Liveblogging the Emmys

8:10 — OK so I missed the beginning, but Oprah looked good. Amy Poehler is HUGE.
8:12 — Looks like it’s going to be another night of “all the awards go to shows I haven’t seen.”
8:13 — Oops, gotta get the chicken out of the oven.
8:14 — Is this broadcast sponsored by… Macys, perhaps?
8:17 — Why [...]

Review: Critical

This is a broad overview of the state of American healthcare that is perfectly accessible to someone like myself that doesn’t have much background in the area.
Daschle starts off by rattling off statistic after tragedy after heartbreaking story of how American healthcare is unreliable, not comprehensive, and hugely over priced. He really drives home how [...]

America’s Next Top Model, Episode 1

I’m telling myself that I’m only watching ANTM this cycle as a show of solidarity for trans models. Not because it’s hilarious, trashy, campy fun. Definitely not. It’s all about the social consciousness.
Hands down, my favorite is Sheena. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted to be, but wasn’t — confident but not arrogant, ebullient but not [...]

Review: A Whole New Mind

Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind makes many excellent points. Unfortunately, it suffers from an awkward and unconvincing metaphorical framework.
Chapter 1: Right Brain Rising
Pink starts out explaining about the brain’s left and right hemispheres, and how each side is responsible for different cognitive activities – the left hemisphere tends to be responsible for sequential logic, [...]

Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Any kid born in the 80’s grew up knowing that Indiana Jones was the epitome of cool. I was a little too young to catch the first few when they came out (heck, I’m only 10 weeks older than the franchise), but long before my mom deemed me “old enough” to watch them, I knew [...]

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Prince Caspian is not the strongest book of the Narnia series, so it’s not surprising that this installment didn’t quite live up to the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (Don’t worry, the next book — the Dawn Treader — should make the best movie of all.)
The central question of the movie is “Why [...]

Review: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

I somehow missed this movie when it first came out, which is a shame. It is a great teen movie, from that strangely short but strangely brilliant era of great teen movies like Rushmore and Election. The premise, which could have gone so wrong, somehow went right — it’s a fairly faithful interpretation of Shakespeare’s [...]

The Essential Man’s Library

The Art of Manliness has a peculiar listing of 100 “essential” books for men. There are plenty of classics that everyone should read, but some of the choices surprise me. The Hobbit? Really? The 18 19 books on the list that I’ve read are listed after the cut.

Book Covers

Via Broadsheet, I recently read an interesting article by Karen Heller about the covers of books for women, and how they tend to feature “disjointed body parts” — backs, arms, legs, feet — without faces.
The thinking, or so I imagine, is that readers will look at these women’s body parts or backs and identify. “Why [...]

Review: Doctor Who Episode 197

NO IMAGE

SPOILER ALERT — Do not read unless you have seen Episode 197, The Doctor’s ———.