With Veterans Day rapidly approaching, I expect to see A LOT more than the usual amount of war movies on television. Earlier today, on AMC, it was The Horse Soldiers (1959), in which a Union cavalry regiment is sent behind Confederate lines to disrupt and destroy rebel resources, communications and supply centers. The film was directed by John Ford, who has always earned high marks with me when it comes to the attention paid to authentic details in his films.
[Read more →]

Tags: movies, television by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

Please excuse the shameless self-promotion, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug the latest piece of sensational artwork by When Falls the Coliseum‘s own Ricky Sprague, which graces the cover of an online comic book by yours truly.

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, creative writing by Michael Cade
No Comments »

Early on in my parenting travels, I was a total anti-video game guy. A staunch opponent. Of course, these feelings were not due to a lingering bitterness because growing up I was the worst Pac-Man player in my town. No, I just didn’t want my kids sitting idly for hours on end, ruled by a screen, twitching, stagnating, drooling. But then came the Wii. [Read more →]

Tags: games, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
3 Comments »

For most of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union served as Yin and Yang, each nation opposing its righteousness to the other’s evil.

Even today, with the collapse of the Soviet Union almost twenty years behind us, multifarious hacks in the Anglo-American media remain wedded to a vision of America and her sinister doppelganger. They pine for a New Cold War. [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
2 Comments »

“He can’t do it,” Dale said to the doctor.

“He can’t? He must!” Zarkhov said back with his barking, Czech accent and with that I seemed to have been shut out of the deliberations on the subject. “We have seen their power. They do not need our permission to do anything if they are willing to destroy us all and they seem pretty well able to find the will. We must cooperate. We must ALL cooperate. We will save our own lives and almost certainly the lives of everyone on earth. It is our only path.” [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing by Ken Watson
No Comments »

It is a clear indication that you are ridiculously happy when your friends post a link to Wikipedia’s definition of vomit on your facebook status updates. I wasn’t super pleased with the posting of the link itself, but I’m so happy. So happy in fact, that people can poop on my parade all they want. I will just keep smiling. Like the Orbitz gum girl. It’s raining poo, but man is there good stuff to smile about.

Of course, being who I am, and having dealt with what I have been through recently, all this smiling scares me a little. Can I really keep this up?

[Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, square one by Van McCourt by Van McCourt
3 Comments »

I think it would be beneficial to get this out of the way in the first sentence, and let me just say: Wow.

You know what? I’ll make that it’s own paragraph.  I think it deserves it.

That one too.  I digress.

This year’s big election night in the United States of America was different than all that had come before it.  No more business as usual and no more easy answers to the hardest questions. [Read more →]

Tags: mostly kidding by Matt Scottoline, politics & government by Matt Scottoline
No Comments »

Maybe I’m demonstrating my social media savvy … or maybe it’s something not-so-great that I’m demonstrating. Either way, when I sign-off from my Twitter account, I stay in front of the computer a few minutes longer, to watch their rotator of current tweets on a variety of trending topics.

I know, I KNOW … I could be reading books and magazines, surfing the web, or even – gasp! – getting out and talking to people. But there I am, nonetheless, parked in my chair and soaking up someone else’s virtual wisdom, 140 characters at a time. Today, there’s more than a lil discussion of Lil Wayne.
[Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, trusted media & news by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

I wrote a piece of quasi-fiction for this week’s column. I hope everyone enjoys it. _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

“TRANSGRESSIVE GIRL & BISEXUAL ROCKABILLY CHICK”

Today I saw a Transgressive Girl on the bus. I could tell she was Transgressive because she was reading a book by an uncompromising, anti-establishment author. (Her Dazzling Killmen shirt was soiled…ripped.)

She said she only listens to Rapeman, Scratch Acid, and Flipper. Nothing else, ever.

