I received the bad news today. A loved one had died. The body had been found by an early morning jogger. The police were called and the Morgue’s office was determining time of death, and most importantly, the cause. Detectives were searching the scene making ironic comments tinged with dark humor based on their observations. I’m not exactly sure where in NYC the crime took place, but I know a large part of the story will play out in February, and if the cause of death turns out to be murder, then it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be down on Centre Street. The name of the deceased is Law & Order.

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Tags: television by David Alfreds
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The Republican Party is ingeniously allowing ordinary people like you and me to vote on the government expenses we want them to cut. They’re calling it “YouCut.”

Get it? It’s like “youTube.”

Only dumber. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Colin Cohen
4 Comments »

Children lie. Not all the time, and not all children. But many experiment with what lies they can get away with. Really, it is when they are children that they learn the differences between right and wrong. Between white lies and something much, much worse — and that not only are there consequences for their actions but also, that the things they do affect other people. Well, what do you do when an 8-year-old girl accuses a 10 and an 11-year-old boy of rape? [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, on the law by Amy Boshnack
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Deciding to take a vacation from social networking was especially difficult for me. Not just because I love it or that my time during the day has become so deeply entrenched in it, but because, well, I work in social networking for a living. As a “social media marketer” part of my job description is creating and cultivating social networks for brands like The Ritz-Carlton Residences. On certain days, I literally spend a full work day bouncing between sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn and other little microcosms on the web.

I opted to take some time off from my personal Twitter and Facebook accounts this week mostly because I’m starting to feel burnt out. After hours of staring at a scrolling screen of messages, one starts to- how do I put this- go completely and utterly insane. Add to that, the constant feed of articles from my enormous Google Reader account and I was starting to feel dizzy. And tired of hearing my own voice. And tired of hearing everyone else’s voice. Feeling a constant need to “be caught up” with four hundred people was starting to get exhausting.

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Tags: technology by Judi Cutrone
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In “Across the Sea,” Lost finally gives us the origins story for Jacob and the Man In Black. The episode was pure, 100% mythology. Those who watched the episode based on the surface story alone were probably disappointed. Let’s face it, taken literally, myths are silly: talking snakes, little boys defeating giants, jealous gods, immaculate conceptions, mortals with superpowers, a sword stuck in a stone, the Force, Never Never Land, Wonderland, Oz, the Matrix, the Island. On the surface, all myths seem like children’s stories. It’s only when we dig deeper that we find the truth worthy of a wise old soul — a soul that knows where it really came from. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
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If it is true that the greatness of men and nations is measured in the greatness of their enemies, what are we to say of the numberless but talentless hoard sent against us? Yes, truly we can say “sent” now. This week’s Jihadi Jihaderson as much as the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber and the now quaintly convicted Shoe Bomber has demonstrated fandom if not straight employment beneath the ragged parasol of International Jihad. And it is easy and quite hilarious to wonder, is this all they’ve got? The not so hilarious but plain answer is, yes. Yes it is.

For now.

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Tags: on the law, politics & government, terror & war, trusted media & news by Ken Watson
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When he isn’t evoking a smart, funny cyber reality that one could easily mistake for our future, Pop Apocalypse author Lee Konstantinou polishes off doctoral dissertations, loiters in the Mission District, imagines future futurist fiction, and shotguns espresso in the back of the BART or takes his caffeine by intravenous drip. We were lucky to have him take time out from his hectic schedule to drop by our virtual offices and respond to these questions. Thank you so much for your time, Lee.

Lee: Thanks, Alex. I’m always looking for excuses not to work, and I appreciate this chance to chat. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, politics & government by Alex Kudera
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I’ve seen both Iron Man movies and for the most part liked them — any films where Gwyneth Paltrow does not annoy the hell out of me deserve respect — but even by superhero blockbuster standards they are impressively implausible. In no particular order, things about the Iron Men that just don’t track:

1. In the original, Jeff Bridges arranges to kill Robert Downey, Jr. in Afghanistan because…why? To this point Downey has taken no interest in the company beyond occasionally inventing things that earn it gazillions of dollars. (It’s only after the near-death experience he loses interest in weapons.) I don’t care how evil you are: this is not sound corporate policy. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, movies by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

About a month ago I posted a short piece about one of my all-time favorite comic books, The Gormandizer. Response to that was overwhelming; I was inundated by a deluge of people telling me that I should scan some more Gormandizer pages, because the few scans I did post were AWESOME.

I fully intended on scanning more Gormandizer. However, as I was going through all my old Bronze Age comics I discovered the following gem from the first issue of Senator Surprise. This story, “How a Spell Becomes a Law!” is eerily prescient, with its warning about the dangers of the United States Senate taking on financial reform, especially as it relates to demons from other dimensions. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, ends & odd by Ricky Sprague
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I’m not big on graphic novels and I’ve not read comic books or adventure comic strips since I was a kid, but The James Bond Omnibus, Volume I interested me.

I was first introduced to Ian Fleming’s iconic secret agent when I saw Dr No at the Colonial movie theater in South Philadelphia in 1962 when I was 10-years-old. But for many British children and adults, their first visual introduction to James Bond was through a daily comic strip that appeared in the newspaper the Daily Express.  

