William Bennett has made a lot of money lecturing us on his version of morality. It is, to me, a very inconsistent, self-serving one, condemning almost every sin or near-sin committed by the poor or non-white, and overlooking or rationalizing almost every sin or near-sin that helps rich white guys get richer. He has also […]
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart remains the sharpest comedy show I've seen in years…and Mr. Stewart is a much better interviewer of folks in the news than just about anyone around. including all so-called professional newsfolks. The other day, he did a long conversation with Joseph Wilson, who is the diplomat who was dispatched […]
Two articles over on Slate analyze and parse the new Congressional report on how our intelligence system failed to anticipate the 9/11 tragedies. The report runs 900 pages (some of them, redacted) and since you're not going to read it, you might want to read Fred Kaplan and Timothy Noah. The bottom line seems to […]
This is the war in Iraq we're asking about. Here's the current dollar figure. And of course, there's also the little matter of Americans dying. […]
Paul Dini's comely Christmas chorine, Jingle Belle, goes to the Comic-Con. Right here. […]
The current issue of Locus, the science fiction news magazine, is a special issue guest-edited by master illustrator Charles Vess. The topic is graphic novels, and there's an interview with Alan Moore, articles by Neil Gaiman, Richard Pini, Harlan Ellison and others, plus other fun stuff. Here's a link to a page that will tell […]
A 74-year-old woman was wandering through a Detroit casino one day when she found a nickel in an unattended slot machine. She attempted to play it but casino employees rushed up and surrounded the woman. She was questioned and photographed. Then they confiscated both the nickel and a meal ticket she was holding, plus they […]
Whatever happened to Monti Rock the Third? […]
A very talented gent named Craig McCracken created the animated series known as The Powerpuff Girls, which is seen constantly on Cartoon Network and everywhere else. Another very talented gent named Genndy Tartakovsky created the ones known as Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, which are also seen often on Cartoon Network. Why am I telling […]
There's something very dislikable about Bill Maher but boy, he writes a funny, on-target commentary. […]
Now that it looks like there'll be a recall election (or maybe an UNelection) regarding California guv Gray Davis, folks are starting to realize how ambiguous and screwy the whole recall process is. Here's an article in The Sacramento Bee that outlines some of the possible scenarios, none of which sounds like healthy democracy to […]
As mentioned, Harlan Ellison is fighting a legal battle to curtail Internet piracy of copyrights. If you'd care to donate to the cause, this page will tell you more about it and take your loot. […]
The beard comes off tomorrow on Live With Regis and Kelly. The infamous Bruce Vilanch is going into the touring company of the musical of Hairspray, assuming the role originated on Broadway by Harvey Fierstein. That means playing in drag, so he's shaving the trademark facial hair and doing so on TV. Based on the […]
Now on sale from DC Comics is a lovely paperbound collection containing around 192 pages (approximately half) of Jack Kirby's run as writer-artist of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen. It's in color and despite the fact that most of Jack's drawings of Superman and Jimmy Olsen were inappropriately retouched, the power of his imagination is still […]
And here's a report on the panel we had at the convention all about Dr. Fredric Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent. […]