Studs Terkel, 1912-2008

by Trey Graham

We've lost Studs Terkel, that magnificent animal. You'll find Cheryl Corley's story on him over here.

And because there's no point in parochialism at times like this, I want to make sure you see this, from the Chicago Tribune:

There's much more, including several more videos, from the Tribune on this page.

Need more? Try Studs On a Soapbox, a half-hour bio that originally aired on WTTW's "Chicago Stories" back in 2000. (Credit Tom Weinberg and the online video archive MediaBurn.)

And because no good sendoff is complete without a little Patti LaBelle, here's the number "Cleanin' Women," from the Broadway musical based on Terkel's quietly marvelous here's-what-we-do-all-day book Working. This take is from a 90-minute version that aired on PBS in 1982, in the first season of American Playhouse:

5:34 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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When Perhaps You Actually Really Can't Handle The Truth

Trimming the truth: How do you cut a true story when it's just a little long? iStockphoto.com

 

by Linda Holmes

Reading the piece by Kenneth Turan about truth in movies, I found myself thinking about Changeling. (Which, as Trey just said, has been out in some places for a week, but rolls out more widely today.)

There were things I liked about Changeling, especially in the early going. The introduction of the basic problem, in which Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns from work to find her son gone, has an undeniably impressive tension -- not that child endangerment is exactly the most difficult route to an emotional payoff.

But by the end of the movie, I was totally alienated from it, and when I left, I sent a friend a text message that said, "Movies not to see: Changeling."

How they lost me, and what it has to do with true stories, after the jump...

Continue reading "When Perhaps You Actually Really Can't Handle The Truth" »

12:46 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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Wait, Didn't 'Changeling' Open This Week? Where's Your Review?

'Changeling' resurrected: Why yes, we did review the new Angelina Jolie movie. Just not this week. Universal Studios

 

So in cities and towns across the land, people are going to work dressed as Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber and heck, William Ayers, for all I know. (Happy Halloween, all.)

And in their downtown movie palaces and suburban multiplexes, there's a movie called Changeling opening today, starring some actress named Angelina Jolie, who would appear to be popular.

So, as one friend who knows I edit the movie reviews has already asked today: Why don't we have a review splashed prominently across the NPR home page this week, so y'all can find it?

Our lame excuse, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Wait, Didn't 'Changeling' Open This Week? Where's Your Review?" »

12:01 PM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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Twiddling Your Thumbs?

A quick oldie-but-goodie for those who have never played: Guess The Dictator Or Sit-com Character. Surprise yourself with the small number of questions required to guess that you are an obscure character! Analyze your life by answering as yourself and seeing which character you most resemble!

This game has been kicking around for years, so it's been honed pretty carefully...except for spelling. So consider yourself warned.

10:44 AM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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Halloween: A Holiday For Kids, Not Bartenders and Dentists

Halloween Is For Kids: Adults only mess it up with their clean teeth and fancy cocktails. iStockphoto.com

 

by Todd Kliman

I used to love Halloween.

It was the night of infinite possibilities, of dressing up and pretending to be anything you wanted -- anything at all -- and ditching the boring grown-ups and their dull, rule-driven world, if only for a few hours.

Which was pretty great in and of itself. But on top of that, there were rewards for this game of pretend. Candy rewards.

All that night, and for the rest of the week, too, we were obliged -- that's how the holiday worked; no one could pretend to tell us otherwise -- to feast on our loot, to gorge ourselves silly on miniature chocolate bars, Tootsie rolls, blowpops, lollipops, Candy apples, and all that other awesome sweet sticky stuff.

Halloween was sort of like Thanksgiving for pre-teens. Only much, much better.

That's not to say there weren't things to beware of in venturing out into the dark. There were bad people out there. Who did bad things. So of course it wasn't wise for small children to go unsupervised in strange areas, and we were advised, always, not to consume any piece of candy that wasn't wrapped.

But these were minor concerns. Halloween was fun. The funnest night of the year.

Now?

Now it's become a holiday so fraught with fear and hand-wringing, so wracked with earnest consideration of the issues of the day, that it's a wonder any parent bothers to send a kid out the door.

Naysayers and do-gooders wreck a perfectly good holiday, after the jump...

Continue reading "Halloween: A Holiday For Kids, Not Bartenders and Dentists" »

9:53 AM ET | 10-31-2008 | permalink

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'Garfield Minus Garfield': What's A Cat Comic Without A Cat?

Garfield Minus Garfield: Without Garfield's retorts about how glad he is the day is over, things look a little more bleak. Ballantine Books

 

by Laurel Maury

Early in 2008, Irishman Dan Walsh started posting online copies online of Garfield -- with Garfield removed. The goofy, 30-year-old comic strip featuring the lasagna-loving tabby and Jon Arbuckle, his girlfriend-less owner, has been adored since the early '80s. Without the cat, a dark humor emerged that resonated through the growing world of webcomics. Within a few months, www.garfieldminusgarfield.net was receiving 500,000 hits a day.

Garfield creator Jim Davis became a fan and asked Walsh to work on a book. Now accompanying the rather lavish Garfield: 30 Years of Laughs and Lasagna, by Jim Davis is a small green book, Garfield Minus Garfield.

How the project started, how the fan mail looks, and teaming up with Jim Davis, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Garfield Minus Garfield': What's A Cat Comic Without A Cat?" »

9:51 AM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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'30 Rock' Returns Tonight; Hear The Plaintive Cries Of Tina Fey

30 Rock is one of those shows, like Friday Night Lights or The Wire, that I become wary of recommending anymore, because I know people are tired of hearing it, and I don't want to create a backlash.

But these are special circumstances. Comedies are in pretty short supply on television, and good ones are in even shorter supply, and this one comes back tonight in a delayed season premiere. And -- here's why I'm making the exception to the "stop recommending the over-recommended" rule -- the entire thing is online already, free and legal, so you can watch it at your desk. Right now! Instead of working! How does that sound? Pretty darn good, right? And so, above, the 30 Rock season premiere, called "Do-Over."

