Style Points

This is not really a political post, although I suppose it marginally fits into the "America enters the age of Bread and Circuses" category.

I work hard at writing, so I appreciate people who are really good at it. And nobody's better than James Wolcott, which I guess is why he's making the big bucks. Check out his preview of tonight's Oscars at Vanity Fair:

Oscar night comes but once a year and then it’s time to report back to rehab, but until then we can savor the excitement, the anticipation, the gastrointestinal intensity of a pagan ritual in which Hollywood, America, indeed the earth itself pay homage to a gold phallic totem as screen royalty gladden the red carpet and wave to the plebeians, never missing a beat as they chomp on their Nicorette gum.

That's a perfect paragraph, which is also, coincidenally, a perfect sentence. Good writers tend to choose the right, or perfectly appropriate word, and Wolcott chooses a bunch of them here -- rehab, gastrointestinal, pagan ritual, phallic totem, and chomp. Everything there is right on, from the correct spelling of "plebeian" (who knew?) to the capitalization of "Nicorette."

Wolcott is kind of stuck up sometimes, but if I was as good as him I probably would be too. And he's not always this good. Sometimes he's pompous and gassy, but when he's on there's nobody better.

The problem with him is, he knows it.