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Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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History is indeed on the march in April. Another invisible pothole has made itself known to the drive-wheels of the Social Justice juggernaut; the Gang of Class Presidents currently running the Fed Gub have crunched and re-crunched the numbers and found that April’s deficit is 82.7 billions. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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April 8, 2010
I dream I am watching a performance by fabulous magician Andrew Goldenhersh. He is doing a new bit with a large pile of white powder he says is salt. He is going to make a volcano, and he lights the powder and it begins to sputter and explode. It firebombs the audience with fragments of white goo. Fortunately, none of the goo touches me. Then the volcano throws off organized smoke that forms in the shapes of bunnies and rocket ships. It is very magical and I am inspired to visit a magic shop, but there are none. I go to the open air library to look for a phone book. When I finally find one, not only are there no magic shops listed, but there is nothing that begins with the letter “m.”

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Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Jack Dunphy, the nom de cyber of a serving Los Angeles police officer, offers a cop’s view of illegal immigrants and the Arizona law on National Review Online.

“I suspect most otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants in Arizona will have little to fear from this new law,” Dunphy writes. “As few police officers will invest the time and trouble to detain someone who, though illegally in this country, is causing no trouble to the community.”

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Tags: on the law by Paul Davis
1 Comment »

This has potential to be a touchy subject. Anyone out there with a kid or a pet is guilty of over-texting photos of said children to friends and family. I do not purport to be innocent of this heinous and irritating crime. I do, however, try to capture moments that are funny or extraordinarily cute if it’s an image I plan to send. Here’s an example of what I consider text-worthy:

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Tags: family & parenting, going parental, technology by Jaclyn Roth
7 Comments »

I am loath to criticize Babies, lest anyone misconstrue my comments about the film as criticism of the actual babies in the film.  The babies are adorable and wonderful, and perfectly cast as adorable and wonderful infants. At times this film is exciting, moving, funny and provocative.  Although the film has many wonderful moments, in its totality it is a bit dull. It would make an interesting PBS television special, but it doesn’t really succeed as an entertainment experience requiring the purchase of a ticket. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
2 Comments »

Andrew Sullivan, America’s premiere investigative journalist, who once famously kinda proved Sarah Palin was not the mother of her soi-disant son Trig — and who’s been furiously tracking the sexual orientation of Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan — has unearthed the startling discovery that Kagan is in fact the real mother of Trig.

“Kagan has no alibi for the night of Trig’s birth,” said Sullivan, “and refuses to answer my questions on the subject. What is she trying to hide? Could this whole ‘is she gay?’ thing be nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the real truth? Like all my allegations, it’s true until proven otherwise.”

Tags: politics & government by Colin Cohen
2 Comments »

I can barely go 70 minutes without eating. So the possibility that there is a person out there, however yogified, who claims to have gone 70 years without eating OR drinking…well, that simply blows my mind.

Even if there is some cosmic explanation behind the condition of Prahlad Jani, the 82-year-old in question, he’s been missing out on some really  spiritual experiences. Chicago deep dish. A top shelf burger in New York. Shoot, I frequently bring up my first foray into ethiopian food, which I certainly hope wasn’t the last because I loved every scoop of it. Yes, there is indeed a type of ethiopian cuisine. While every bite of food isn’t memorable, we all likely remember when and where we were when we tried something special.

It’s not too late for Mr. Jani though. At full growth, he could probably smuggle an entire Juniors cheesecake in his beard.

Tags: recipes & food by Glenn Giangrande
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Rowen Scarborough at the Washington Times reports that the terrorist suspect at the center of the trials of  three Navy SEALs was one of the most dangerous men in Iraq.

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Tags: on the law, terror & war by Paul Davis
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On Facebook, a friend recently asked the all-important question, “Why do people insist on writing songs about wild horses? What the hell do we know about wild horses anyway? Has anyone here ever seen one?”

She then noted some lyrics:

“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away” — The Rolling Stones
“Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?” — U2
“All the wild horses / Tethered with tears in their eyes” — Ray Lamontagne
“Wild horses could not drag me away from you” — Gino Vanelli (whoever he is, he’s an original [expletive])
“Wild horses keep draggin’ me away” — Garth Brooks (at least they succeed here where the Stones’ and Vanelli’s wild horses failed)

Aside from the tired, lazy, copycat songwriting (one song has a bit about wild horses and then in subsequent years everyone has to write about wild horses any time they want to indicate how strong their love is), there are some logical problems here. [Read more →]

Tags: animals, music by Scott Stein
1 Comment »

Little Bee is the sort of book I find hard to review.  I want everyone to read this book — I want to tell you enough to encourage you to run out and put this on your wishlist.  What I don’t want to do is spoil the story, and if I tell you too much, I will.  The story at the heart of this amazing book is revealed slowly, piece by piece, a word here, a hint there.  There is a certain build-up to the story that could be easily derailed and I don’t want to do anything to take away from your enjoyment.  Author Chris Cleave has crafted a novel that literally took my breath away — confrontations that were like physical blows and passages that burned in my chest and made it hard to breathe — and I want you to enjoy the build-up as much as I did. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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