5:42 AM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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Funnybook Roundup, Halloween Edition: "Braaaaaaaaaains...."

Dead Men 'Walking': There are plenty of graphic-novel zombie chronicles, but The Walking Dead leads the shambling herd. Cover detail, 'The Walking Dead,' Vol. I. Courtesy Image Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

Since the post-World War II heyday of EC Comics, horror's been a signature comic book genre.

Which is really odd, when you stop and think about it. For a couple of reasons.

Reason One: Comics by their very nature defy what is perhaps the most frequently cited horror tenet, namely: The scariest stuff is the stuff you don't see.

(In funnybooks, you see everything. That, in fact, is more or less the idea.)

Oh, sure, writers and artists can set a mood, using language, line, shading and color. They can even build tension, of a sort, in that millisecond before you turn the next page.

But (Reason Two) what they can't do is make effective use of tension-and-release, the two-stroke engine that drives horror narratives. If you've ever watched a movie through your fingers, you know what I'm talking about: The slow build of sick dread, the sudden shock, the screaming relief.

The funny thing about each of those tropes, see, is that they are largely functions of pacing.

And I'm going to let you in on a dirty secret about comics: Pacing? Doesn't exist.

After the jump: Why horror comics have to settle for unsettling; assorted zombie matters; and the Monster at the End of this Post.

Continue reading "Funnybook Roundup, Halloween Edition: "Braaaaaaaaaains...."" »

1:38 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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Five (Plus One) Vintage Videos To Improve Your Inclement Wednesday

by Linda Holmes

If you're among the many people who miss the days when MTV showed videos all day instead of reruns of The Hills and My Super Sweet 16, you may be heartened by the launch of MTV Music, where you can go and choose from a fairly substantial library of videos to watch online. Contrary to some of the suggestions I've read, it certainly doesn't contain every video MTV ever showed -- more on that later -- but it includes some good ones, and certainly enough to perk up your Wednesday, if you're flagging. Up there is the 1983 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" video where many folks first discovered the unusual Annie Lennox.

Four (plus one) more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Five (Plus One) Vintage Videos To Improve Your Inclement Wednesday" »

11:50 AM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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The Joys Of A Spontaneous Exchange Of Ideas

by Linda Holmes

Somebody really put a lot of work into this remarkable video, which rather powerfully suggests a certain lack of spontaneity in the three presidential debates. By which I mean, "It will really make you feel like you could have spent two out of three of them doing something else."

Oh, Internet. How you do ruin everything.

9:16 AM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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Beware The Pop Oscars! (Whoops, Hang On: False Alarm)

Iron Man: Will nominations for wildly popular movies transform the Oscars into something even an ordinary Joe can enjoy? Paramount Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

A couple of days ago, the movie blog FirstShowing.net talked about whether there are too many Oscar-contending movies this year.

Not really "too many," of course -- just enough that it made sense for Paramount to bump the Jamie Foxx-Robert Downey Jr. drama The Soloist to next year, as it recently did.

Today, the New York Times weighs in with an even more alarming prospect than a crowded slate: the invasion of the Oscars by movies that a lot of people actually watched. (Say it ain't so!)

From WALL-E to The Dark Knight to ... well, to mostly those two (though apparently a long-shot Iron Man campaign is rumored), there seems to be a serious possibility that some Oscar nominations will go to summer movies that made hundreds of millions of dollars.

The danger, apparently, is that those nominations therefore won't be going to December movies that a lot of people meant to see, but never got around to because of grocery shopping, the tight economy, and the irresistible lure of Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

The Times doesn't really argue that either WALL-E, which got remarkably good reviews, or The Dark Knight, which is far more likely to snag a nomination for Heath Ledger than for the film itself, is undeserving of the honor. And yet the paper can't help sneering, "Welcome to the pop Oscars."

Oh, the horror!

Movies you may have seen stake their claim to quality, after the jump...

Continue reading "Beware The Pop Oscars! (Whoops, Hang On: False Alarm)" »

5:54 PM ET | 10-28-2008 | permalink

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'Mad Men' Mania And More, In The Monday Roundup

Mad Men: Get the skinny on Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the rest of the crowd, straight from the horse's mouth. AMC

 

by Linda Holmes

• If you are among the Mad Men faithful and crave a thoughtful dissection of the show's second season and of last night's season finale, don't miss the lengthy and fascinating Q&A that the New Jersey Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall conducted with showrunner Matthew Weiner. Weiner dissects individual scenes and the season as a whole, answers a number of burning questions hotly debated by fans, and generally goes full-on wonk about his own characters.

The nature of humor, the fate of irony, and how Facebook can get you in trouble, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Mad Men' Mania And More, In The Monday Roundup" »

8:04 AM ET | 10-27-2008 | permalink

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Will The Irony Multiplier Hurt 'High School Musical 3'?

The Irony Multiplier: How much would you pay to make fun of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens? Fred Hayes/Disney Enterprises

 

by Linda Holmes

I haven't yet seen High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which opens today to the squealing excitement of people who may be inside your own home. Not because I'm abstaining, but because I already have an appointment to see it with a friend next weekend. I fully expect it to be atrocious by any objective artistic standard.

You probably know the story of the first two High School Musical movies that aired on the Disney Channel: a low-budget project, a cult following, iTunes downloads, huge dollars, total bafflement, a second movie, more huge dollars, more merchandise, more bafflement, a jump to theaters.

What has helped High School Musical make so much money? The attractiveness of the actors doesn't hurt, and neither do the infectiously toe-tappable tunes from the first movie in particular.

But I'm convinced that HSM has also benefited from something I'm going to call the Irony Multiplier.

What the Irony Multiplier is, and where it shows up, after the jump...

