Category Archives: Entertainment
The Year in Music 2010
There’s no getting around it. 2010 was a parade of disasters, natural and otherwise. Oil spills, earthquakes, and Republicans all conspired to up the suck quotient on the new decade. But musically, the year was an embarrassment of riches and … Continue reading
Why every good movie is a miracle, part two
WHAT TV IS DOING THAT THE MOVIES AREN’T In the last post, I talked about the inherent difficulties in creating original art in a medium as collaborative and expensive as film. Yet television, long considered a ‘wasteland’, is enjoying a … Continue reading
Why every good movie is a miracle, part one
“Ninety percent of everything is crap.” – Theodore Sturgeon The successful sci-fi author delivered that gem to Venture magazine, after being bombarded with the umpteenth question about why so much sci-fi sucks so hard so often. And so was born … Continue reading
The first spouses of cinema
I can’t say I’m surprised that French First Lady Carla Bruni is teaming up with Woody Allen for his next film. The professional homewrecker sophisticated chanteuse and the pseudo-incestuous pedophile prestigious auteur have no shortage of things in common to … Continue reading
After Last Season: The avant-garde of incompetence
Right Guard shill/Redman BFF Method Man once quipped that his late Wu-Tang partner, Russell Jones, went by the alter-ego Ol’ Dirty Bastard because “There ain’t no father to his style”. Despite obvious differences in talent and temperament, the same … Continue reading
Epidemic linkbaiting at 'The Daily Beast'
Over time, every mass medium evolves a way of reaching the lowest common denominator, its own specially tailored and especially shameless method of squeezing the art until it screams dollar signs. We live in a capitalist world, so it’s not … Continue reading
Is it wrong to engage celebrity culture?
From body image to the body politic, there are few areas of contemporary American life untouched by the tentacles of celebrity culture, the trivial pursuit whose effects are anything but. The nightly news forgoes civic engagement for cynical spectacle, and … Continue reading
Highlights for Adults: Faking It
HFA is a feature where I look on my bookshelf, take down one of my excessively highlighted books, and share some passages to see if anyone else thinks it was worth all the yellow/pink/orange/green ink involved. Episode Three : Faking It: … Continue reading
Bill Hicks R.I.P.
Comedian Bill Hicks died 16 years ago today at the age of 32. This is my attempt at a tribute. HICKS AND I It’s fitting that my introduction to Bill Hicks came in the form of an angry 300 pound … Continue reading
Attention Deficit: The TV Set (2006)
Attention Deficit is a feature highlighting films, books, or TV shows that, for one reason or another, never got the audience they deserved. Last year, while reading the excellent book And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers About … Continue reading
