December 12, 2006 Archive

Video

• 24 Update: Rick Schroder Joins Cast

  Historically, 24 has been a hub of sorts to child stars.

  News in Video — by Mary K. Williams — on Dec 12, 2006

• Reality TV Casting Call: Need a New You? Style Yourself Famous

  News in Video — by TV with MeeVee — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Review: Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest

  It's time once again to set sail with Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Davy Jones.

  Review in Video — by Josh Lasser — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Review: Jack Frost

  He's chillin' and killin' in this bad holiday horror film where Frosty turns mean.

  Review in Video — by ILoz Zoc — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Review: The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Four-Disc Extended Edition

  Disney's version strays a bit from the books, but for the most part does so with good intentions. The extras make this set a must-have.

  Review in Video — by Anna Creech — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Review: World Trade Center

  It's a powerful and sometimes frightening film, but is it a good one?

  Review in Video — by Josh Lasser — on Dec 12, 2006

• Box Office Update 12/8-12/10: Apocalypto Takes Subtitles to the Top

  Mel brings another dead language to life on the big screen.

  News in Video — by Chris Beaumont — on Dec 12, 2006

• TV Review: Scrubs

  NBC's goofy sitcom Scrubs finally gets the night it deserves to bring back laughter to sitcoms.

  Review in Video — by Aleks Chan — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Pick of the Week: The Devil Wears Prada

  You will conform, whether you know it or not.

  News in Video — by Chris Beaumont — on Dec 12, 2006

• DVD Review: Cars

  Caballero Oscuro liked it better when it was called Toy Story.

  Review in Video — by El Bicho — on Dec 12, 2006

Culture

• Important Santa Claus Information

  America’s North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Canadian Postal System help keep us in touch with jolly ol' St. Nick.

  News in Culture — by Diana Hartman — on Dec 12, 2006

• Q: Was Ben Franklin a Ladies’ Man?

  News in Culture — by Mental_Floss — on Dec 12, 2006

• Day By Day for December 12, 2006

  Chris Muir's excellent Day By Day cartoon, for December 12, 2006

  Satire in Culture — by Chris Muir — on Dec 12, 2006

• Three Ways to Say "You're Wrong"

  "You're Wrong" can be a tough phrase to use, especially at work. Instead, here are three alternatives you can use.

  Opinion in Culture — by Kevin Augustine — on Dec 12, 2006

• The Not-Quite-Sunday Funnies

  This Week: Re-Gifting, Paying the Bills, and Rats!

  Satire in Culture — by Annie — on Dec 12, 2006

• A Second Protestant Reformation

  Will history compare the Stonewall Riots to Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses? It's an outrageous but possibly undeniable analogy.

  Opinion in Culture — by Richard Rothstein — on Dec 12, 2006

• The Seditious Energy of My Favorite Publication

  Weekly World News tags themselves as “The World's Only Reliable Newspaper.” I admit it - I love the tabloids!

  Opinion in Culture — by Bob Felton — on Dec 12, 2006

• Baby Names List Released

  Lots of babies get lots of names, but Ava and Aiden are tops.

  News in Culture — by John Guilfoil — on Dec 12, 2006

Politics

• Canadian Politics: Mohawk Land Claims Being Ignored Again

  If you buy stolen property what kind of compensation do you usually get?

  News in Politics — by Richard Marcus — on Dec 12, 2006

• Life In Wonderland

  "La, la, la - I can't HEAR You!" is not a valid response.

  Opinion in Politics — by Realist — on Dec 12, 2006

• Understanding the US by Numbers: A Small Government

  US government's footprint, as measured by percentage of GDP, on the economy seems comparatively much lower than that of developed European economies.

  Opinion in Politics — by Spincycle — on Dec 12, 2006

• Iraq Study Group Report: Iraq Breeds More American Idiots Than All Our Evangelical Crazies Together

  The Iraq Study Group Report gets one thing wrong big-time: That there will ever be an Iraqi army.

  Opinion in Politics — by Adam Ash — on Dec 12, 2006

Books

• Book Review: Digital Photography Expert Techniques (2nd Edition) by Ken Milburn

  The book is worth its price for the extensive photo retouching techniques alone.