Continue reading "Will The Irony Multiplier Hurt 'High School Musical 3'?" »

7:00 AM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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'We Call Him JMS': Comics Fans
On the Man Behind 'Changeling'

Hero worship: Former Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski is busy talking up his film Changeling this week, but that won't stop our comics guys from talking up his funnybook-world fame. Tony Rivetti Jr./Universal Pictures

 

by Trey Graham

Today on Morning Edition, NPR's Elizabeth Blair talks about the true story behind the new film Changeling with screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski -- who'll be better known to many Monkey See readers as the creator of TV's Babylon 5 and a longtime writer for Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man.

Wait, did somebody mention a superhero? Cue Monkey See's funnybook blogger Glen Weldon. Glen came down to the mothership earlier this week for an in-studio chat.

Joining him: fellow Marvel geek Jim Lesher, who works on NPR's Operations Desk. (The Ops crew keeps us plugged into the rest of the world, keeps us from fighting over studio time, handles logistics for remote broadcasts, and much more.)

And you know how it is when you put a couple of, ahem, enthusiasts in front of a microphone. Elizabeth asked two, maybe three questions, and the guys were off to the races.

Among the topics: 9/11 in the Marvel universe, Babylon 5 and what it taught TV about the Internet, and the Spider-Man storyline that drove Straczynski out of his skull. Plus: Comics-specific audio extras -- stuff you won't hear in the Morning Edition story -- taken from Blair's interview with Straczynski.

The result? Click the play button above, and hear for yourself.

2:00 AM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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When Mayors Bet On Baseball, Does The Food Tell The Tale?

Cole Hamels Takes A Bite Out Of The Series: "I hold my cheesesteak in this hand, and then I pitch like this." Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

 

by Todd Kliman

Mayoral wagers are as time-honored a sports tradition as talking trash, celebrating at City Hall, and stealing signs.

This year's World Series, which began last night, pits the Philadelphia Phillies against the Tampa Bay Rays -- a team with a long history of futility (the Phils have one title to show for their 125 years of existence) versus a team with a short history of futility (the ten-year-old Rays posted nine consecutive losing seasons).

On Tuesday, on the eve of the Series, the mayors of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa -- respectively, Rick Baker, Frank Hibbard and Pam Iorio -- engaged their Philly counterpart, mayor Michael Nutter, in the familiar foodie challenge.

More details and what they might mean, after the jump...

Continue reading "When Mayors Bet On Baseball, Does The Food Tell The Tale?" »

10:58 AM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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An Excellent Explanation Of The 'Chick Flick' Problem

Chick fatigue: If I never see Sarah Jessica Parker in another goofy outfit again, it will be too soon. New Line Cinema

 

When asked recently to describe what kinds of movies I like, I found myself explaining that once upon a time, I owned VHS copies of just about every high-profile romantic comedy -- good or bad -- that had come out since I was a teenager. And that, at some point, my ability to appreciate them, and new movies like them, had dropped off.

I never had any interest in Sex And The City, so clearly, my estrangement from the girl-movie genre is nearly complete. And while I've griped about some of the reasons why, I think Jessica Barnes' piece at Cinematical is the best and most thorough outline of the problem I've seen yet.

7:28 AM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

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Cue the (Word) Balloon Drop: A Presidential Comix Cavalcade

Here they come to save the day: McCain, Palin and Obama get bio-comics. And there's a fourth — but it's not about the candidate you'd expect. IDW, Bluewater

 

by Glen Weldon

How do I love [preferred candidate]? Let me count the swag:

With lawn signs do I love him. With baby tees, and hoodies. And buttons. And with bumper stickers, desktop wallpapers, magnets (refrigerator/car), lapel pins, hats (baseball/ trucker), coffee mugs, water bottles and funnybooks.

Wait: funnybooks?

Funnybooks.

Four different candidates vying for national office are now the subjects of their own comic-book biographies. But they're not necessarily the four candidates you'd imagine — and you'll never guess which one got snubbed.

After the jump: Profiles in four-color courage, and the identity of the mystery snubbee ... REVEALED! ... (Yeah, okay, it's Biden.)

Continue reading "Cue the (Word) Balloon Drop: A Presidential Comix Cavalcade" »

4:58 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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'Disco Godfather': Remembering the Remarkable Rudy Ray Moore

Pimpin' it Godfather style: Rudy Ray Moore rocks the snakeskin-and-glitter-frames look. Getty Images

 

by John Ridley

Most of the obits for comedian Rudy Ray Moore, who passed away last Sunday at the age of 81, tended to note his extensive list of party albums, his penchant for working bluer than blue. They pointed out that Dolemite, his stage and film character, was an influence on any number of pimp- lovin' playas from Big Daddy Kane to Snoop Dogg.

But for those of you who've never heard of Rudy Ray Moore — and I'm guessing that's a lot of you — I'd like to recall none of that today.

Rather, in eulogizing the man, I'd like to remember his unforgettable 1979 film Disco Godfather.

Disco Godfather is one of the worst movies ever made. It also has a permanent home in my DVD collection. If you appreciate what Rudy was all about, you can't help but appreciate the film.

The allure of Disco Godfather explained, after the jump ...

Continue reading "'Disco Godfather': Remembering the Remarkable Rudy Ray Moore" »

1:01 PM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Beware Attempts At Edgy Humor

Blah blah blah: "Please send money, etc. etc. etc." iStockphoto.com

 

It's always extraordinarily hazardous to make a specific attempt to be edgily humorous, especially when you aren't well-positioned to pull it off credibly.

Just ask the fundraisers at Framingham State College, who recently sent out an appeal for donations that included 137 uses of the word "blah." You may have heard the story yesterday on All Things Considered.

How did it happen? Like this: "Today, the fact of the matter is that deserving students need help to finance their education. Blah, blah, blah, blah blah..." And it went on from there, covering the page with "blah blah blah" until the "and so, please send your money here" section at the bottom.

Blah blah blah, after the jump...