She was intense. Satanic. In-your-face. Counter-cultural. Uncompromising. Defiantly underground — unconventional, iconoclastic and fiercely individualistic. An indelicate ass-whistle of vivacity. Unkempt too. [Read more →]

Tags: Michael Cade's audio files by Michael Cade
No Comments »

When Brock Lesnar became the UFC heavyweight champ — for non-fans, that’s where the fighters get to keep the fight going when one guy hits the ground — he seemingly had the potential to be unbeatable. Crushing opponents, he dominated press coverage for the sport and set himself up a private training complex near his Minnesota home, based on the theory people could go to him instead of him going to them. Recently he took on a challenger named Cain Velasquez and was beaten like a gong. Now it’s possible Lesnar is quitting mixed martial arts and returning to pro wrestling and its bigger paydays. The weirdest thing about this? He’s only had seven fights. [Read more →]

Tags: Mr. Sean goes to Washington by Sean Cunningham
No Comments »

Painters Mill is a small town in Ohio with a large Amish population.  In Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo, Kate Burkholder heads up the police force — she was raised Amish, but did not join the church, a difficult decision for an Amish teenager, but one with very ugly roots in her case.  She drinks too much (way too much, in my opinion), but she’s a good, solid police woman.  And then one night, one of her detectives makes a horrible discovery… [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
No Comments »

If you have ever watched the Rocky & Bullwinkle show, you may remember their fractured fairy tales.  Here are a few short (fractured) reviews to help you decide which classics to read. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing by Mark A. Rayner
No Comments »

When Falls the Coliseum is looking for bloggers to post commentaries, essays, rants, satire, and reviews about current events, politics, entertainment, culture, and many other topics from a broad range of personal and political perspectives. We appreciate both serious discussion and merciless mockery. We like humor — the funny kind. If you’re interested in being a regular contributor, visit our submissions page and tour our site (see FAQ, Welcome, and History). We don’t care if you are libertarian, liberal, conservative, other, or don’t pay attention to politics. As long as you can write posts that interest readers and you want to do so regularly, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking to increase our coverage of movies, books, TV, video games, celebrity news, pop culture, politics, current events, social issues, online oddities.

Tags: announcements by Coliseum
No Comments »

After last night’s election, it’s time to begin thinking about where we should make the first cuts to the Federal budget.  Obviously the spending we most need to address is entitlement spending like SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, etc, but we’re all realistic enough to know that even the TEA Party endorsed Congresscritters won’t touch that with a ten foot pole yet.  So what discretionary spending should be targeted first?

[Read more →]

Tags: education, politics & government by Mike McGowan
No Comments »

A few minutes before the play begins actors enter wearing not Elizabethan, but Edwardian apparel. Gradually, they populate a stage setting dominated by a ticker tape machine, towering abacuses, and walls that appear to be assembled from exquisitely sharp blades. These blades form a cool steel fortress in which those who belong can do business and from which those who are reviled can be shut out. While it may seem irrelevant in 2010, I feel compelled to mention that in this play the reviled ones are my ancestors. And bizarre as it may sound, I can’t help feeling that if this play could prick us, my ancestors and I would bleed.

[Read more →]

Tags: Broadway Fred by Fred Siegel
No Comments »

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece discussing where our obligation to obey the government comes from, as a response to an article I’d read which was written by Mr. Barton Hinkle of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  My thesis was that our obligation to obey the government comes from the fact that the government holds the legal monopoly on force, i.e. the government can kill you and get away with it.  Thus, when the government gives us an order, the people who obey are ultimately obeying out of fear; they’re looking out for their own rational self interest.

Mr. Hinkle read it and was gracious enough to respond.  He was also willing to allow me to continue this conversation in a public forum.

[Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, race & culture by Mike McGowan
No Comments »

As I watched Stone, I waited for it to get better. After all, Stone has a great cast and explores an interesting idea.  But that is not enough to save Stone from being a disappointing film. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie by Gail D. Rosen
No Comments »

Mike…Mike, please hear me out…

I have nothing against Christmas. Adult though I am, I still look forward to it every year. In fact, last Christmas I bought not one but two advent calendars; one for home and one for the office, and not just because I love chocolate. Because I love Christmas. So you can imagine the joy I felt when I woke up yesterday morning and it was Christmas. I smiled as I passed the heartwarming red displays in the department store windows. I delighted in the wreaths hung jauntily off the lampposts. But encountering the holiday displays at the Duane Reade gave me pause. Why? Because it was November 1st, Mike. November 1st. [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, Meg gives advice to famous people by Meg Boyle
1 Comment »

