A Conservative Journey Through Literary America – Part 4: The New Formalism

In the beginning there was the word, and it had form.

Homer wrote his two great works, The Iliad and The Odyssey, in dactylic hexameter.  Not for arbitrary reasons was it so organized – in pre-literate Greek society, epic poetry was sung, and the fixed metrical structure allowed for ease of memorization for the poet while simultaneously lending a pleasing musicality for the listener.  This relationship between music and words, a relationship both practical and aesthetic, continued to be enshrined in poetic structural forms for millennia.

Until Whitman.

That beautiful, bearded, destructive bastard knocked poetic form hard to the ground with his free, expansive, structureless verse.  The fact that it was also thrilling and brilliant and original had the unfortunate effect of encouraging lesser poets to write in a likewise fashion, and what Whitman had floored in the 19th century was thoroughly killed in the 20th.  Music and verse became decoupled; form and structure became increasingly ridiculed as backwards, stifling, archaic, not unlike bourgeoisie society itself.

Until… (more…)

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Tags: Bill Kristol, Dana Gioia, homer, Ira Sadoff, Neo-Formalism
Posted May 24th 2009 at 6:53 am in Entertainment, Featured Story | 140082One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/05/24/a-conservative-journey-through-literary-america-part-4-the-new-formalism/A+Conservative+Journey+Through+Literary+America+-+Part+4%3A++The+New+Formalism2009-05-24+13%3A53%3A28Matt+Patterson

Bill Kristol vs. Matt Damon – The Debate Transcript

(Third installment in the not-so-unbelievable Upside Down Bizarre World series.)

Dateline: Next Thursday.

Announcer Voice Over:  Live from New York City, it’s The Bill Kristol – Matt Damon Debate, and here’s your moderator for the evening: Greg Gutfeld.

Greg Gutfeld:  Hello, I’m Greg Gutfled, host of the Fox News late night show Red Eye. Tonight I am coming to you live from the stage of Town Hall here in New York City for a debate between Mr. Bill Kristol and Mr. Matt Damon. The audience has been told to hold their applause (and their privates) except for when introducing our two debaters - which happens right now! (more…)

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Tags: Bill Kristol, damon, debate, Good Will Hunting, Gutfeld
Posted Jan 31st 2009 at 6:15 am in Political Humor | 3390643 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/emannix/2009/01/31/bill-kristol-vs-matt-damon-debate-the-transcript/Bill+Kristol+vs.+Matt+Damon+-+The+Debate+Transcript+2009-01-31+14%3A15%3A30Ernie+Mannix

Iraq War Showdown: Bill Kristol Agrees to Debate Matt Damon After Actor’s “Idiot” Slam

On Sunday afternoon Weekly Standard editor and New York Times columnist Bill Kristol — in an email exchange with Big Hollywood — agreed to debate Matt Damon on his Hollywood home turf after being informed the 38-year old actor ridiculed Kristol in an interview in the Miami Herald.

“He’s an idiot — he wrote that we should be grateful to George Bush because he won the Iraq war. We! Won! The! War!”

As the sponsor of the event, Big Hollywood is offering $100,000 to Damon (or to the charity or carbon credit of his choice) to publicly debate Kristol at a mutually agreed upon time, date and venue.

During the last election cycle the liberal activist Damon — who briefly attended Harvard University — also heaped scorn on John McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin:

“You do the actuary tables, there’s a one out of three chance, if not more, that McCain doesn’t survive his first term, and it’ll be President Palin…. It’s like a really bad Disney movie, ‘The Hockey Mom.’ Oh, I’m just a hockey mom from Alaska, and she’s president. She’s facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It’s absurd.”

Damon is no stranger to left-wing politics. His Oscar-nominated screenplay, “Good Will Hunting,” co-written with Ben Affleck, was inspired by anarchist Boston University historian, Howard Zinn.

According to Wikipedia:

Damon included a reference to A People’s History in his film Good Will Hunting. In a confrontation with his psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Damon’s character tells him: “If you want to read a real history book, read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. That book will knock you on your ass.” Damon also read the latter half of People’s History for an audiobook released February 1, 2003.

If Damon agrees to participate, Big Hollywood will work with both parties to secure mutually agreed upon parameters for the debate (e.g., Did We Win the War in Iraq?)

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Tags: ben affleck, big hollywood, Bill Kristol, debate, Good Will Hunting
Posted Jan 26th 2009 at 9:04 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, Featured Story, News, Politics, Reviews, Uncategorized, Video | 30601683 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abreitbart/2009/01/26/iraq-war-showdown-bill-kristol-agrees-to-debate-matt-damon-after-actors-idiot-slam/Iraq+War+Showdown%3A+Bill+Kristol+Agrees+to+Debate+Matt+Damon+After+Actor%27s+%22Idiot%22+Slam2009-01-26+17%3A04%3A35Andrew+Breitbart