Continue reading "Beware Attempts At Edgy Humor" »

9:44 AM ET | 10-22-2008 | permalink

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Speaking of Unlikely Collaborators: Gwen Stefani Meets the Soggy Bottom Boys

This uparallelled YouTube treasure just popped up on my Facebook page, courtesy of an actor I know. I've played it four times now, and I'm thinking my day will involve another six or seven listens, minimum:

Looks like it's been up on the Tubes for about a year and a half, in which time it's racked up a mere 103,000 plays. Surely it deserves better than that, no? I mean, who'd have thought to mash those two up?

-- Trey Graham

2:09 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Stephen Colbert Toots Own Horn

by Linda Holmes

Stephen Colbert and Wynton Marsalis. Go to the five-minute mark to see the greatest duet of its kind I've ever heard.

11:00 AM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Is Jeff Probst Ushering In The Television Of The New And Terrifying Economy?

Jeff Probst: If you're dying, you may have already won. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

This is Jeff Probst. You may have seen him do his thing as the host of Survivor (currently in its seventeenth season, for those of you who are keeping score), or perhaps you caught his disastrous appearance with several other reality-television hosts on the Emmy Awards.

Jeff has a new idea. He has created, and he will host, a new pilot for CBS called Live Like You're Dying, in which terminally ill people live out their last wishes. As Probst explains it, the show will take the person "on the last adventure of their life."

I tend to be fairly forgiving of reality television, for the simple reasons that people know what they're getting into by now, the stakes are pretty low, and most of the people who look petty and mean on television are petty and mean anyway. I don't feel like it rots my brain any more than any other insubstantial entertainment. I don't buy into the general "reality television = evil" line of thinking, as a general rule.

Here, I make an exception.

Continue reading "Is Jeff Probst Ushering In The Television Of The New And Terrifying Economy?" »

9:22 AM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Sometimes Dogs In Wigs Are...Literally Dogs In Wigs

by Linda Holmes

I now commend to you, because I must, Best Week Ever's list of the Top Ten Humiliating Pet Costumes Of 2008. (The copy is mildly off-color; feel free to just look at the pictures, which are plenty funny.) If that's not enough pet costuming for you, enjoy the Gothamist entry on costumed dogs on New York's Upper East Side.

Hilarious bonus: The Gothamist photos are taken from a public Flickr set by a photographer going by the handle "istolethetv," and while Gothamist didn't select it as one of its featured photos, one of istolethetv's pictures from the New York dog parade is a dog wearing one of BWE's Top Ten Humiliating Pet Costumes. Now that is synergy.

8:34 AM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Mr. Blackwell, 1922-2008: 'From Rags to Bitches' to the Hereafter

The worst of the worst? You be the judge. George Birch/AP

 

by Bridget Bentz

Mr. Blackwell — the no-first-name-needed celebrity-fashion critic whose annual worst-dressed list opened the door for the likes of Joan and Melissa, Steven Cojocaru, and the editors of US Weekly Magazine — died Oct. 19 at the age of 86.

In his memory — and, let's face it, because most of 'em deserve another beat-down — we've pulled together a slideshow of some of his most flagrant fashion offenders.

And we've drawn up a list of Things We Didn't Know About Mr. Blackwell, starting with:

1. His first name: It was Richard.

After the jump: four more dubiously interesting tidbits ...

Continue reading "Mr. Blackwell, 1922-2008: 'From Rags to Bitches' to the Hereafter" »

6:02 PM ET | 10-20-2008 | permalink

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The Wilhelm Scream, Explained

by Linda Holmes

Your daily pop-culture trivia: Check out this nifty video explanation of the Wilhelm Scream, which you have undoubtedly heard, even if you have not heard of it.

More about the scream, including examples and the inevitable YouTube jokester, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Wilhelm Scream, Explained" »

12:01 PM ET | 10-20-2008 | permalink

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Famous Names Who Should've Used Mail Goggles: A Web Speculation

Computer love: What would Princess Leia write to Han Solo? iStockphoto.com

 

by Glenn McDonald

Word is getting around about Google's new Mail Goggles add-on, which is designed to prevent the drunken late-night phenomenon known as the Instantly Regretted E-Mail. When activated, the Mail Goggles program requires users to answer a few math questions -- a kind of virtual sobriety test -- before any outgoing emails can be sent.

It's genius, frankly, and it inspired me to revisit something I wrote a while ago about what might happen if some of cinema's famous couples had had access to e-mail. Were all of these missives written sober? Would they survive the math-question test?

+++

From: Lloyd_Dobler@nc.rr.com
To: Diane.Court@yahoo.uk.co
Subject: In Your Eyes

Hi Diane, it's me, Lloyd. Lloyd Dobler. Found your blog via Google. I promised myself I'd never write you again, but you know. I dunno. Maybe I didn't really know you. Maybe you were just a mirage. Maybe the world is full of food and sex and spectacle and we're all just hurling towards an apocalypse, in which case it's not your fault. Did I say that already? Anyway, I've been thinking about all these things. Also, I'm drunk.

I just want you to know that I really do hope you are happy in your new life. In London. With whatsisname. I mean it, I really do. Good old stupid puppy dog idiot Lloyd. Look where it's gotten me. Remember when I said I didn't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career? Or sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed? Guess what I do now. I buy and sell computer processors. My life is a cruel joke.

What else can I tell you? I gave up kickboxing after a sparring accident--lost partial vision in my left eye. I can't listen to Peter Gabriel without throwing up. I still hang out at the Gas 'n Sip. I'd love to hear back from you, Diane. I wish you were here, wish I could talk to you again. Write back. Say something. Anything.

Lloyd

What came after the Battle Of Endor and more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Famous Names Who Should've Used Mail Goggles: A Web Speculation" »

10:00 AM ET | 10-20-2008 | permalink

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Five Best (And Worst) Entirely Nonpartisan Things About 'W.'

The questioning ends in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...: Josh Brolin plays the president in a film with ups and downs for those of every political stripe. Lionsgate

 

by Linda Holmes

It's a tense time: elections are looming, attack ads are everywhere, and many of us just want it to be over. Into this loaded environment comes Oliver Stone's W., an oddly detached look at a presidency that hasn't even ended yet.

