Halloween is a tricky time for comics in general. There are horror elements in plenty of titles. And plenty of horror concepts that don’t have elements of the genre; for example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer noticeably lacks a fear of the unknown. So I’m going to stick with something simple — ZOMBIES! Marvel has released several universe wide zombie titles in the last few years. And this column and my next will explore two of those titles. [Read more →]
Advertisements for films are often misleading. The advertisements for Couples Retreat made me think that the film would be a harmless and average comedy, with perhaps a few very funny scenes. The advertisements are accurate; this film is all that and less. [Read more →]
Pollo a la Sidra (or Chicken in apple cider) is a traditional Spanish dish made with alcoholic apple cider, or, Sidra. You can choose to make this dish with non-alcoholic cider if you prefer.
Vampires are all the rage these days. True Blood on HBO, the Twilight series and movies, Being Human on BBC America has a vampire, even the recently (and sadly) departed Blood Ties on Lifetime (and the books by Tanya Huff) – those bloodsuckers are everywhere. And for the modern woman who can’t resist a real bad boy, Diana Laurence has written How to Catch and Keep a Vampire: A Step-By-Step Guide to Loving the Bad and the Beautiful. This fun bit of fluff is billed as a modern-day dating guide for the gal who wants her very own vampire boyfriend. It gives you all the inside info you need on where to meet a vamp, how to attract his attention, how to avoid a deadly dinner party…it even reveals The Secret of the Red Satin Ribbon. Follow that advice at your own risk. [Read more →]
Let me get this straight. On the same day that the President of the United States won the Nobel Peace Prize, America bombed the moon. That would be a rimshot cue if it weren’t true. Barack Obama’s selection as the Peace Prize winner almost seems ludicrous on the surface. Until you think about it. And the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. About as much sense as bombing the moon in search of water. Some people think that way. [Read more →]
“Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful,” George Orwell declares at the start of his review of Salvador Dali’s autobiography, called The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. “A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying,” Orwell continues, “since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.”
I’m not sure about that first sentence. [Read more →]
8 years have passed since terrorists, who entered the country on legal visas, attacked and killed thousands of American citizens.
Two conspirators in the first World Trade Center attack, Mohammed Salameh and Eyad Ismoil overstayed their visas. Other terrorist ‘overstayers’ were Lafi Khalil, who was involved in the New York subway bomb plot, and four of the 9/11 terrorists: Zacarias Moussaoui, Satam al Suqami, Nawaf al Hamzi, and Hani Hanjour. They could do this because we did not have the ability to track aliens who are in the US.
[Read more →]
At least 60% of Americans have a Vitamin D deficiency. As we avoid the sun more and more for fear of developing skin cancer, we may be creating an even bigger problem. Vitamin D is absolutely essential for our bodies and 15-45 minutes of direct sunlight each day is the best way to get it (the darker your skin, the more time you will need in the sun).
When an adult does not get enough D they can experience the following: aches and pains, lowered immunity to disease, bone softening, increased rates of cancer (especially breast, prostate, and colon cancers), heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and high blood pressure. Men, age 40-70, with low levels of Vitamin D have a significantly higher risk of heart attack than men of the same age group with normal D levels.
The NYC Veg Fest speaker line-up doesn’t leave you guessing which one of these guests is doin’ his own thing. Attendees, I presume, didn’t dispense with politeness and ask the natural but uncomfortable question, “If not animals, what, exactly, are you a master killer of, Masta Killa?” (I present this incongruity as a vegan, myself, not one of those snarky, I-belong-to-People-Eating-Tasty-Animals nimrods, just FYI.)
And speaking of incongruity, when a porn star and a dude who helped invent something called rap-core can’t make their marriage work, what hope do the rest of us have!?
