You gotta have Heart, I guess. Yes, Heart — one of my youthful guilty musical pleasures — has sent a cease-and-desist order to the McCain-Palin campaign via their record label.  They objected to their use of “Barracuda” after the Republican convention speech of VP nominee Sarah “Barracuda” Palin (the nickname she supposedly gained on the basketball [...]

CNN just showed what is presumably a member of the Indiana delegation with a button, featuring a logo and picture of McCain and Palin along with the following: “Hoosiers for the Hot Chick.” Since the Republicans have just discovered the concept of sexism, I guess we can understand if they are not yet up to speed [...]

My two favorite takes so far on John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for his running mate: Stephen Colbert accuses nay-sayers of missing the significance of the moment: “A lot of people are saying that Sarah Palin is being used as a cheap political ploy. That is such petty cynicism. This is historic. For the first [...]

Of all the things about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, that bother me, her identification as a “feminist” is not one of them. Yes, I realize she is not a feminist in any authentically enlightened sense of the term and her feminism doesn’t make conservatives flinch even a little bit. But I’m so tired of “feminism” [...]

Joe Miller of Factcheck.org dissects John McCain’s desperate, disingenous attempt to combat his multiple mansion problem, which we discussed a few days back. It’s nice to see a major media outlet willing to call out John McCain for the lies and slimy innuendo that his campaign has become. But the greatest insight coming out of the whole [...]

As we wait for Barack Obama to announce his vice-presidential running mate, everyone is having a bit too much fun with the fact that anyone can sign up to be “the first to know” — through a text message (text “VP” to 62262) or e-mail sent directly from the Obama campaign. Our friend Deanna Zandt over [...]

The most pressing question in this presidential campaign has become: Why isn’t the Obama campaign (or their surrogates and sympathizers) spreading insidious rumors about John McCain to counterbalance all the junk out there about Obama? Now, I subscribe to plenty of liberal/lefty e-mail lists — so I feel fairly in touch with the viral pulse out [...]

The following is a new article by Tim Mitchell, published in the “depth” section of PopPolitics magazine. Mitchell has previously written for PopPolitics about the “Mimic” film trilogy and “Versus” horror films like Alien vs. Predator and Freddy vs. Jason. Now he tackles the technological complexities of “Dark City” — just in time [...]

It’s about time I found a good excuse to post on beer. It’s a beverage which — particularly in the form of the great American microbrew — holds a special place in my heart and, needless to say, American culture. Unlike water or wine, beer walks the delicate line between common appeal and refinement. It is [...]

When Brian K. Vaughan’s science fiction comic epic Y: The Last Man began several years ago, Christine was right on it, praising its “mature and complex look at gender politics.” Brought to life by Pia Guerra’s stunning artwork, Vaughan’s vision reveals the great potential of both the science fiction and comic genres. As Vaughan says, [...]