The portrayals of not only the president, but also Dick Cheney and other prominent figures, makes it easy to break down your reaction along partisan lines — but let's put that aside. Let's reach across the aisle. Let's be a uniter, not a divider, and consider the five best and worst things about the film that have nothing to do with what party you belong to:

The Best

1. Thandie Newton's Condoleezza Rice voice. It doesn't fit with the rest of the movie at all, since it's so broad that it constantly seems like Tina Fey is about to come wandering out to play the flute. In that sense, it's actually distracting and arguably ... bad. Nevertheless, as a sketch-comedy portrayal, it's funny: accurate without being insulting.

The rest of the list, after the jump...

Continue reading "Five Best (And Worst) Entirely Nonpartisan Things About 'W.'" »

12:27 PM ET | 10-17-2008 | permalink

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'Alinea': Treat Your Economic Wounds With Suspended Bacon

Alinea: We're not sure what this is, but it looks delicious, or possibly confusing, or possibly both. Lara Kastner/Achatz LLC

 

by Todd Kliman

On the heels of the biggest Wall Street collapse since The Great Depression, and at a time when the snaking lines at thrift stores and food banks recall images of the '30s, the most hotly awaited cookbook of the season hit stores this week -- looking for all the world like the last, great blast of foodie obliviousness.

Alinea is a collection of recipes (and paeans to culinary exploration) from the four-star Chicago restaurant whose chef, Grant Achatz, has taken the expression "playing with your food" to a head-shaking extreme. Flaunting bourgeois expectations -- like, for instance, the ones that say a meal moves from appetizer to entree to dessert, or the ones that militate for a separate-but-equal segregation of sweet and savory -- Achatz stages a kind of elaborate dinner-as-theater, candying bacon and suspending it from a trapeze, or sending out waiters with atomizers to spritz the air with the scent of pine (how else is a chef supposed to summon the smell of the forest?).

Continue reading "'Alinea': Treat Your Economic Wounds With Suspended Bacon" »

12:26 PM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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Love Bites (Or: Did 'True Blood's' Sookie Stackhouse Go Too Far?)

It's Just Lunch: Does Sookie (Anna Paquin) need to worry about love bites from vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer)? HBO

 

by Joe Matazzoni

"Sookie, no!"

That's what some of us were saying at the end of last week's True Blood episode, when (spoiler alert!) our heroine decided to go all the way — and then a little further — with her new beau, vampire Bill. The "a little further" part came when Sookie, whispering "I want you to," let Bill bite her neck.

Talk about your risky behavior.

"But won't she be a vampire now?" asked my wife, echoing the question on many viewers' minds. My wife is somewhat innocent of vampire lore, so I had to explain that it depends. But I did wonder if Sookie might now risk, at a minimum, becoming one of those vampire love slaves we saw in Episode 3.

So now the question is out there: What are the Vampire Rules in the True Blood mythology?

Answers after the jump ...

Continue reading "Love Bites (Or: Did 'True Blood's' Sookie Stackhouse Go Too Far?)" »

11:30 AM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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'You'll Shoot Your Eye Out': An Unlikely Fandom Comes Together In Cleveland

A Christmas Story: Poor Flick (Scott Schwartz) doesn't know he will one day be a legend. Turner Entertainment

 

by Linda Holmes

When you think "fan convention," you probably think three things: (1) Spock ears; (2) Princess Leia hair; and (3) that you are rapidly getting hives.

Fan gatherings have a bad reputation for being full of costumed oddballs who are not to be trusted, but now and then, one comes along that's just downright heartwarming. The latest entry is a post-Thanksgiving gathering in Cleveland for fans of A Christmas Story, the 1983 adaptation of Jean Shepherd's tales of his childhood.

Neither a hit nor a bomb when it showed in theaters 25 years ago, the movie later became one of pop-culture's most durable holiday traditions, particularly when it started running on cable in a 24-hour Christmas-day marathon, a pattern that started in 1997. "You'll shoot your eye out." The leg lamp. Ovaltine. For many people, these things are as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe and Santa.

And now, the restored Christmas Story House in Cleveland, which has been transformed into a year-round museum, is hosting a gathering on November 28 and 29.

"The Official Chinese Restaurant Of The Christmas Story House" and more, after the jump...

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10:58 AM ET | 10-16-2008 | permalink

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Funnybook Roundup: The Quick, the Dead, the Dumb & the NA na na na na na na na NA na na na na

Who's that girl? She lost her gig this week. The answer, after the jump. Silhouette by Trey Graham, NPR. Image: Marvel Comics

 

by Glen Weldon

So Marvel Comics canceled one of its titles this week. Not a big deal, on the face of it: books get canceled all the time. Out with the old, in with the New Avengers, and all that.

The thing is: The character who's getting her plug pulled is the only female superhero in Marvel's 70-year history who's managed to carry her own book for more than 100 issues. Reaching that milestone is no mean feat; it puts her up there with your Supermans, your Batmans, your Hulks and your Iron Mans.

And I'm willing to bet you've never heard of her.

After the jump: Who she is and how she came to be. Also: creepy manga, the dumbest title of the week, and the theme song that propelled an entire generation into lives of abject geekery ....

Continue reading "Funnybook Roundup: The Quick, the Dead, the Dumb & the NA na na na na na na na NA na na na na" »

3:55 PM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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Decoding the Rainbow With NPR Music's 'What Makes It Great'

Where you'll find her: Rob Kapilow charts a landscape of yearning in 'What Makes It Great.' Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 

by Trey Graham

Ever seen a movie? Ever listened to music? Then don't miss Rob Kapilow's super-smart, eye-poppingly revealing, hugely entertaining deconstruction of a movie song you probably think you know. (I don't really have to tell you which one, do I?)

