects — climate, gender identity, political correctness, psychology, religion, and much […]
Sharon Stone: the trauma of miscarriage
In a recent post on Instagram, while expressing sympathy for other women who’ve borne the same trauma, Sharon Stone revealed that she has “lost nine children” through miscarriages over the years. Although men are inevitably acquainted with and affected by such tragedies, nothing quite compares to the grief experienced by a prospective mother who’s carried […]
The Righteous Brothers: blue-eyed soul
In the mid-Sixties, “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” was a trans-Atlantic hit that catapulted two American white boys to the top of the Billboard charts and other play-lists around the world. Produced by Phil Spector, the single showcased a remarkable duet of voices — Bill Medley’s bass baritone and Bobby Hatfield’s soaring tenor. The Righteous […]
Will & Jada: doing it in public
A month ago, a petition began making headway on the website change.org, asking for the media to please stop interviewing Will and Jada Pinkett Smith about their sex life. To date, the site has gathered input from over 23,000 digital signatories, who expressed their collective frustration at the celebrity couple’s tendency to disclose intimate details […]
Elon Musk: Martian mogul
Nature abhors a vacuum, Aristotle is alleged to have said. So, when I realized that one of the world’s wealthiest men did not have a known birth time, I felt compelled to address this void. The multi-billionaire in question is Elon Musk, for whom Astrodienst (astro.com) provides only birth date and place. I won’t burden […]
Randy Andy and the Dungeon of Crumpet
Although he later became a helicopter pilot, Prince Andrew in his youth was never able to fly below the radar of the British tabloids because he was such an obvious target. Before getting married, he was relentlessly tracked by the paparazzi for the sheer number and diversity of his dates — college girls, actresses, models, […]
Jeff Bezos: Croesus of the internet age
Long before the Covid-19 pandemic made shopping-by-Amazon a virtual necessity, Jeff Bezos had already built a mousetrap that brought the world beating a path to his door. Since the inception of Amazon.com in 1994 as an online marketplace for books, the company has since expanded in multiple directions, now selling virtually every kind of consumer […]