At least we can all agree that Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich

"Consensus" is defined as "majority of opinion" by Dictionary.com. Though the truth is beholden to nothing, science operates by consensus, by a majority of scientists coming to a general agreement. There is nearly always a minorit/… Read full post »

Perhaps, someday, the file drawer effect will be a thing of the past

Publication bias is a potentially vexing problem for modern science that is rarely ever talked about, outside of scientific circles, due to the bad PR. Put simply, the problem is that experimental results that demonstrate s… Read full post »

Geeks everywhere should have an extra pair of shorts on hand

Four years ago, I was sitting in the movie theater with my cadre of geek friends as the credits to Iron Man rolled. One of my friends turned to me and asked whether we'd just seen the greatest… Read full post »

In anticipation of this week's release of Marvel's The Avengers, I thought I'd compile my list of greatest comic book movies ever made. We are currently living in a golden age of films based on comics, which started in the early seventies when Ilya Salkind had the insane idea to… Read full post »

This is possibly the greatest survival horror game ever made

By the time I was introduced to the Resident Evil franchise, it was already a popular, blockbuster series that was inspiring the emergence of an obscure gaming genre known as "survival horror." The first game I played was the… Read full post »

Cliff Notes version: Trying to get into heaven is a good thing, even if heaven doesn't exist

In the 17th Century, famed philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal endeavored to come up with a logical reason to believe in God. His reasoning was elegantly simple: if believing in God prevents… Read full post »

"Now let me be clear: if the Supreme Court agrees with me, then they are to be respected, but if they rule against me, they are obviously and hopelessly compromised partisan hacks who should be run out of town immediately"

During a press conference yesterday, the president had his signature… Read full post »

Indeed it is

Suzanne Collins' young adult novel, The Hunger Games, is a certified cultural phenomenon. It centers on sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen, a poor girl living in the dystopian society of Panem. A tyrannical government selects two teenage children from each of Panem's twelve dist/… Read full post »

The Mass Effect series has always been the gold standard for single-player RPGs (The Elder Scrolls notwithstanding), and it is an understatement to say that the latest installment, Mass Effect 3, has been highly anticipated. Can it possibly live up to its expectations? More importantly, wha/… Read full post »

Nothing an ice pack can't fix

For this installment in my exercise to re-evaluate my understanding of manmade global warming, I am going to focus on the carbon cycle. Specifically, I'm going to address a lingering question from my last article on the matter: how well does… Read full post »

"I have a dream that, when somebody disagrees with a black man, we can call him a racist and win the argument by default!"

In years passed, I've tried to keep my Black History Month criticisms politically neutral, but this year, I'm focusing on subject matter that cannot be… Read full post »

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, benefactor of women's rights?

If you had to reduce America to a single foundational idea, it would be that all people are born with certain natural rights that cannot be infringed upon by any government. These rights are inherent to being human beings--we ar… Read full post »

By day, he's mild-mannered Eric

Hey, Bananaman here. It's been eight years since I outlined to the fine drunkards at the Brass Mug the myriad reasons why you should fuck Valentine's Day, and you can rest assured that--even though my alter ego has gone and gotten his self married,… Read full post »

A screenshot from the aborted Legacy of Kain: The Dark Prophecy

In the first few years of the 21st Century, the Legacy of Kain was a big action-adventure video game franchise. A high-concept gothic horror story that mixed complex vampire mythology with time travel, heady philosophy, and eve/… Read full post »

Challenging Mordor since the Industrial Revolution

For those who haven't been following along, I've been attempting a dispassionate, reasonable evaluation of global warming, from the point of view of an admitted layman. In my last installment, I determined that there has been a measurable/… Read full post »

It's that time once again to list the best and worst the last year had to offer. I disclaim as always that this list only represents the people who were awesome or idiotic enough to retain my attention, that this list is in no way meant to represent the absolute best… Read full post »

Even though I didn't see every movie I wanted to see last year (not even close), I did manage to watch ten of 2011's big releases. Like 2008, 2011 saw several comic book adaptations make their way to the silver screen, and the popularity of these films doesn't seem to be… Read full post »

I can't complain; for the most part, 2011 has been a pretty good year. In the past, I've shied away from talking too much about what I've learned as a new parent, but today I'm going to delve straight into it. Over half of the lessons listed below have to do… Read full post »

There's really no shortage of visual metaphors on Google

Even the most basic premises of the manmade global warming hypothesis is a subject of intense debate, at least among the general public if not the scientific community. Today, let's stick to where the debate ultimately begins: namely, a… Read full post »

Nintendo is closing out the Wii library the same way it started building it, with a Zelda title. Released at the same time as the series' 25th anniversary, Skyward Sword has much to live up to. Is this latest Zelda adventure worthy of its golden legacy, or does it prove/… Read full post »

It just sits there, spinning in place

As if you didn't know, there was a movie that came out last year called Inception. This trippy sci-fi adventure--think The Matrix meets Dreamscape--was a commercial success and a cultural milestone among geeks. It even got an Academy Award nomination. How/… Read full post »

Skyrim Sword?

Gamers like myself are in quite the quandary this month. Robert Brockway over at Cracked calls it "the geek rapture," because in the span of just a few weeks, the gaming industry has conspired to release an orgy of highly anticipated, quality titles. I'm the kind of gamer/… Read full post »

Either the world is on fire or it's been a redhead this whole time

Any good skeptic and critical thinker should be willing to consider the possibility that his or her conclusions on any given subject are wrong. One subject with which I have grappled for well over a decade… Read full post »

The font says good times, but the drop of blood reminds you that death is coming with a giant lancet

Near the end of August, 2006, I cooked what would be the last homemade fetuccini alfredo I'd ever make. It was rich, creamy, heavy, delicious, and decadent, and it filled… Read full post »

Herman Cain

According to the most recent CBS/New York Times poll, Herman Cain is currently the most popular candidate to win the Republican primary, despite the insistence from even the most stalwart conservative news outlets (such as National Review) that the only frontrunners are Mitt Romne/… Read full post »