I really should enjoy cons. But cliquishness and pettiness by my fellow geeks drove me away, and recent reports suggest not much has changed in the decade since I last attended a con.
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Who should be the next Doctor Who?
Who would you like to play the Doctor next, especially if the Doctor regenerated into a female body for the first time? What actresses do you think could pull it off?
Tuesday Morning RAW: which five WWE superstars would you select to build a new promotion around?
WWE currently has around 75-80 “superstars” on the roster, and the list ranges from top-tier main eventers to new names most fans haven’t heard of yet and performers they probably thought were gone. Some of these people are tremendously talented, while some have the in-ring ability and charisma of a cinder block. Every industry watcher […]
Those were the days: RIP Jean Stapleton
Jean Stapleton is dead at 90. She was most famous for her portrayal of the longsuffering Edith Bunker in All in the Family, one of the most important shows in television history. As the tragically underappreciated wife of arch-conservative, verbally abusive, racist blowhard Archie Bunker, Edith may well have been be the most patient woman in the history of […]
Cost over quality: Chicago Sun-Times fires its photo staff, and journalism’s death spiral continues
That crashing sound you just heard from the Upper Midwest was the Chicago Sun-Times throwing its photography staff out the window. All 28 of them. Pulitzers and everything. The paper explained thusly: The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress […]
So you wanna be a citizen journalist? Good luck with that.
Citizen journalist. Citizen journalist? How does that adjective modify journalist? What is a citizen journalist? How does a citizen journalist differ from a plain, ink-stained (or digitally adept), adjective-unfettered journalist? CJs (let’s call them that; it sounds cool) are in demand. MSNBC wants them. It asks, “Be part of the dialogue of the issues affecting […]
Is CNN’s Howard Kurtz still credible? We’ll see.
How much credence should I place, beginning now, in whatever media reporter and critic Howard Kurtz says or writes? First came his ill-considered contretemps regarding NBA player Jason Collins’ announcement that he is gay. That led to this morning’s mea culpa on Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” program on CNN, quizzed on his credibility by two other […]
I’m trying to take Tim Brando at his word, but he isn’t making it easy
Earlier today my colleague Otherwise uncorked on sports broadcaster Tim Brando for his reaction to the Jason Collins story. If you somehow missed it, NBA journeyman and free agent Collins publicly acknowledged on Monday that he is gay, making him the first active player in a US major sport to do so. Brando brought a […]
Tim Brando is an embarrassment to old white males everywhere
Tim Brando, the sportscaster, tweeted this yesterday. Tim Brando ✔@TimBrando @CallMeG_Unit Simple Being a a Christian White male over 50 that’s raised a family means nothing in today’s culture. The sad truth. Period. He got the most flak for arguing that Collins isn’t a hero. Obviously, he feels disrespected and undervalued. But why? Tim graduated with […]
Is the Danny Evans/Planet Hiltron celebrity make under project promoting classism or combating it?
When I first saw this story on NY artist Danny Evans’s Celebrities Make Under project, my first reaction was…well, let me quote my Facebook comment directly: Oh, this…I mean…gods, no. They…WTF?! To summarize, Evans has used the magic of Photoshop to “normalize” (my word, not his) some of our artificially beautiful celebrities. “It was a reaction […]
Tuesday Morning RAW: Last night’s Izod Center crowd could spell trouble for WWE’s creative team
First off, if you were among the crazies at the Izod Center for Monday Night Raw last evening, we salute you. Sweet baby Jesus on a pogo stick, what were you people on? For those who missed the goings on in East Rutherford, this was the Raw on the night after WrestleMania, and what showed up […]
The papal conclave IS a political event
As the cardinals and priests filed into the Vatican for the impending conclave and new Pope-picking, a few things caught my attention in MSNBC’s coverage of the event: The organ music that they use in their commercial bumpers sounds a lot like Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves a Woman.” Which, if you think about […]
ESPN FC asks: Can you call yourself a soccer fan if you don’t support MLS? Yes I can.
The American soccer sphere has been abuzz these last couple of days thanks to a question that first popped up on Alexi Lalas’s Twitter feed: Last night this was discussed: If you live in the U.S., can you call yourself a “soccer fan” even if you don’t support @MLS? The question gets a thorough working […]
Alvin Lee
By now most of you have heard the news reports: the incendiary guitarist Alvin Lee of Ten Years After died unexpectedly of complications following routine surgery. He was 68. It’s fashionable now to dismiss the classic rock musicians – they’re old now, some have retired and, truth be told, others should have long ago. Ten Years After flared like […]
Tuesday Morning RAW: What is WWE up to with this Zeb Colter/Tea Party angle?
This is hardly the first time pro wrestling has come at the audience with a blatantly racist angle, and WWE has, through the years, perfected the arts of cheap stereotyping and jingoism. So their latest gimmick – the anti-immigration “real American” Jack Swagger and his mentor, thinly veiled Tea Partier Zeb Colter – are hardly […]
GOP waving white flag on gay marriage: V-LGBT Day is a landmark triumph in the culture wars
It’s been an interesting few days. The American Benefits Council and 278 employers, organizations and municipalities have filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Earlier today the far right Drudge Report was linking to a story outlining a new study […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- S&R Nonfiction: “The Nobodies,” by Jennifer Pocock
- “See You in Hell” and the dominatrix garage: The Lost Patrol drops a new video, and btw, the CD is fantastic
- Iran’s election nuclear, but not nuked
- More light! More light! Reviewing Fred Chappell’s Brighten the Corner Where You Are
- Happy Father’s Day: "The Day Daddy Died"
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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Frank Dilatush: And while decent men argue morality and honor, war…
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A Walkaway: Then Satan must care more about justice and truth …
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RetroHound: See, I don't think it's God's judgement, it's Sata…
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Ben Leib: Beautifully penned. The desperation of the situat…
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Russ Wellen: Fundamentally, I agree with both of you. It's just…
