Tag Archives: W.S. Gilbert

February 24, 2011

When Satire Is No Excuse: The Jeff Cox Affair

If satire is attempted by supposedly serious professionals in government, they have an obligation to make their intentions clear to the dimmest bulb, and if they can’t, then they should leave the irony and tongue-in-cheek acts to those who are good at at. Continue reading →

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Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Citizenship, Etiquette and manners, Government & Politics, Humor and Satire, Journalism & Media, Law & Law Enforcement, Literature, Popular Culture, Professions, The Internet, U.S. Society, Workplace

Tagged as "I was joking!", "Saturday Night Live", "The Onion, "use live ammunition", accountability, Bill Maher, competence, ethics, excuses, First Amendment, government attorneys, Indiana, Indiana Attorney General, Jay Leno, Jeff Cox, Jonathan Swift, Mother Jones, public trust, recklessness, responsibility, Rush Limbaugh, satire, trust, Twitter, W.S. Gilbert, Wisconsin protesters

January 19, 2011

“Finishing the Hat”: Sondheim, W.S. Gilbert, and Expert Malpractice

It is surprising and disappointing to see Stephen Sondheim slide into expert malpractice when he undertakes, clearly half-heartedly, a critique of the lyrics of W.S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. Continue reading →

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Filed under Arts & Entertainment, History, Literature, Popular Culture, Professions, Research and Scholarship

Tagged as "A Little Night Music", "H.M.S. Pinafore", "Iolanthe", "Pacific Overtures", "Sweeney Todd", "The Major General's Song", "The Mikado", "The Pirates of Penzance", "West Side Story", audiences, ballads, bias, bluffs, Broadway musicals, Cole Porter, composers, Dorothy Fields, ethics, expert malpractice, expertise, experts, fairness, Frank Loesser, Gilbert and Sullivan, John Lahr, laziness, lyricists, lyrics, musical comedy, Noel Coward, operettas, patience, reputation, respect, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Stephen Sondheim, text-setting, the duty of competence, theater history, W.S. Gilbert