Recommended Reading
Ronald Brownstein discusses how partisan and just plain nasty this election has become. […]
Author: Mark Evanier
Posts by Mark Evanier
TiVo Troubles
Hey, I've done my part. I've bought five of them over the years. It's not my fault TiVo isn't selling very well. […]
Book Retort
The other day, I recommended a new book called All the President's Spin, written by the staff of the Spinsanity website. I've since given it another read and decided that I was off a bit in what I wrote. It really is more anti-Bush than it felt to me the first time through. But I […]
A Ringing Endorsement
You may see this elsewhere but I can't resist. I have to quote it. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert appeared today on Meet the Press and discussed the decision (in which he played a major role) to recruit Alan Keyes to run for the Senate in Illinois. Here's what he said… I talked to Mike […]
Life Upon the Wicked Stage
Broadway: The Golden Age is a theatrical documentary on a couple of decades of shows that played the Great White Way with an emphasis on the folks who starred in them. Filmmaker Rick McKay spent many years hauling his camera around the world interviewing enough theater legends to fill 250 hours and he also acquired […]
We Have Nixon to Kick Around Again
Back when Richard Nixon was fighting to keep his tapes private, there was a wide, understandable assumption that he wasn't just afraid of Watergate-related revelations. Even a lot of Nixon's friends assumed there were "other matters" on those tapes; that somewhere on them, we'd hear him allude to some murder or other crime he'd ordered. […]
In Case You've Been Wondering…
Hey, remember those "Billy Bass" gizmos? You know…there's a stuffed fish mounted on a wall plaque and when you get near it, it comes to life and starts singing to you. How do those work? […]
TiVo Marches On
Quietly and over the objections of the Motion Picture Association of America and the National Football League, the F.C.C. has approved "TiVoToGo," a new service that all us TiVo users will soon be putting to good use. Here's the TiVo press release but I can summarize it for you: "TiVoToGo" is a way to interface […]
Correction
Vince Waldron corrects me on something: Amazon only has to charge sales tax in some states, and ours (California) is not one of them. Unless you live in Kansas, North Dakota, or Washington, The Complete Far Side should cost $91.80 if you order it from them with their free "Super Saver Shipping," which in my […]
Today's Political Rant
Let me preface this by emphasizing that I do not believe that any one poll is an inarguable, accurate reflection of the electorate…and that even if one is, a lot can change between now and Election Day. That said, polls can also have an impact on the election and I think this one [WARNING: PDF […]
Recommended Reading
The Onion has a good interview up with Robert Smigel, a great comedy writer and the human presence behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. […]
Heavyweight Cartoons
One of those "must-buy" books for fans of clever cartooning is The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson…a two-volume, 1,272 page extravaganza that contains over 4,300 single-panel comics. About a fourth of them did not appear in those paperback Far Side collections that we all enjoyed way back when. The set came out a little […]
Happy Freberg Day!
As a gift to him, I won't mention the date…but a certain amount of years ago on this day, a kid named Stanley Freberg was born in Pasadena, California. The son of a Baptist minister, he went into a different line of work (entertainment) but somehow managed to retain his father's moral balance. Stan got […]
Interview with an Editor
Here's an interesting chat with one of the better editors of comic books, Mike Gold. […]
Book Report
One of my favorite political sites on the Internet — because they give it to both sides and play fair — is Spinsanity, run by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan. In their spirit of utter honesty, I should confess that Ben has become a pal of mine but I was praising his site […]