I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Watching Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" tonight on TCM. Not sure if I'm seeing the Channel Z complete version or one of the Paul Seydor cuts. It includes the scene between Pat and his wife. First time I've ever seen it. Coburn's coldness and anger shoots right through the screen.

I'm reminded today of this moment from 1974 brought to us by Garry Trudeau: