The Internet Movie Database ranking of the 250 films its users deem the greatest of all-time has always fascinated me, partly because I’ve spent a disturbing amount of my life creating lists for various publications and also because it reveals America’s self-proclaimed movie snobs to be deeply perceptive and total cretins all at once. The rankings inevitably feature a few artificially high recent releases (you may not have been aware of it, but Inception and Toy Story 3 are both among the ten finest films ever). Then in a few weeks things stabilize, resulting in relatively constant master list. Here’s what I love and loathe about the rankings:

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Tags: movies by Sean Cunningham
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Does anybody know how to cancel a bid on E-Bay?

I put in a bid for a “Mickey Mouse Outfit” and now it seems I’m only 6 minutes away from acquiring Obama and his entire cabinet!

Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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Welcome to “Audio Files,” my new weekly column here at When Falls the Coliseum. AF is scheduled to run every Thursday at noon, God willing, and I’m fairly certain that it will.

I can’t promise the topics will be useful, relevant, or newsworthy, but I’ll make every effort to smother you with my relentless enthusiasm for all things aural. I should add that the topics won’t be limited to music; all dimensions of sound and noise will be explored.

Here we go…

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Tags: Michael Cade's audio files by Michael Cade
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Having absolutely nothing better to do, the President of the United States appeared on The View yesterday where he made what I consider to be a rather startling claim for an American to make:

President Obama charmed the ladies on “The View” yesterday and confidently showed off his command of the big challenges facing the nation today.

But the name Snooki didn’t ring a bell.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is,” the smiling but perplexed President said when asked about the big-haired “Jersey Shore” bombshell, according to several audience members interviewed after the show.

“We all liked that he didn’t know who she was,” said Nella Cerminara, 51, of Montreal.

That would be nice if the president didn’t know who “Snooki” was, I suppose.

Except he does know who Snooki is. He was lying. Check out this video from back in May: [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, television by Ricky Sprague
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The other day, as I was browsing my cookbook shelf, looking for something that didn’t actually require cooking, it occurred to me that I have a lot of books there that deserve a review.  I’m a big fan of cookbooks — I like serious, gourmet recipes, ethnic choices, theme cookbooks — all kinds of cookbooks!

Rock & Roll Diner (Menus and Music) by Sharon O’Connor is an older book, but diner food is always in style.  The cookbook came as a box set with diner music!  Mustang Sally, Blueberry Hill, and Where Did Our Love Go? all remind me of those little jukeboxes you find on diner tables.  The only problem: it’s a cassette tape.  I don’t even own a tape player anymore. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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July 5, 2010
I dream I am working at a paramilitary version of a university at which there are many regulations. I have used the mustard wrong, so I am pulled from duty and forced to take a shower. I am given 36 seconds, but I’m told that the time started before I had my clothes off. I am then placed on “line duty.” My job is to herd people through the line of the local dinner theater. I have subordinates who are required to keep people moving through three sets of turnstiles in an orderly manner.

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Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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By now, this article has been completely ripped apart, picked apart, debated, agreed with and utterly denounced. At this point I’ve read “All Joy And No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting,” and I have to say — what a total piece of shit.

I don’t know anything about the writer and to be honest I made no attempt at learning a thing about her because I wouldn’t waste my time.

Listen — you don’t want to have kids? More power to you. But those of you who go out there, get married and have kids — and then blame all of your problems on the fact that you had kids — are total assholes. You’re selfish, ego-maniacal douchebags. And deep down, I think you know it. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental, trusted media & news by Jaclyn Roth
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A wonderful cast, an intelligent and funny screenplay and fine direction more than compensate for a few implausible plot twists in The Kids Are All Right. I found the characters compelling and parts of this film made me laugh harder than I expected. This film is not perfect, but it is very good. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Bristol, Bristol, Bristol. The story of your charmed teenage years could have been taken right off the cover of a dog-eared Sweet Valley High paperback. You met a guy you liked, you had unprotected sex because condoms make Jesus cry, your mother forced you and your swollen belly to make an appearance at the RNC, and then your baby daddy abandoned you, trashed your family in Vanity Fair, and came crawling back with a diamond ring and five pounds of freshly-killed moose meat. I mean, really, what little girl hasn’t dreamt of a future like that? I get it, honey, you fell in love with the dream. And now I’m going to wake you up. Come crawl into Auntie Meg’s lap, Bristol Palin; it’s time for some tough love. [Read more →]

Tags: Meg gives advice to famous people, politics & government by Meg Boyle
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I love short stories and I truly love short stories about crime.     

Back in May I wrote a column about a collection of short stories called Boston Noir. At the end of my column I asked why there was no Philly noir collection and an editor at Akashic Books subsequently informed me that a collection of Philly crime noir stories would soon be published.

So while I wait for the Philly collection, I read another one of Akashic’s noir series, Manhattan Noir 2, The Classics.

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Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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