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Just about everything that needs to be said about Michael Jackson (RIP) was said by Michael Kinsley 25 years ago:
What’s happened to Michael Jackson isn’t too different from what they used to do to young male singers in Europe a few centuries ago, to keep their voices sweet. In another way, it resembles the exploitation [...]
Filed under: Pop culture, the dead
I wonder if next time Chris Carter could shoehorn a few more fashionable causes into his generic (and thrill-less) thriller script masquerading as an “X-Files” movie. The new one, “X Files: I Want My Money Back,” only touches on gay marriage, stem cells, and pedophile priests. And a bit of Russophobia, too, though nothing linked [...]
Filed under: Film, Pop culture
Two “Predator” actors — Ahnold and Jesse “The Body” Ventura — have already become U.S. governors. Now Sonny Lanham is running as a Libertarian for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky. Slate has produced this so-so video about “Predator’s” political legacy. (Hat tip to Lew Rockwell.)
Filed under: Film, Politics, Pop culture
Here’s the LA Times obit. My favorite Heston movie? Toss-up between “The Omega Man” and “Soylent Green.” I’d give the latter a slight edge.
Filed under: Pop culture, the dead
It’s a thrill to discover that something you liked as a kid has a pedigree you can respect as an adult. In this case, I’ve just learned that a classic “Twilight Zone” episode that scared the wits out of me when I first saw it 22 years ago (age eight or so) was written by [...]
Filed under: Books, Pop culture
They’ll have to go back to watching their Abu Ghraib tapes because the new season of “24″ has been postponed indefinitely — another salutary effect of the Hollywood writers’ strike. Make it permanent, guys!
Filed under: Pop culture, media, non-culture
Via LRC, a link to a list (with audio) of “the 25 most exquisitely sad songs in the whole world.” I think I could come up with a better list, and I certainly know a few other folks who could. But this one will do: it can’t be all bad if it includes “Anyone Who [...]
Filed under: Pop culture
Of course not, though I’m not at all sure that Aussie journalist Guy Rundle makes much of a case to the contrary. He argues that the negative image of Australia put about by left-wing British journalists is a substitute for dealing with what a “slatternly disgrace” the British working class has become. That rings [...]
Filed under: Pop culture, Social criticism
I’m a little surprised at how much coverage the assassination of Captain America is getting. He’s not the best-known comic-book character, and Marvel Comics is renowned for its revolving door of death. I remember around 1987 when they nuked the Hulk — that was pretty impressive to a nine-year-old Daniel McCarthy. They couldn’t possibly bring [...]
Filed under: Pop culture
With all the Mark Foley sleaze in the news, perhaps we should think back to things relatively normal — like Bill Clinton ogling another man’s wife.
Filed under: Politics, Pop culture