Rambling nostalgia: WETA’s ‘Washington in the ’90s’ documentary
A flaw common to documentary treatments of the 1990s (or of any decade, really) lies in the failure to address fundamental yet vital questions such as: “What’s the point?” “What … Continue reading
The Clinton interview we’d like to see
Former President Bill Clinton has been making the rounds of late, promoting a co-authored novel while renewing controversy about his furtive liaison with Monica Lewinsky that began at the White … Continue reading
Apologize to Monica Lewinsky? Would it matter?
Speculation arises from time to time about whether former President Bill Clinton should apologize to Monica Lewinsky for their affair at the White House that began during the government shutdown … Continue reading
‘Othering’ and the 1995 OKC bombing: Wiping away McVeigh?
The site of the deadliest domestic terror attack in American history nowadays is a meditative outdoor memorial featuring a reflecting pool guarded by loblolly pines, and 168 bronze-and-glass chairs (see … Continue reading
Narcissism on display: O.J. Simpson’s quasi-confession is aired
The quasi-confession of O.J. Simpson, the former football player and celebrity tried and acquitted in 1995 for killing his former wife and her friend, aired last night on the Fox … Continue reading
Re-reading Clifford Stoll’s 1995 Internet predictions: Bah!
Clifford Stoll’s 1995 newsmagazine critique of the emergent Internet is a digital classic, an off-target artifact that is constantly being rediscovered, and scoffed at, online. Few essays published in 1995 … Continue reading
HLN’s oddly timed Clinton-Lewinsky rehash notable for what it left out
HLN’s two-hour look-back last night at the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal was notable for what it left out. And for its peculiar timing. Consider first the timing: Given the recent … Continue reading
‘Just because I could’: Would Bill Clinton survive Lewinsky scandal these days? Not likely
Counterfactual history can be little more than trivial nonsense. Take, for example, the Washington Post’s frivolous, “let’s pretend” story last week ruminating about what if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency. … Continue reading
The 15 ‘most influential’ Web sites? A third of them date to 1995
Sure, lists about the “most important this” or the “most fun that” tend to be inane. And eye-rolling in their contrivance. But Time magazine’s recent compilation of the “15 most … Continue reading
Ick alert? TV dramatizations of Clinton-Lewinsky scandal airing or in works
More than 20 years after it ended, the scandalous affair of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky still fascinates, still strangely exerts a hold on popular culture. How otherwise to explain … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 