I’m so sorry for the delay in kicking this off, everybody. I got a little too caught up in putting together bookshelves (and, uh, repairing drywall) to put it together to have the energy to read anything on them. I really appreciate your patience. Let’s shoot for being through party IV by Friday, and I’ll put up a post towards the end of the day to kick off discussion over the... 

Hey all. I just got some sad news about a loved one and I’m not quite up to finishing the snarky post about Sandra Lee I had planned for you tonight. If Alyssa indulges me, I’ll put that up later in the weekend. In the meantime, make sure you see this completely amazing and bizarre video that’s been floating around Twitter today: It’s fun enough in a vacuum, but if you want... 

Last night’s post about the Real Housewives of Atlanta got me to thinking about reality television in general. It’s easy to watch these people as part of a “cast,” as opposed to plain old regular folks, because they’ve bought into the adage that all the world’s a stage. In Kim Zolciak’s mind, she is a talented, stunningly beautiful woman whose charms are finally... 

Some weekends, a lady needs a little TLC: large doses of science fiction novels, a mani-pedi, movies of my childhood purchased at the Blockbuster down the street that’s going out of business. So if today is a little girlier than usual, that’s why, and fellas, bear with me (if you’re gay, this post has treats for you too, if not, I promise my analysis is just as good when applied to... 

But this post of Ta-Nehisi’s on Medal of Honor is well worth reading. I’ve always thought that part of the appeal of first-person shooters, certainly, and other games that involve fighting and adventurism, was the chance to feel more physically or societally powerful, but also more responsible, than one does in real life. Likewise, I found the Sims an extremely useful experiment in... 

Alright, these chapters don’t look too daunting. Shall we try to rock a section a week and do this in 7 weeks? Let’s give it a shot, first post will go up next Friday so we’ll all have Labor Day weekend to get started, and if it’s trouble, let me know and we’ll adjust.  Read More »

Thanks so much to Alyssa for having me on while she’s adventuring in Alaska. Let me first say that “Work of Art” is not about art. I do not tune in to learn anything about art or art history. The “art” produced by the contestants isn’t interesting or even on the level of most art students at most major universities. In short, the art on this show is bad and probably... 

I dug last week’s post by Cynic over at Ta-Nehisi’s place, on the importance of teaching non-fiction, quite a bit. He wrote: We need to teach them how to write about other people, other places, and other times; how to wrestle with the limits of knowledge when the gaps cannot be plugged by imagination; how to convey complicated thoughts in simple words; how to pull a clear narrative line... 

I realize I linked to it on Friday morning, but I want to go back to my post on Howl for a minute. I wrote a deeply cranky post last fall about why I was sick of the Oscar-searching mentality that seems to motivate so many biopics. I still basically feel that way, there is no upcoming biopic that I am particularly excited about seeing. But as a critical problem, I remain interested in the question... 

Lucy Knisley is doing comic-style illustrations of The Giver. io9 points out in a post highlighting them that Lois Lowry’s dystopian teen novel has made it into graphic novel form, but I’ve got another question. How has this never turned into a movie? IMDb lists an adaptation for next year, and Walden Media is theoretically working on an adaptation (something IMDb doesn’t confirm),...