"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
“You just got your ass handed to you by a goddamned retiree! ” — Rebecca Pidgeon as Cynthia Wilkes in Red The Kids Are All Right (2010) I don’t doubt this movie drives right-wingers, evangelicals, and all the other homophobes crazy, but you know what? It’s a great film about family, full of heart, and […]
So there’s a new book out: Area 51: an Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base, by Annie Jacobsen. On Tuesday, May 17, Annie discussed her book with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Naturally, I watched. You can watch too, if you wish: Most of what Annie had to say about Area 51 […]
Here’s another neighborhood mystery to keep me up nights. Once in a while road crews dump piles of dirt alongside county roads near our housing subdivision. I don’t know for sure, but presumably workers come along later and use the dirt to repair erosion damage along the shoulders of the roads. Perhaps it’s some special […]
Last week Jon Stewart weighed in on the Republican/Fox News hissy fit over the White House inviting the rapper Common to a poetry reading. Stewart’s segment — especially his masterful takedown of the deeply stupid Sean Hannity — was brilliant. If you missed it, here’s a link to the video. Then, last night, MSNBC’s Ed […]
I’ve mentioned prison book restrictions and bannings in previous roundups. The last such item I covered was a South Carolina jail’s policy of banning all books other than the Bible. The ACLU is now challenging that policy on behalf of an inmate. Reading is a civil liberty? Damn right it is! Here’s a related article […]
A friend lent me two hard science fiction novels, one sword & sorcery fantasy novel, and one Arthurian romance. I thought I’d enjoy the hard sci-fi (and I do) but her brand new paperbacks are in such perfect condition I’m afraid to open the pages wide enough to read because I’ll crease the books’ spines […]
Today they call it SERE, for Survival Evasion Resistance Escape. When I went through the training in the mid-1970s, it was called Survival School. What prompted the memory was last night’s Netflix rental, the epic survival movie The Way Back, a story about escapees from a Siberian prison camp who trekked 4,000 miles across Russia, […]
First some background, from a post I wrote on 30 November 2010: Yesterday, listening to an NPR report on the DoD’s Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell survey of military personnel, it hit me that if gays are permitted to openly serve, the thorny issue of same-sex marriage will soon follow. I probably don’t know what I’m talking […]