Liberal Talk Radio

Hollywood has apparently discovered that audiences will no longer put up with crappy films.  Their solution? Better remakes! Still, the message that the year sent about quality and originality is real enough that studios are tweaking their operating strategies. Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio behind “The Social Network,” is trying to bet more heavily on [...]

I used to love the Olympics. Really I did. Even the patriotic schmaltz-fest that was the ’96 Games in Atlanta holds a special place in my heart (watching the Men’s Gymnastics finals, some friends and I put together our own version of a mixed-media relay … I’ll save that story for another time). So it [...]

Sometime — probably in the very near future — someone will make a biopic of John Hughes’ life. Done correctly, it could win an Academy Award — even if only because A.O. Scott is the right age for it. When they get around to writing it, the screenwriter will use Molly Ringwald’s op-ed as a [...]

In case you ever wondered what the real reason for hiring Rahm Emanuel was, it’s likely buried in the President’s television watching psyche: President Barack Obama can’t stand to be without his “Entourage.” Call it a guilty pleasure, or maybe it just rings familiar to him. The HBO series about an aspiring actor features a [...]

I’m not entirely sure when substituting popular music for actual acting started happening (was it James Van Der Beek’s fault?), but it started bothering me during Grey’s Anatomy — specifically, the final scenes in the final episode of Season 3 (“Didn’t We Almost Have It All?”), when Sandra Oh’s character rips off her wedding dress [...]

Back before HornyManatee.com and ten-digit telephone numbers there was 867-5309: One day five years ago, Mr. Potter, who was living in Weehawken, N.J., and working as a disc jockey for weddings and parties, needed a phone number for his business. On a lark he asked if 867-5309 was available. To his surprise, it was. It [...]

In the Bush Era, cultural critics bent over backwards in perverse contrarian ways to reevaluate the careers of artists who didn’t deserve it: “In the big picture of pop music, I don’t know if what I’ve created is seen as being that important or that necessary, at least not if you ask the experts,” he [...]

. . . you discover that ephemera from your favorite bands growing up are now part of a fusty old historical society. (See also, the Minnesota Historical Society Soul Asylum Record Series Finding Aid)

Talk about building bridges! President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his choice of a popular evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, rejecting criticism that it slights gays.The selection of Pastor Rick Warren brought objections from gay rights advocates, who strongly supported Obama during the election campaign. The advocates are angry over Warren’s [...]

Somewhat ironically, the best thing to do in a recession (from a macroeconomic perspective, at least) is spend spend spend. So it’s with that in mind that a friend of mine has started a new Facebook group — Second Christmas (you’ll probably need a Facebook account to access). 2nd Christmas is January 20th, 2009, which [...]