  Review in Books — by Raoul Pop — on Dec 12, 2006

• Book Review: Beauty in Detritus by Joel Capolongo

  Capolongo's modus operandi is to serendipitously find and enter a deserted building and take photographs, atmospheric and depicting decay, yet quite beautiful.

  Review in Books — by gette — on Dec 12, 2006

• Book Review: The Yellow House - Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles by Martin Gayford

  This story of the Post-Impressionist odd couple would be unbelievable if it weren't all true.

  Review in Books — by Adam Jusko — on Dec 12, 2006

• 'Write the Best Book You Can': An Interview with Poet, Novelist and Children's Author Adele Geras

  "I was addicted to adjectives and purple prose as a child. They all combined great intelligence and critical acumen with the best sort of encouragement."

  Interview in Books — by Ambrose Musiyiwa — on Dec 12, 2006

• Book Review: Glass Houses: The Morganville Vampires Book One by Rachel Caine

  What better way to break out of a sheltered life than to meet some vampires?

  Review in Books — by Katie Trattner — on Dec 12, 2006

• Book Review: Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip: The 1935 Travelogue of Two Soviet Writers by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

  This newly unearthed pre-Borat travelogue offers a fond and amusing description of our country and and its people.

  Review in Books — by gette — on Dec 12, 2006

• Book Review: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

  The antitheism of Richard Dawkins: For a book that purports to defend logic against religion, there sure isn't much logic going on.

  Review in Books — by John Bambenek — on Dec 12, 2006

Sports

• Everson Walls to Donate a Kidney to Save a Life and a Career

  There are a lot of athletes making headlines for all of the wrong reasons. This isn’t one of those stories.

  News in Sports — by Sal Marinello — on Dec 12, 2006

• Tennis: ITF Juniors Luncanu and Hofmanova Grab First Grade A-titles

  A report on the ITF Juniors tournament; The Orange Bowl.

  News in Sports — by Lawntennisnews — on Dec 12, 2006

Music

• Music Review: Lower Class Brats' The New Seditionaries and Shock Nagasaki's Year of the Spy

  Alternative rock, punk rock, Shock Nagasaki, Lower Class Brats, oi!, TKO Records

  Review in Music — by gette — on Dec 12, 2006

• Music Review: The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project - Simpático

  A hard bop trumpeter from Wisconsin and a Latin jazz icon from New York City combine to create an impressive jazz project.

  Review in Music — by Tim Gebhart — on Dec 12, 2006

• Blogcritics Goodie Bag: Pharoahe Monch, Scissors For Lefty, dj never forget, terry diabolik, Emily King, Kelly Clarkson, and Space Needle

  Digital media music and video downloads and streams.

  News in Music — by Anna Creech — on Dec 12, 2006

• Music Review: Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Christmas

  Christmas music, soundtrack, Peanuts, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus and Lucy, Vince Guaraldi, George Winston, TV holiday specials

  Review in Music — by gette — on Dec 12, 2006

• Music Review: Teitur - Stay Under the Stars

  According to the title track, he doesn’t want me to wake up, either.

  Review in Music — by Claire Marie Blaustein — on Dec 12, 2006

• Music Review: Family Values Tour 2006

  Family Values 2006 is coming soon to a stereo near you, so get your neckbrace ready in case of headbanging accidents. You were warned.

  Review in Music — by Michael Jones — on Dec 12, 2006

• Music Review: American Hardcore - The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986 (Various Artists)

  Alternative Rock, Hardcore, Punk Rock, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, American Hardcore, Soundtrack, Steven Blush.

  Review in Music — by gette — on Dec 12, 2006

• Blues Legend Robert Lockwood Jr. Dies at 91

  One of the last living links to blues icon Robert Johnson has died at 91.

  News in Music — by Josh Hathaway — on Dec 12, 2006

Gaming

• Mac Game Review: Burning Monkey Solitaire 4

  Okay. Solitaire + Monkeys = Fun? Who knew? Apparently, Freeverse did! Now I know too.

  Review in Gaming — by Michael Jones — on Dec 12, 2006

• Interview: Dennis Lee of Konami, Discussing Elebits

  Lee details Konami's effort to build a franchise from the ground up for the Nintendo Wii.

  Interview in Gaming — by Aaron Auzins — on Dec 12, 2006