The Office (Thursday, 9PM, ABC) — My husband told me to get a life last night after I yelled at him for interrupting the finale scene of The Office wedding (he has a knack for doing that… flashback to Grey’s Anatomy season 2 finale, when Izzie killed Denny, Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” was playing and all he could say over and over again was, “She quit? Wait, she quit? Honey, did she quit?” I almost left him on the spot). And he deserved to be yelled at again. We all anticipated Jim and Pam’s wedding, and quite frankly my expectations were low, but the hour-long extravaganza was one of the best episodes written in a long time. To watch the events unfold leading up to the ceremony was brilliant… we’ve seen enough wedding reception mishaps. Here were the highlights for me, and every character contributed: [Read more →]
The woeful St. Louis Rams are for sale. It says something about the money-printing power of the NFL that there are at least six different groups interested in purchasing the Rams, despite the fact that they are very clearly the worst team in the league, and have not been good for several years. One of these potential ownership groups includes Rush Limbaugh, the outspoken, controversial, and ultra-conservative talk show host. The NFL Players Association is displeased at the prospect, and has made it known to the league. [Read more →]
10. How I Met Your Mailman
9. Jon Plus 4
8. Kate Plus 4
7. The Old and the Toothless
6. The Dentalist
5. Text and the City
4. Law & Order: Overdue Library Book Unit
3. America’s Funniest Answering Machine Messages
2. So You Think You Can Yodel
1. The New Adventures of Old Larry King
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
The latest iteration of the proposed healthcare bill, the one being championed by Montana Senator Seiman Baucus (recipient of over $4 million in healthcare lobbyists’ money), ignores the President’s promise that he would not levy taxes on those who were not rich. It also ignores the promise the President made to negotiate the healthcare changes on C-Span but since he ignored the promise to make his campaign financing transparent, we really didn’t expect him to keep his word.
Part of the Baucus plan is to create new taxes for medical devices based on the three categories created by the FDA. The categories break down medical devices into those that present minimal potential for harm to the user (Class I), those for which general controls alone are insufficient to assure safety and effectiveness (Class II) and devices where insufficient information exists to assure safety and effectiveness solely through the general or special controls (Class III). [Read more →]
My horror movie roundups continue — Not all horror movies are scary and full of dismembered corpses. Some are quirky, funny, and enjoyable as a cross-genre exercise. Horror comedies are a rarity. A horror comedy is a movie that is both scary and funny by intent (Shaun of the Dead). Not to be confused with a horror movie that’s funny because it’s so awful it’s physically painful (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan). Still some do exist and are totally worth seeing when you want something Halloween-esque but not terrifying.
Discipline is hard and not fun and I’m no good at it. So, since I’m surfing around anyway instead of working, why don’t we find out what sort of free motivational programs are out there for lazy creative types like us?
Let’s start at the beginning; I think that’s a common thing among the disciplinati.
My girlfriend (partner, wife, etc.) and I have been together for seven years. We have a three-year-old daughter that was conceived using an anonymous donor through a cryobank. She is a happy, well adjusted kid who attends pre-school on a daily basis. The children in her class happen to be absolute sweethearts and we have been very lucky thus far with the reaction we received from her teachers and the parents of her classmates when they found out we were a two-mom house. Not a single person seemed phased. Living in NY affords us that luxury. I mean, it’s New York. We’ve got Broadway and Chelsea — two of the gayest places on the planet. [Read more →]
Winning excuses everything. And so Brett Favre’s ceaseless I’m-going-to-play (no, I’m not!) (yes, I am!) act, capturing and then breaking the hearts of Jet fans in less than a season (usually players have the courtesy to take two or three years to inflict this kind of pain), and somehow in the twilight of his career becoming a bigger story than the rest of the NFL combined — and that counts Tom Brady and Gisele — doesn’t matter, because with his ridiculous last second touchdown pass against the 49ers and then leading the Vikings over his former Packers, the undefeated nearly-40 QB won and looked good doing it while earning a reported $10 million this season. [Read more →]
July 17, 2009
I dream I’m on the way to my apartment in New York and a small group of elderly Jewish people are stopped on the street. They see me going up to the door of my building and ask if they can come in to use the bathroom. I check with Gail and she agrees to let them in. When they get into my apartment they make themselves at home. In fact, they start cooking and eating and hanging around and playing the soundtrack of the movie The Producers. I’m a little put off. Then, people start arriving for a show, a series of comic pantomimes performed in my apartment. Elderly Jews enjoy comedy.
After all the credits for Whip It have rolled, the film ends with the words “To all the girls who believe you can… You can.” It is hard not to like a film with this message, especially when this point is made twice. First time director Drew Barrymore seems like a seasoned pro and is aided by Shauna Cross ‘s tight screenplay based on Cross’s 2007 book Derby Girl. The film boasts strong performances from women ranging in age from twenty to fifty. Oh yeah, this female fest also has exciting action sequences, believable characters, a good story and it is fun. [Read more →]
I’ve never had a desire to obtain a samurai sword, but there clearly are people out there who feel differently.
While they haven’t just broken big, samurais have been popping up in the news lately. There was the story last month about a college student who killed an intruder with a blade. Then on Tuesday, some developments came to light in the case of a Brooklyn man accused of slashing his neighbor, a reggae performer, with the performer’s own sword. Being rooted in Japanese history, it makes sense for the samurai to have international appeal, although I don’t think its creators ever intended for one of them to be used in the way that one English man did late last year when he chose to end a dispute by stabbing a father of three to death. [Read more →]