It's part of What Makes It Great, a new from-the-archives series from the good people at NPR Music. Watch for new installments once a week; each one will go deep on a piece of truly unforgettable music, looking at what makes it work so well. (Fans of Performance Today will remember these commentaries as being part of that program back in the day.)

Now, I've gotta confess, I was dubious about Kapilow's opening argument here: "Five minutes from now, you are not gonna believe the meaning of these first two notes," he says, and yeah, I was skeptical.

What won me over, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Decoding the Rainbow With NPR Music's 'What Makes It Great'" »

11:48 AM ET | 10-15-2008 | permalink

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Tonight's 'Project Runway' Finale, And Why Leanne Should Win

Leanne: She's more than just Not Kenley. Bravo

 

by Linda Holmes

Tonight is the season finale of Project Runway. This is when the Fashion Week collections are judged, the winner is crowned, and two disappointed people decide how to cope with defeat.

Leanne should win.

In all honesty, as long as Kenley doesn't win, that's fine. Kenley gives me hives. Kenley's voice sounds to me like a deflating balloon that has been genetically crossed with a seventh-grader. And as we've discussed, Kenley has been saved from elimination at least twice when she absolutely should have gone home.

Sometimes, you don't even know that a show has any legitimacy until you realize that a particular outcome would really hurt its legitimacy, and a win for Kenley would demolish Project Runway's legitimacy. People like this show partly because it was one of the first reality shows to showcase actual skill -- not always, but sometimes. Not reliably, but at least sporadically.

Less talent than Great Performances, but a lot more than The Apprentice.

So when you're relying on talent, you can't keep somebody in because she's the only remaining person with an objectionable temperament who melts down and cries and makes good television, and then hand her the victory to boot.

And so, Leanne should win.

The case for Leanne, after the jump...

Continue reading "Tonight's 'Project Runway' Finale, And Why Leanne Should Win" »

10:23 PM ET | 10-14-2008 | permalink

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Ad Wars' Latest Front: Your Xbox

by Trey Graham

Just a quick hit to make sure you've seen this post over on the Vox Politics blog: The Obama campaign is buying ad space in ... video games?

1:46 PM ET | 10-14-2008 | permalink

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Dogs In Wigs: Four Minutes of Kitten-Powered Joy

Today in Dogs in Wigs: Jumpy adolescent felines and buzzy electric toothbrushes -- two phenomena that were more or less made for each other. Hat tip: FishbowlDC.

1:33 PM ET | 10-14-2008 | permalink

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Tuesday Roundup: Marcia Brady, 'Wall Street' And More

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia: A date with...Michael Jackson? Really? Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

• I'm truly not one for celebrity gossip, but I admit that I found it difficult to resist the pull of stories revealing that Marcia Brady went out with Michael Jackson. Seriously. In her new tell-all book, Maureen McCormick not only details her well-known relationship with her on-screen brother Barry Williams, but also reportedly describes dates with Jackson and with Steve Martin.

Wall Street, 'Mad Men,' and movie posters, after the jump...

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8:47 AM ET | 10-14-2008 | permalink

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The Latest From Mo Willems: Caption These Cartoons

So we're at it again -- helping cartoonist and children's book author Mo Willems in his endeavor to become a radio cartoonist, that is.

We've got four fresh cartoons. Just leave your captions here, in the comments section of the blog -- and make sure to say what cartoon you're referring to.

In the next few weeks, Mo Willems will let you know his intended caption and Michele Norris may read your captions on air. Meanwhile, check out the last installment of the first batch.

-- Eyder Peralta

Cartoon #1 Leave your caption in the comments section. Mo Willems

 

Three more cartoons after the jump ...

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4:55 PM ET | 10-13-2008 | permalink

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'30 Rock,' SoyJoy, Product Integration, And Artistic Integrity

by Linda Holmes

Emily Nussbaum has a very good story in New York magazine about product integration (which Neda Ulaby also discussed recently in a great Morning Edition piece you must hear, though you will have the word "organic" ruined for you forever). While I don't agree with everything Nussbaum has to say, she admirably presents both sides of the basic debate over how pure artists can expect to keep their art when they are, after all, trying to get people to pay for it.

The 30 Rock problem and the irrelevant Oreo, after the jump...

Continue reading "'30 Rock,' SoyJoy, Product Integration, And Artistic Integrity" »

11:59 AM ET | 10-10-2008 | permalink

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Postseason Baseball And The End Of The Three-Channel World

Baseball ratings: The Phillies' Pat Burrell is hitting a home run; how about the telecast? Jed Jacobsohn, Getty Images

 

by Sarah D. Bunting

Ah, October: the chill in the air, the pumpkin on the front porch, the mandatory annual proliferation of doom-saying "Why-isn't-anyone-watching-postseason-baseball" articles.

Variety tagged in on Wednesday, with a piece on the paltry 4.2 million total viewers TBS drew during divisional play.

Among the theories for that weak showing: The series didn't go on long enough; the New York teams didn't make the playoffs, which cost TBS a critical large-market audience; the Cubs' prompt and depressing ouster, blah blah blah, why can't we make people watch?

Every year, it's the same thing, and nobody ever comes up with any answers, because nobody is asking the right questions. Could any or all of the factors above have affected the ratings? Sure. A game that doesn't get played won't get watched, so duh, a short series drops viewer totals. The New York thing is probably overstated; almost everyone here is from somewhere else, and there's no shortage of Red Sox fans around the city, or of baseball fans who watch the postseason regardless of who's in it. And if the Cubs' offense wasn't going to show up, why should the audience?

What's really driving low ratings, after the jump...

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9:04 AM ET | 10-10-2008 | permalink

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'Indiana Jones' And The Art Of Tchotchke-Based Nerd-Soaking

Knickknack Outrage: "Sorry, kid, you only get this thing if you buy the movie at Target." Paramount Pictures

 

by Linda Holmes

According to Cinematical, there will be at least five different doodad-laden DVD releases of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, depending on where you make your purchase.