For anyone who has read a few of my pieces, I know it sometimes seems like I am on a mission to downplay the arts — to take artists down a peg and to reduce the glitter factor in the perception of the world’s audience. That’s because I am. The drama is supposed to be in the work, not in the lifestyle and in the peripherals of the performance. All that stuff is tabloid bull, not artistic expression. [Read more →]

Tags: artistic unknowns by Chris Matarazzo by Chris Matarazzo
6 Comments »

At Barnes & Noble yesterday evening I saw a book in the bargain section titled 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Civil War. That seems like a lot of things to have to know about the Civil War. I don’t think I have that much room in my brain.

A few minutes later I saw a book titled 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. I like video games and have played a few, but I don’t think I have the time to play the 1001 games the authors say I must play before I die. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing by Scott Stein
3 Comments »

Recently I linked, as I frequently do, to something Bill Vallicella posted on his Maverick Philosopher blog. Vallicella quoted the philosopher Thomas Nagel as saying that “I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

I went on to comment that this suggested that Nagel entertained “a very primitive notion of God.”

I have since regretted that turn of phrase, not only because it is an insult to primitives everywhere, but also because it is simply wrong. Nagel’s notion of God is in fact all-too-civilized. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
5 Comments »

I met Sgt. Ron Martin of the El Paso police department early in the morning, and was about to climb into his car when I found my way blocked by an assault rifle, propped up against the backseat like a faithful dog awaiting its master. A thorny issue of etiquette presented itself: Do I push it out the way? But what if it goes off and blows my brains out? [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
3 Comments »

Interview with Alex Kudera, author of Fight for Your Long Day

I have known Alex Kudera since 1996 when he and I met in the café of Borders Bookstore in Center City, Philadelphia. A couple years later, Alex and I worked together as adjuncts at Temple University and at Drexel University. Alex has now written a novel, the just-published Fight for Your Long Day, and it is a bracing, painful, and sometimes funny look at the life of an adjunct college teacher in the early 2000’s.

Although Alex currently teaches full-time at Clemson University in South Carolina, he is quick to note that working full-time does not mean tenure. I recently interviewed him about Fight for Your Long Day, published by Atticus Books.

Below are some of the excerpts.

[Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, books & writing, education, family & parenting, race & culture, sports by Robert Anthony Watts
2 Comments »

I live in Gloucester City, New Jersey, which is directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, PA. Not exactly the hustle and bustle of the big city, but still a relatively urban area complete with traffic jams, drug problems, stray dogs, and row homes. However, in a mere half hour drive south, you find yourself in what I like to call “God’s Country.” Southern New Jersey is almost all farmland and wide open space. Yes, the cookie cutter mansions and soccer mom SUV’s are starting to creep in, but it is still a peaceful, beautiful area. Regardless, a far cry from North Jersey and the smog, chemical plants, annoying accents, and rude folks that give my New Jersey its bad name.   

[Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, Marty digs by Marty O'Connor
4 Comments »

There is no more storied college football program in the country than Notre Dame. The name conjures up images of the Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus, Rudy, and the Gipper. Despite the fact that the football team itself hasn’t been particularly relevant since the early nineties, the college football world continues to pay an incredible amount of attention to the Fighting Irish. After five miserable years under egomaniac head coach Charlie Weis, new coach Brian Kelly was hired and the fan base was rejuvenated. This week, it became apparent that things have actually gotten worse than they ever were under Weis. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
3 Comments »

10. Harry admits he learned all his magic tricks from a book advertised on the back cover of a Superman comic

9. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger inadvertently discover each other’s charms

8. Harry is permanently banned from induction into the Quidditch Hall of Fame amid allegations of sports betting

7. Harry’s latest supernatural power: levitating his pants

6. Short of cash, Ron is arrested for shoplifting a newt

5. Harry dies at the end, making Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II a real challenge

4. After perfecting the art of Divination, Harry makes a fortune on the Powerball lottery

3. Harry gets expelled when Albus Dumbledore catches him polishing his wand

2. Hogwarts’ head witch is Senate Republican nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware

1. O’Donnell is morally outraged by that ‘wand’ allegation
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, movies by Bob Sullivan
1 Comment »