Eric Scheske's Outside Modern Limits: Micros and Minis

"Frank Rich and John Simon are the Syphilis and Gonorrhea of the Theater"

Eric Scheske — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:11:20 GMT

That’s a quote by the great David Mamet, back in the days when he was a “brain-dead liberal” (his words), in the late 1980s.

I gotta believe his view of Simon has softened considerably since then. Simon was no red-hot conservative partisan, not remotely. He was merely a critic who expected beauty and culture from screen and stage in an era when beauty re…

The Newest Mad Brewer Concoction That's Sweeping 35 States in the Nation at $200+ a Bottle

Eric Scheske — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 13:19:26 GMT

The line between artistry and madness has always been fuzzy because reality itself is fuzzy. When you add a dab of drunkeness, the line froths and foams.

When a new high-powered beer eats through the side of an insulated paper cup, we don’t know whether to applaud or to hide the wife and children.

And we don’t know whether to stock the shelves or lobby to…

Modern Knowledge: Pornographic

Eric Scheske — Mon, 26 May 2025 12:29:06 GMT

If you can gaze upon the naked emperor and call him out with the serene indifference of a Zen master tossing a koan into the void, you’re free.

Truly free.

Not the fake freedom peddled by the digital hucksters, but the kind that doesn’t flinch at the mob’s jeers, the censor’s lash, or the executioner’s axe. You’re not shouting “The bastard’s naked!” to …