And everyone — myself included — makes the obvious gag: Leonard B. Stern, an Emmy-winning writer, producer and director for television whose frantic search for an adjective one day led him and a colleague to create Mad Libs, the game that asks players to fill in blanks with designated parts of speech to yield comically ________[adj.] stories, died on Tuesday at his … Read More
The Final Word (One Hopes) On Weiner
I'm just outsourcing this to Glenn Greenwald, who makes some valuable points: What makes the Anthony Weiner story somewhat unique and thus worth discussing for a moment is that, as Hendrik Hertzberg points out, the pretense of substantive relevance (which, lame though it was in prior scandals, was at least maintained) has been more or less brazenly dispensed with here. This isn't a … Read More
Twitter Now Automatically Shortens Links
Now, whenever you type a link into the Twitter webapp, it will shorten anything over 11 characters using their t.co service. Like you care.
The Sissy Boy Experiment
It's very rare that a blog does some serious investigative reporting, but that's just what Box Turtle Bulletin has done. The story begins: In 1970, a well-known expert on homosexuality and transgender issues appeared on a local television talk show in Los Angeles to talk about feminine boys. He described how very young boys who behaved in a feminine manner … Read More
Palin’s Gotcha Question
I almost missed this. Palin, as you know, complained that the question she was asked — the one that forced her to demonstrate her lack of knowledge about American history — was a "gotcha" question. David Frum discovered the outrageous ambush question that threw Palin for such a loop: “What have you seen so far today, and what are you going … Read More
Google Music Beta: A First Impression
It's not often that I get into the "beta" door — usually I don't try. But I asked for, and received, and "invite" to use Google Music Beta, the new streaming music service by Google. This is the newest development in the music industry. In the OLD days, you would have to buy the music in some tangible form (LP, … Read More
MTV Awards
I didn't watch the MTV Awards last night (I haven't watched them in well over a decade), but I'll bet even money that some girl kissed another girl, or a guy kissed a guy, or there was some sort of sexual touching going on which is all the buzz this morning.
Santorum’s Failed Attempt to Link D-Day and Medicare
See if you can make sense of this: … Santorum said, what he and Paul Ryan want to do is “give people the resources to go out and choose for themselves choose what’s best for themselves.” Unlike Obama, he continued, who is spitting in the face of those Americans who fought on D-Day, 67 years ago today. “Almost 60,000 average … Read More
The End Of Weiner?
I like Anthony Weiner and his brand of politics. No holds barred. Fiery. And then he had to go and do something stupid and classless like having inappropriate online conversations with women not his wife, some underage apparently, and some conversations including risque photos. Worse than that — far worse than that — he made Andrew Breitbart look somewhat respectable. So…. … Read More
You Just Don’t Get It, Do You?
"You Just Don't Get It, Do You?" – A Montage of Cinema's Worst Writing Cliche from Jeff Smith on Vimeo.
The Review Is In….
From the Winston-Salem Journal: Play is good-hearted fun By LYNN FELDER "Duck Hunter Shoots Angel," which opened Friday night at Twin City Stage, follows the misadventures of a couple of good old boys who think they've shot an angel and a tabloid journalist from "up North" as they search for meaning and redemption in an Alabama swamp. Along the way, … Read More
Palin Doubles Down on Stupidity
Oy: WASHINGTON (AP/The Huffington Post) — Sarah Palin says she didn't mess up her history on Paul Revere. The potential 2012 presidential candidate was in Boston on Thursday as part of her bus tour when she was asked about the Revolutionary War hero. *** She says there were British soldiers in the area for years before Revere's legendary ride, and … Read More
John Edwards Indicted
Pretty sad, really. How many of us thought he was different? AP reports: A federal grand jury indicted two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday over $925,000 spent to keep his mistress and their baby in hiding during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House. The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including … Read More
Meet Norway’s “Rebecca Black”
Here's her "hit" — 'I Don't Want To Be A Crappy Housewife':
Kevorkian Dead
Peacefully, in a hospital bed. Yes, he was an odd man with many issues, but not when it came to the notion that people should be able to die with dignity. Can't fault his views on that.