For many years, Steve Irwin had amassed great fame and fortune by handling wild and dangerous beasts for his own passion and for the education of home viewers. All of that came to an end in early 2006, when he attempted to handle a stingray that fatally stung him. Only three years earlier, the famed … Continue reading
I have many fond memories of the Harry Potter books. I remember my overwhelming sense of curiosity while reading those opening chapters of the first book. I remember my sister waking me up in the middle of the night because she’d been reading Chamber of Secrets and wanted to know if Ginny would be all … Continue reading
In the wake of Star Wars, the world was bound to see some cheap space opera knock-offs. When I was about four my dad took me to see Starcrash and to my brain at the time it was every bit as fun and exciting as the film it was aping. The movie had energy swords, talking robots, an evil … Continue reading
This is a new series dedicated to theme songs, scores, and any type of music featured in film and television that I love, that gets stuck in my head, or that has special significance. Whenever I hang out with friends or cousins, the telly shows from our childhood are always a topic of conversation, and … Continue reading
New music – it’s one of the things that keeps me going. Over the years I’ve built up a ton of sources for it but no better than my friends. Early last month when I went home to Chicago for a week many of my friends bombarded me with new stuff. It’s been a slow … Continue reading
This week’s blog is going to be a short and sweet offering. But, I think that’s quite alright, because you can also catch me over at Ken Savage’s place this week where he, Mike’s Crossey and I conducted a little online round table discussion on a sorely underappreciated Schwarzenegger gem called Commando. Go ahead … Continue reading
I had previously attended a really shitty little convention a few towns over, and this was last summer. I was charged $25 for what was amounted to mostly local comic shops hawking not a lot of really great stuff. The comic shop that I frequent (It’s a great little joint called Comics Unlimited) was there, … Continue reading
You know how it is; occasionally you sit down to watch a movie and maybe you’re a fan of the major cast and maybe you’re not, but at some point in the middle of it one of ‘those guys’ makes an appearance and a smile comes to your face. Those guys? Within the star-machine that … Continue reading
The wife and I actually went out this weekend. Like on a DATE. We were happy to see Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain speak live at the Progress Energy Center in Raleigh. He was fantastic as expected, but the venue was a little unfriendly. This performance hall serves up the booze and that just didn’t sit … Continue reading
How to Argue The strangest thing about the low quality of Internet argument is that effective argument isn’t really so difficult. Sure, not everyone can be Clarence Darrow, but anyone who wants to be at least competent at argument can do it. Here are a few guidelines. I’ll start with a hint: note the qualifier … Continue reading