Before You Start, You’re Already Beat
And now, Ludic Live’s first-ever reader poll: who’s the greatest femme fatale in film noir?
Year: 2011
Where Humor Goes to Die: “That’s” “Not” “Funny”
No one gets angry at a mathematician or a physicist whom he or she doesn’t understand, or at someone who speaks a foreign language; but rather at someone who tampers with their own language. The bastard form of mass culture is humiliated repetition — always new books, new programs, new …
Have an Opinion: Death of a Nightmare
Osama bin-Laden is dead. Everyone is supposed to have an opinion about every aspect of how that sentence came to awarded the status of truth, and I guess I do, but I’ll be damned if I can sort it out into anything worth saying. Mostly, I feel a combination of …
Watchin’ My Stories: “Billy’s Prison Diary – Voices”
Dear Dr Graves I dont like writing. I know you said I should write down when something important happens and I reckon this is important but I dont think Im so good at words. I been spending a lot of time in the library thogh and I guess thats good …
Hello the Internet I Love You: Two Tickets to Stupid-Ass
Your Yahoo! News, your YouTube, your Atlas Shrugs, they come and go. Some web site comment sections go to college to get more knowledge, and some go to Jupiter to get more stupider. But one comment section reigns supreme. One comments section has come out on top, year after year, …
The Most Beautiful Fraud: Decoy
Having been out of print for four decades did a lot to raise the status of Decoy in a lot of peoples’ minds. In truth, it’s a second-tier film noir; stylistically, it doesn’t do much for the medium, and it suffers from some lackluster performances and a lot of scenes …
The Sandwich Century — #9: The BLT
The classics, it is said, are classics for a reason. Thus far in the Sandwich Century, that’s been proven true; the classic sandwiches have panned out as being pure gold as a rule. But for every Roger Ebertian sandwich, defended by all as an exemplar of the for, along comes …
PetardCast, Episode #15
Osama bin-Laden is dead, and that can only mean one thing: it is safe once again to listen to comedic podcasts on the internet. Yes, the hateful murderer’s reign of terror is over, and finally, the PetardCast can return to the air to make obscure jokes without fear of reprisal …
The Most Beautiful Fraud: The Critics are Raving About Atlas Shrugged!
Because I guess we’ve exhausted all of our other entertainment options, somebody has gone ahead and made a movie of Atlas Shrugged. The troubled production has finally arrived in cineplexes, and while it’s not the big-budget blockbuster Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie extravaganza we were once promised, I’m sure it’s a wonderful …
Wasted Words Update
I am one of the guests (along with Shek Baker, Olivia Todd, RJ White, and Tony Zaret) on a brand-new episode of Wasted Words, America’s favorite drunken podcast, and this one may be one of my all-time favorites. We discuss jazz, the hats of the First World War, self-delusion, American …
Four Colors to Infinity: Towards a New Skeptic
In the real world, a skeptic is someone who, faced with a lack of convincing evidence, does not believe in the existence of the supernatural. She is, in short, someone who believes the evidence of her own eyes, and if tasked to explain the presence of vampires, unicorns or Jehovah, …
The Sandwich Century — #8: The Breakfast Sandwich
The problem with writing about the breakfast sandwich, as part of the Sandwich Century project, is that it’s not really a single sandwich, as such, but more a genre of sandwich. To borrow a line from Parks and Recreation, you can’t say your favorite kind of cake is birthday cake, …
PetardCast, Episode #14
Once again, it’s time to use the technology of the 21st century to indulge in the kind of wacky-pants comedy that would have seemed outdated in the 18th. Yes, it’s a brand new episode of the PetardCast, and it will blow the doors off of your barn, if your computer …
Have an Opinion: Your Bra Bomb Better Work, Nerdlinger!
Over at the National Review, they’ve given idiot-at-large Jay Nordlinger a column called “Impromptus”, in which he jots down his half-formed mental emissions. As with most such random-thoughts columns, you get what you pay for. Let’s watch! It was interesting to read Kate Trinko’s piece on Michele Bachmann and learn …
Watchin’ My Stories: “Billy’s Prison Diary – How It All Happened”
Today we’ll be re-launching a short story series I started several years ago called “Billy’s Prison Diary”. Enjoy. *** to hear henry tell it them people just about controled the whole world. sometimes wed be over to lances diner grill and tommyd be readin the paper and henryd up and …