¶ Matins: In our view, no one has better captured the nature of the new American populism better than Mark Lilla has just done in “Tea Party Jacobins.” We could not agree more, that the American elite, preoccupied with getting its message just right, has almost completely forgotten how to lead. (NYRB)

¶ Lauds: Ingrid Rowland writes about Luca Signorelli’s Apocalypse, in Orvieto cathedral. As Ms Rowland reminds us, this is an unusual theme in Italian art. Orvieto’s recent history (in 1499) may explain Signorelli’s assignment. “The city’s official governor was none other than Cesare Borgia.” The cycle’s anti-Semitism, however, reflected a newly heightened hostility. (NYRBlog)

¶ Prime: Why Not: Steve Tobak’s “5 Marketing Lessons From SNL’s Betty White Show.” Aside from the third item on the list (stressing the importance of strong content), Mr Tobak’s advice seems to boil down to “intelligent recycling.” Nothing wrong with that. (The Corner Office)

¶ Tierce: In an essay about the neurobiology of patience, Jonah Lehrer explains why transcranial magnetic stimulation is superior to functional magnetic resonance imaging. (But we still get a headache thinking about undergoing these experiments.)

¶ Sext: Chris Lehmann (who admits to trawling Forbes’s Web site for “Rich People Things” material) extends his eyeglass in the direction of “investment guru” and Friend-of-Bono  Roger McNamee, and shares one of the worst technological predictions since you yourself said, “Why would I need a computer/iPad?”

¶ Nones: A report on Belgium, currently without a government, in the Guardian. As we’ve noted before, the thorniest aspect of Belgian separatism is Brussels, an artificially (but none the less actually) francophone city in the middle of Flanders. Were Brussels in the south of Belgium (Wallonia), the country could peacefully go the way of Czechoslovakia. (via Arts Journal)

¶ Vespers: At The Millions, Sophie Chung  writes about how reading Chekhov will make you not only a better person but a better writer.

¶ Compline: Frank Rich is lustily indignant about MSNBC’s indecent non-coverage of last week’s Time Square bomb attempt. (NYT)

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
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