Suck factor: the glory of violence, the horror of sexuality
on Nov 16, 2009 in Arts, Literature & Culture Religious Right United States censorship civil liberties conservatives culture film neocons sex social theory There are three mainstays in today’s Hollywood:  sex, violence and special effects. Special effects in movies, when well done, are fun.  They help us escape from our lives to enjoy tales of superheroes, mutants or alternate realities.  We tr...

Tournament of Rock – Legends: Bob Dylan vs The Police
on Nov 16, 2009 in Tournament of Rock music Bob Dylan Budokan Casbah Nirvana The Clash the greatest band in the world The Police the voice of Generation X upset Update 2: The poll is closed. For some reason PollDaddy is having technical issues and as a result you can still vote. However, we have a final tally as of 11 am MST and no further votes are being accepted. Sorry about this. UPDATE: As much as we lov...

Tournament of Rock – Legends: The Rolling Stones vs David Bowie
on Nov 16, 2009 in music Bob Dylan Budokan David Bowie influential the greatest band of all time The Police The Rolling Stones Tournament of Rock Results: We’re stunned. In perhaps the biggest upset so far, The Police led virtually wire to wire (although the margin was never more than a few votes) and dismissed the man who invented folk rock. The numbers: #4 The Police 55%; #1 Bob Dylan...

It’s not Congress. It’s legalized corruption. Time to end it.
on Nov 16, 2009 in Constitution House of Representatives Scholars & Rogues Senate campaign finance capitalism corruption crime democracy elections government health care justice lobbying politics public interest Change Congress Evan Bayh Glenn Greenwald Joe Lieberman special interests term limits William Jefferson Former Rep. William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, is off to prison. In August, a jury told him that bribery, racketeering and money laundering were not acceptable behaviors for anyone, let alone a member of Congress. As a felon, Jefferson has h...

The wellspring of a new, clear nuclear vision
on Nov 16, 2009 in nuclear weapons back channel disarmament think tanks THE DEPROLIFERATOR — Few fields are as lacking in fresh perspectives as nuclear weapons. Entire decades have been spent by nuclear strategists deliberating which state would strike first and how many weapons the victim would have left to retali...

Walking like a pretzel
on Nov 15, 2009 in Afghanistan Obama administration foreign policy history national security Gorbachev Karmal Karzai McChrystal Obama administraion Pakistan Politburo Sheverdnadze Soviet Union Soviet-Afghan War Soviet-US parallels in Afghanistan USSR The National Security Archives at George Washington University recently published translations of Soviet Politburo meetings on Afghanistan. They are more illuminating than the combined words of America’s punditocracy that litter the nation̵...

Review: Black Elvis by Geoffrey Becker
on Nov 15, 2009 in Arts, Literature & Culture Book Reviews Black Elvis Geoffrey Becker Geoffrey Becker’s short stories in Black Elvis have a tendency to leave me scratching my head—but that’s just the point. Becker’s characters are frequently left scratching their heads, too. Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fi...

iPhone Art, a different approach
on Nov 14, 2009 in Arts, Literature & Culture art innovation new media Most of what I have shared so far has been some variety of full image manipulation with some layering and effects.  Today I have a different type of image to share.  These images were painted using words as brushes.  They are also my first two att...

Tournament of Rock – Legends: Bob Dylan vs The Police
on Nov 13, 2009 in Tournament of Rock music Bob Dylan Budokan Casbah Nirvana The Clash the greatest band in the world The Police the voice of Generation X upset Results: Can it ever be an upset when the favorite wins? Honestly, even though they’re seeded higher, it has to be a bit of a surprise that The Clash managed to beat “the voice of Generation X.” Or maybe it isn’t… The nu...

Lou Dobbs’ next horizon: A Rush to radio?
on Nov 13, 2009 in Latinos Republicans Scholars & Rogues Web conservatives economy immigration journalism liberals marketing media neocons new media news politics popular culture race relations rich/poor gap television CNN Lou Dobbs radio I have three stuffed animals at home that I hide when I expect visitors. (Guys don’t do stuffed animals.) But my fuzzy critters serve a purpose. Four years ago, I destroyed my living room TV set by throwing a beer bottle at it in anger and frus...