I read a very good op/ed from the Richmond Times Dispatch website yesterday.  It was written by Mr. Barton Hinkle.  The piece explores the idea about where our obligations to the government come from.  It was very thought provoking, and extremely well written, especially given the depth of the topics the author touches.

But as I read through the piece, I realized that Mr. Hinkle was missing an important truth that, once considered, should alter his entire hypothesis.

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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Sure, we all know that Ben Bernanke is the head of the federal reserve. But did you also know that he’s a tool? That’s just one of the many things I discovered while compiling my list of little known facts about him! Read on for some more!

Ben Bernanke was the inspiration for the Marvel Comics villain “The High Inflationary.” In the upcoming film “X-Men: First Class,” he will be portrayed by actor Ray Park!

Ray Park as the villain The High Inflationary in a promotional shot from the upcoming film “X-Men: First Class.”

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Tags: ends & odd, money by Ricky Sprague
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Welcome back to “Audio Files,” where existential orphans with spiritual aphasia power-bock toward the sexy froth of a Siberian Dawn.

Last week we debuted a new feature wherein talented folks describe five albums they’d need if stranded on a desert island. (Yes, that ol’ cliche.)

I initially called it “Meadows of Asphodel” in reference to this desolate Greek void of negative space. But “Meadows of Asphodel” sounds like a diseased candyland for Medieval sex offenders, so I’m giving it the more muscular name of “Asphalt Meadows.” And this week I’ve got some damn fine participants.

Please come along — we’ll eat the world and vomit lava!

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Tags: Michael Cade's audio files by Michael Cade
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When Lisa Murkowski lost the GOP primary, it seemed her time in the U.S. Senate was over. The Republicans didn’t want her (and the party leadership were enraged that she might want to run regardless), the Democrats already had a candidate (and even when they learned Lisa had an unexpectedly open dance card, chose to stick with their guy), and if she made a go of it as an independent, voters would be required to write her name on the ballot. And thus she faces a uniquely harsh task for a candidate: not only must she battle the two majors parties to convince Alaskans to go to the polls to support her, but she must teach the general population how to spell “Murkowski.” [Read more →]

Tags: Mr. Sean goes to Washington by Sean Cunningham
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It started back in March, 2009 — my first column for When Falls the Coliseum, and my review of The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I have been waiting all those long months for the follow-up, The Fall and boy, was this worth the wait.  When they get around to making a movie about this trilogy, I will be first in line for my ticket. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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I recently got an iPad for me and my girlfriend. Our laptop was on its way out and we have a new desktop that works perfectly. I didn’t want to get another laptop so I settled in the middle and got the iPad since all we really wanted was easy access to the Internet when we were lounging around. I’m not going to lie. This thing is awesome. They have apps for everything. I’m pretty sure there’s an app that will tie your shoes and do your laundry for you — for just $9.99! Anyway, all was going well with our new toy. We bought a fresh black case for it and a screen protector. We’re careful about where we put it — ya know, the way you are with your baby the first few weeks of its life. And then it happened. [Read more →]

Tags: going parental, technology by Jaclyn Roth
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You take a train to Penn Station, make a left onto Seventh Avenue and fight uptown through the crowds until you hit the TKTS line at 47th Street. You wait on what used to be the Howard Johnson’s side but which is now the Roxy side. You figure you’ll be on line for an hour or so and you inch forward. You and your companion take turns moving up front to check the board, which used to be narrow signs slid into slots but now is LED’s. You lament the fact that the shows you want to see the most are not up there. Too new. 

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Tags: Broadway Fred by Fred Siegel
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Elevators can be scary places, especially when that elevator music is playing.  But when the lights start flickering, the elevator gets stuck between floors and you are trapped with strangers and possibly Satan, a new level of terror sets in. Less is more in the taut 80 minute Devil, produced and based on a short story by M. Night Shyamalan. The film is tense, chilling and satisfying. And it is fun. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie by Gail D. Rosen
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I like many types of music, ranging from Russian monophonic chant to Gothic German techno-metal to screechy avant-garde nonsense. My beard, however — well that’s a different story. His tastes are very specific, quite rarefied and were formed mostly in the first half of the 1970s, ending shortly after I was born. He likes droning, ambient noise, stuff that suggests the depths of space, or a long, slow descent into madness. [Read more →]

Tags: ends & odd, music by Daniel Kalder
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The nightmare I’m about to describe starts out like any other evening: You’re lying in bed after a long day, enjoying a glass of pinot grigio and flipping channels on the television. That’s when you see one. Dark, round, and virulent-looking. And just as quickly, it’s gone. Wait, are your eyes playing tricks on you? But no, for there is another. And another. And…another. You start to sweat, you start to cry, you jump up off the bed and battle the urge to burn the whole house down. Alas, it is too late. You’ve been infested, and the innocence you once knew is now gone. No, dear readers, I am not talking about bedbugs. I speak of the Kardashians. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, Meg gives advice to famous people by Meg Boyle
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