I was just reading this eminently sensible article in the UK Guardian about defusing U.S.-Russia tensions, when something occurred to me.

Check out the comments on the article. Some are knee-jerk and hostile, but almost all are actually thoughtful and make good points, unlike the semi-literate rants often seen over here that gave rise to the [...]

Let’s get this shit viral, y’all.

There are times when an alt-weekly’s cover story is not the most photogenic thing in the paper. I get that.

A few issues ago, the LA Weekly’s main story was about billboards. As they had already had a cover picture on the topic, they ran with an image of a psycho-looking Norwegian black-metal performer being profiled [...]

Jen on facebook posted a link to this. It’s better than pro-wrestling — the li’l kitties can be real bastards!

And with me being allergic, it’s a nice safe way to enjoy ‘em.

Okay, so as of this posting, CityBeat has scrubbed the syndicated movie reviews by Seling and Kiley from its website completely, and Andy Klein’s final review for them is now on the main page, the only article from the previous week rather than the current issue.

It’s not like they can pretend Andy’s not gone, so [...]

I have decided to flag the word “cocksucker” in comments, based on the fact that I don’t think any commenter has ever used it, I would disapprove of most possible uses in comments anyway, and a particularly pernicious spammer is using it as an alias.

To recap, other flagged words that might be inadvertently used include [...]

The curiosity of the Andy Klein dismissal gets even stranger when one considers the actual print edition of CityBeat this week. Again, I have to wonder if they really knew what a deal they were getting out of him.

Let me stress that I have no ax to grind with any individual at CityBeat. I like [...]

It totally doesn’t suck

…but it won’t win for Best Original Screenplay. Here’s why.

There is a perception, wrongly so, that a screenplay is all about dialogue. And the dialogue in WALL-E?

“Eve-Ah!”
“Wally!”
“Eve-ah!”
“Wally!”
“Define ‘Earth’”
“Directive?”
“Eve-ah!”

Now, as part of the year-end barrage of LAFCA award stuff, I got a copy of the WALL-E screenplay. And it’s more specific than the casual viewer might [...]

Update as you like. I just watched the announcements.

Best Animated is the biggest travesty: Bolt, Kung-Fu Panda, and Wall-E.

Fear(s) of the Dark didn’t submit, but $9.99 and WALTZ WITH BASHIR were so unbelievably robbed here that you coulda held a gun to their heads.

DARK KNIGHT didn’t get a Best Picture. Its slot was basically claimed [...]