I gave up on "Heroes" about mid-way through the second season.  I thought I'd give it another try this year, and still haven't finished the first episode.  But one thing that I realized is that I wish the whole show was just about Hiro and Ando, with maybe the ocassional appearance… Read full post »

Thought:  Sarah Palin combines many of the characteristics of some of the most popular (among Republicans) and "successful" Republicans of all time.  The problem is, they're the wrong characteristics.  She combines

• Nixon's paranoia and lying
• Bush's complete lack of intellectual curios
… Read full post »

Out of the many things about the Bush Administration that I detested--lying us into war; fighting a war that didn't need to be fought; destroying the economy; letting that nut Cheney have so much power; alienating half the globe; letting bin Laden get away; not listening to warning prior to 9/11;… Read full post »

I know health care reform is the hot topic of the day, but as Orlando was working on our plumbing while Carlos and Jesus were doing the yard work, and having passed a couple of hispanic guys unloading a truck by the Italian restaurant down the street, I was thinking about… Read full post »

What if a politician gave an interview, and when you wrote it up you buried under purple descriptive prose?  Why then, you'd be a writer for the "Politics" section of the Washington Post!

Let me 'splain.

I tend to agree with Glenn Greenwald and digby--two of my favorite bloggers--that the… Read full post »

I am not going to go see the movie Precious.

As a rule, I tend to avoid movies where the reviews use words like "shattering," "heartbreaking," "harrowing," "unsparing," and the like.  Call me a philistine if you like, but I like movies with happy--or at least hopeful--endings.  And honestly… Read full post »

So I've now read in several places and heard on several news programs--yes, when I'm in California, I have no life--that the big Wall Street banks are getting dibs on the H1N1 vaccine.  Even though there is a shortage of the vaccine, and there are higher-risk people around who need it… Read full post »

Is it just me, or does Doug Hoffman--the far right-wing losing candidate in yesterday's special election for New York's 23rd Congressional district (waaaay upstate New York) not look like Steve Buscemi in one of his more out-there roles?

^{Creepy, or just Doug Paranoia?}

Not on… Read full post »

The world is chock full of stupid language that, if you're a language dork, can keep you harmlessly amused at times when you might otherwise want to, I dunno, put your fist through the windshield because some idiot pulled a boneheaded maneuver and got T-boned on Highway 237 and NOW THE… Read full post »

I think I've finally figured out my problem with Joss Whedon's new series, "Dollhouse."

It's not that the concept is bad--I thought it would be limiting at first, a classic "monster of the week" kind of series.  But Joss Whedon, unsurprisingly, has found kinks and nooks in the concept to really… Read full post »

Call this an anti-foodie post.

I'm tired of eating.

I'm tired of getting hungry.  I'm tired of trying to figure out what to eat because my body needs fuel.  I'm tired of having to leave something in the middle because I have low blood sugar.  I'm tired of getting headaches because… Read full post »

I was watching a video on YouTube, and the (typically baritone and serious-sounding) news anchor informed us proudly that this was a story that "you'll only see . . . on NewsChannel 3."

Of course, I… Read full post »

Because I travel a lot, and don't have all that much to do during the evenings and weekends I'm away from my family, I watch a lot of movies and TV shows on my iPhone.  This year, more than probably any time in the last five years or so, I actually… Read full post »

For such a small total percentage of the Earth's population, Jews sure get around.

Yes indeedy, there were Jews in China.  And for hundreds of years, up until the 19th century.  They lived in a place called Kaifeng, which is a… Read full post »

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the "mainstream media" has multiple-personality disorder (MPD).

The media is always yammering on about "the narrative."  Who controls the inside-the-beltway "narrative"?  Who is "winning the message war". But then, when (for example) Oba… Read full post »

And now, despite a complete lack of popular demand, and a day late to book (I got shot in the head yesterday; it can be distracting), the answers to yesterday's quiz:

In general, I tried to include books and stories by more well-known or important authors; I don't expect everyone to… Read full post »

I always thought Salon, when they had their annual book review issue, went 'way too light on genre in general, and science fiction in particular.  This is the web, after all; we're living in a science fiction age with our computers and cell phones and Air Trains that run without drivers… Read full post »

Jon Stewart did a marvelous job--as per usual--in skewering the mainstream media in general, and CNN in particular, and their absurd compulsion to partition debates into two sides, and then not actually state the facts for fear of being labeled "partisan."  "Let's leave it there," the news chann… Read full post »

So the results are in:  apparently, 46 percent of Tennesseans believe that Obama's probably or definitely a socialist.

I don't know about you, but my first thought was, "How many Tennesseans actually know what the word 'socialist' means?"  (Helpful hint:  when government has full contr… Read full post »

I'm just waiting for the final shoe to drop.

Obama began the health-care reform debate by immediately ruling out what most physicians and a large percentage of the public (and a majority of Democrats--and last I checked, the Democrats had large majorities in all branches of government) consider the b… Read full post »

President Obama says that he's going to donate his Nobel Peace Prize money to a charity.  How about ACORN?

^{Rush Limbaugh's head upon hearing the news--a dramatization} Read full post »

I have this problem.

(Okay, I have a lot of problems, but for the sake of your and my sanity, I'm only going into one in particular.)

^{"This place used to be so peaceful!"}

I don't have a lot of places where I hang out.  When I'm home with… Read full post »

The entire concept of Salon's "Broadsheet" has baffled me since its inception.  First, I think it's a stupid name--it is like naming a "men's section" something like, I dunno, "Guyline."  Second, while I understand in theory the idea that "women's issues" need their own section in order to… Read full post »

Lately I've been seeing a lot of articles with headlines similar to what the NY Times has up today in their Sunday edition:  "Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb".

^{Coming soon to an Islamic Republic near you?}

It's a scary-sounding headline.  The thing is, practically… Read full post »

Is it just me, or does anyone else think the "monsters" in the new film Where the Wild Things Are look depressingly like the "life-sized puppets" from Sid and Marty Krofft's "H.R. Pufnstuff"?

I dunno, but I would have preferred something a bit less. . . um .… Read full post »