Of all the issues over which Republicans and Democrats have butted heads in recent elections, none have proven as shockingly polarizing as health care. When President Obama managed to pass a health care reform bill, it so enraged the opposition — despite the fact that it was a monstrously compromised …
Most Americans — and I hope to excuse the broadness of this claim by absolutely, unreservedly including myself — are really, really bad with money. This is not to say that they are simply stupid about their finances, or that when they are, it’s their fault. As has been widely …
The recent cultural fisticuffs over Amanda Palmer’s initial decision to hire local musicians to play for her in exchange for the non-negotiable instruments of “beer and hugs” has rippled far beyond Palmer herself, becoming a talking point in a larger conversation about what it means to be an artist in …
One of the great losses of the Internet age is the legendary quality of the you-had-to-be-there moment. Once upon a time, it was possible to evoke the unrepeatable glory of some event, some concert or performance or speech, and assure your audience that it was a thing of transcendent greatness, …
One thing needs to be addressed right off the bat when discussing Rian Johnson’s excellent new sci-fi drama Looper: yes, its time travel narrative doesn’t make any sense. Congratulations on spotting this well-concealed flaw, so integral to the essence of the film that Johnson was blowing it off as largely …
Blame is a tricky thing in politics. For one thing, you have to be particularly careful about the entire notion of blame — for blame, after all, implies agency and power, which can easily backfire. People who say that the current administration is responsible for all the woes of the …
I am not the first, and may not even be the one millionth, person to point out that a lot of voters approach politics as something about halfway between a sports fandom and a religion. In every election, there are massive numbers of people who treat the process not as …
Of all my many musical obsessions, the one I have the most trouble explaining — let alone defending — is my love for unadulterated field recordings. That’s probably because they’re not music at all, in the traditional sense; they are not composed, they are not performed, they are not even …
I was adopted when I was two days old. I never met my birth parents, and my adoptive family is the only one I have ever known. But I know a few things about the couple who conceived and bore me: my mother was a white American, who married quite …
Continuing my wiseass commentary in conjunction with Calamity Jon’s OHOTMU Redux project, which you should be following like it was your dad and you wanted to buy a Slurpee: SUPREME INTELLIGENCE. The Kree were just as crazy-mad for adding superlatives to everything as were their enemies the Skrull. The leader …
(Fade in to Harriet’s upstairs apartment. There are boxes piled up everywhere, and the place has that freshly-moved-into look. Pan across the wreckage to the sound of scrubbing and foul-tongued mutterings under the breath. We see Harriet Kostaki squatting on her living room carpet, which appears to be matted with …
Elections, as people on the losing end of them are painfully used to being reminded, are as much about personalities as they are about politics. A candidate can have the most reasonable, sensible policies imaginable, but doesn’t stand a chance of winning office if, as they say, the dogs don’t …
It’s a new fall season on the television machine, and thanks to exciting new advances in Internet technology and desperate marketing ploys, we’re now able to see the new offerings from the networks weeks before they air. And that’s good, because it means if you plan your time wisely like …
“When we refer to a subject, place or person in the phrase ‘the question of’, we imply a number of different things. For example, one concludes a survey of current affairs by saying, ‘And now I come to the question of X.’ The point here is that X is a …
An angel came down from heaven and give me twenty dollars, so I rolled my bones out to the picture show. My plan was to see the evening screening of The Dark Knight Rises, perpetual Batman mark that I am, but I had plenty of time to kill before it started, …