Circuit City will give you lithographs. Target has a book. Kmart and Sears offer mini-posters, while Trans World has steelbook packaging. Oh, and that doesn't count the actual crystal skull featured in the Cinematical post, which you can get at Best Buy.

Seriously, stop soaking the nerds.

In defense of the devotee's wallet, after the jump...

Continue reading "'Indiana Jones' And The Art Of Tchotchke-Based Nerd-Soaking" »

11:23 AM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Forget The Polls; Track The Candidate-Cookie Numbers

The cookie polls prove it: Voters go on gut instinct. Karmacamilleeon/Flickr

 

by Todd Kliman

Thanks to the ceaseless "news cycle" and a growing horde of media outlets, there is no end to polling data, and tracking of the candidates has become a daily and sometimes hourly activity.

Witness the aftermath of this week's faux-town hall debate, when a flurry of polls that night and the next morning showed Barack Obama had edged John McCain, and appeared to gain a bit of separation from his Republican rival. Or did he?

What the cookie metrics suggest, after the jump...

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9:24 AM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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She Could Kick James Bond's Butt Six Ways to Sunday

Chace scenes: SIS operative Tara Chace anchors Greg Rucka's Queen and Country Oni Press

 

by Glen Weldon

Last week we asked you to weigh in on the girls-and-comics question (questions, really) and your thoughts were gratifyingly weighty, indeed.

If I may attempt to sum up:

1). The stubborn predilection for pulchritude (read: chicks with gazongas the size of Pilates balls) that is manifest in mainstream-comic representations of creatures female seems to inspire more eye-rolls than outrage.

2). Some of the things y'all look for in a funnybook include:

• Plotlines that are intricate and satisfying, especially if said plots are driven by:

• Characters who are smart, interesting, strong and relatable. If they happen to be female: Bonus.

Okay, A: Can I get an Amen? And B: Queen and Country.

The comic series that checks all those boxes, after the jump ....

Continue reading "She Could Kick James Bond's Butt Six Ways to Sunday" »

6:21 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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'Take On Me,' Taken Literally

by Linda Holmes

Almost as much fun as yesterday's round of recut movie trailers is today's literal music video. This is the then-state-of-the-art video for A-Ha's "Take On Me," rewritten so that you can follow the action a little more easily. Just watch it. It made my morning. Note that the video has some language in it that I'd classify as extremely mild, but depending on your location, you might still want headphones.

(Hat-tip to Best Week Ever via Buzzfeed.)

9:11 AM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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Excruciating Minutiae: How To Be A Giant 'Seinfeld' Geek

You must remember this: The cast of Seinfeld at the 1993 Emmy Awards, where the show was named Outstanding Comedy Series. Scott Flynn, Getty Images

 

by Glenn McDonald

Got a press release this week announcing the advent of Scene It? Seinfeld Deluxe Edition — a new version of the DVD trivia game focusing on the quintessential 1990s sitcom.

Quite frankly, I'm confident that I would be unbeatable. For I am McDonald, King of the Seinfeld Geeks. I watch Seinfeld reruns the way music fans listen to their old Beatles records — over and over, peeling back the layers, year after year, forever. It's a lifetime commitment, really.

As it happens, I recently finished watching Seinfeld: The Complete Series, the DVD box set released last year. All of it. Thirty-three discs, 180 episodes, and more than 100 hours (!) of extras. It took me several months, but I did it. I am not proud.

I do, however, feel an obligation to use my vast Seinfeld knowledge for good. I realize the casual fan may not want to sink several dozen weeks into mining every last bit of excruciating minutiae from the set.

And because the extras are scattered throughout the series, it's hard to know which disc to rent.

Which discs to put on your Netflix queue, after the jump...

Continue reading "Excruciating Minutiae: How To Be A Giant 'Seinfeld' Geek" »

2:30 PM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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TCM Hosts 'Pictures At A Revolution' Night

The cast of Bonnie And Clyde: Michael J. Pollard, Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, Estelle Parsons, and Gene Hackman. Warner Brothers/Getty Images

 

As a big fan of the Mark Harris book Pictures At A Revolution, which chronicled the making of the nominees for Best Picture at the 1968 Oscars, I'm tickled that Turner Classic Movies is showing four out of five of them tonight, beginning at 8:00 p.m. In order, TCM will show The Graduate, Bonnie And Clyde, In The Heat Of The Night, and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.

The one nominee not being shown? The Rex Harrison musical Doctor Doolittle, generally characterized in the book as both the biggest logistical nightmare in terms of the shooting process and the worst movie of the five. So...maybe not a big loss there.

12:47 PM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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Recut Trailers: Buzz Lightyear In 'The Dark Knight,' And Other Joys

by Linda Holmes

Recut trailers like this one -- the audio is from the trailer for The Dark Knight -- are one of my favorite YouTube genres.

Stephen King, writer of family comedies, after the jump...

Continue reading "Recut Trailers: Buzz Lightyear In 'The Dark Knight,' And Other Joys" »

9:59 AM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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Video Game Reading, The Top Movies Ever (Again), Gray Audiences, And More

Marlon Brando in The Godfather: The greatest movie ever? A new list is here for all your fight-starting needs.

Paramount Pictures, Getty Images

 

by Linda Holmes

• Can't get enough lists? Can't get enough official reminders that you should see The Godfather? In what it's calling "the most ambitious movie poll ever conducted," Empire has a new list of the 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time, voted on by readers, critics, and "150 of Hollywood's finest." Start your quibbles! (I'll start by quibbling with the idea that On The Town (#277) is less great than A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (#265).)

• Does the embrace of video games mean the abandonment of reading? Some librarians and gamers say no. And when an official from the New York Public Library says that "reading is no longer just in the traditional sense of reading words in English or another language on a paper," well, we say the times, they are a-changing.

Seniors at the symphony and a stupendous video, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Video Game Reading, The Top Movies Ever (Again), Gray Audiences, And More" »

11:15 AM ET | 10- 6-2008 | permalink

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Signs, Perhaps, Of The End Times?

Ay, Chihuahua: She's No. 1 -- should we fear for the future?
Daniel Daza /Disney

 

by Trey Graham

In what some cultural observers suggest is an indication that the end is near, the movie you liked best this weekend was ... Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Now, bear in mind this is out of a crop that includes Jonathan Demme's critically hailed Rachel Getting Married, the music-fueled geek-in-love comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and the fancy-pedigree apocalyptic thriller Blindness, starring everybody's favorite wan-lady heroine, Julianne Moore.

OK, so Chihuahua opened on 3,215 screens, while the Demme film only hit nine. (So it's not like that one, anyway, was really in competition).

But still: $29 million for the "Chee-WOW-wa"-lost-in-Mexico movie. (Really: pronouncer courtesy of the Disney press kit.)

Fun times.

9:27 AM ET | 10- 6-2008 | permalink

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Debatable Humor: 'SNL' and
the, Um, Art of Political Parody

by Linda Holmes

What's fun on Friday? Debate humor! Saturday Night Live has an odd tendency to excel in particular areas while tanking in others, and one of its strengths has been -- oddly -- debate sketches.

The clip above features Dana Carvey's George H.W. Bush (before it got over-exaggerated) and Jon Lovitz's Michael Dukakis (which came down to one highly quotable line).

But the secret weapon is Jan Hooks as Diane Sawyer -- because Diane Sawyer is exactly like that, with that winking, smiling, syrupy delivery and all that reveling in the discomfort of others.

More debates, and a prediction about the weekend, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Debatable Humor: 'SNL' and
the, Um, Art of Political Parody" »

11:49 AM ET | 10- 3-2008 | permalink

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Project Runway: Why Kenley Will Outlive Us All

Kenley: She makes this dress, she still survives. You have to admire her endurance, if not her fish dress.

Bravo

It is official: Kenley Collins cannot be extinguished.

This season of Project Runway has been a little underwhelming, with shortages of both attractive creations and compelling contestants. But one story has risen above the rest to mystify us all.

Why is Kenley still here?

Kenley Collins is a young designer specializing in '50s-style dresses. She is also a whiny pain in the neck. She is also apparently immune to being bounced from the competition, given the fact that she has now made by far the worst garment two weeks in a row and has managed to stay.

Why Kenley should be in charge of the economy, after the jump...

Continue reading "Project Runway: Why Kenley Will Outlive Us All" »

12:24 PM ET | 10- 2-2008 | permalink

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Sports Night: My Favorite Show Ever Comes To DVD (Again)

Sports Night: An underappreciated gem comes to DVD in enhanced form.

ABC

When you write a lot about television, everybody likes to ask: What's your favorite show ever?

I've given a few different answers over the years, but I think the actual answer is that my favorite show of all time is Sports Night. The show has been out on DVD for a few years -- but only in a bare-bones set.

So it's not unexciting to me that it's been re-released this week in an extras-packed collection marking the 10th anniversary of its debut on ABC, where it lasted only two seasons.

Sports Night was the first TV show from Aaron Sorkin, who had at the time made The American President and A Few Good Men -- and who would, the following season, introduce the Emmy-hogging The West Wing. (And, later, the embarrassing Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, but ... bygones.)

A comedy with unexpected existential heft, it followed the production of a cable show (modeled on ESPN's SportsCenter) on a struggling cable sports network. We knew the anchors, the producer, the managing editor -- all passionately devoted to their show and to sports.

More gushing about my long-forgotten favorite, after the jump ...

Continue reading "Sports Night: My Favorite Show Ever Comes To DVD (Again)" »

4:30 PM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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I Blame the Boob-Window — Or: Why Girls Don't Read Comics

Girls power: What do Power Girl and her ever-present "boob window" have to do with the shuttering of Minx? The Monkey has a theory.

DC Comics

 

Last Thursday, DC Comics announced it was folding Minx, the company's line of graphic novels aimed at teenage girls, just a little over a year after the imprint's much-ballyhooed launch.

Now, the moment that word came down, the vasty comics blogosphere started filling up with words of its own: that familiar blend of opinion, analysis, finger-pointing, and the sentiment expressed so frequently on the Internet it should have its own Blogspot macro: "If-only-they'd-listened-to-me."

One big reason the fall of Minx so intrigues the comics cognoscenti: Minx was a part of DC, and DC is a part of Time-Warner.

So its demise means that even a girl-targeted comics line that gets produced, distributed and marketed under the aegis of mega-gargantua-Brobdignagian corporate overlords — overlords with Scrooge McDuck-size piles of cash at their command — can't find an audience.

Why don't girls read comics?

That, it turns out, is a stupid question.

After the jump: the comics that girls are already reading, the comics they aren't, and what the belly shirt has to do with it all.

Continue reading "I Blame the Boob-Window — Or: Why Girls Don't Read Comics" »

1:00 PM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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RealNetworks' Strategy:
Get Them Before They Get You

 

Or at least sue them first: That's what RealNetworks is doing.

RealNetworks beat the movie studios to court; yesterday, the digital-media company brought a lawsuit against Hollywood studios, asking a court to declare preemptively that its RealDVD software does not violate any copyright laws.

The software allows movie fans to make a copy of a movie from a DVD and store it on their computer hard drive. That would be nice for travelers -- no stack of DVDs to carry on the plane -- and for parents, who could plop their kids in front of screen in the back seat without searching through a stack of discs first.

RealNetworks claims that its software doesn't break through any encryption on the DVDs for its software to work. (Cracking encryption would be a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.)

Still, it wasn't much of a surprise when, a few hours after RealNetworks' move, the Motion Picture Association of America brought a suit of its own.

The MPAA wants a temporary restraining order to keep RealDVD off the market while the parties tussle over it in court. They worry about people making copies of rented DVDs that they don't own.

I say we wouldn't do that. You?

-- Laura Sydell

11:39 AM ET | 10- 1-2008 | permalink

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