Fathers: Not Just Comic Relief Anymore
Just got through watching ABC Family’s new sitcom Baby Daddy (watch for the review tomorrow), and really the only thing remarkable about the show was how unremarkable it was. Baby Daddy felt as though it had been transported straight out of network television from the 1980s or ’90s, boasting the same setup-punchline rhythm, the same […]
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Facebook
“Twitters broke, my life has no meaning anymore.” Those were the words of an unnamed tweeter who—in a spat of despondency—took to another, smaller social networking site to lament a temporary outage of Twitter last week. And she was far from the only person to treat the loss of service as, really the loss of […]
Movie Monday: Brave
It was a showdown between an arrow-shooting heroine and an ax-swinging president—a family-friendly fairy tale versus R-rated blood and guts and teeth. As it turns out, it wasn’t much of a contest: A certain Scottish princess easily won the weekend’s hand. Disney/Pixar’s Brave hit the audience bulls-eye at the box office, scoring an estimated $66.7 […]
The Typewriter is Dead. Long Live the Typewriter!
Last April, I wrote a blog lamenting the death of the typewriter. The last company to make ’em—an outfit in India—decided to put an end to production, leaving the old machines to fade into history, as if their last words were being typed with an old, worn-out ribbon. But perhaps the eulogy was a bit […]
Movie Monday: Madagascar Roars Again
I think I used up most of my animal puns last week, so let’s just cut to the chase: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted repeated as box office champ again this weekend, collecting an estimated $35.5 million. Its mane competition (OK, so I didn’t use them all) was, for the second week in a row, […]
Existential House Hunt: What Reality TV Has to Say About Faith
Theology, philosophy and reality television would seem to go together about as well as peanut butter, mayo and pickles. I can’t imagine CBS would clamor to stuff a bunch of pastors into the Big Brother house and film them fighting over original sin and post-millennialism. But if you’ve ever eaten a peanut butter, mayo and […]
Movie Monday: Madagascar 3
It was a zoo this weekend at the local cineplex. And I’m not lion. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted won the Friday-Sunday box office tourney by a giraffe-sized neck, hoofing its way to an estimated $60.4 million take—making its makers at DreamWorks as happy as a hippo at dinnertime. While it opened ever so slightly […]
Oh, Those Golden Oldies
I’ve been on vacation the last couple of weeks in Orlando—searching for alligators and playing cards and spending altogether too much time waiting in line for Space Mountain. But between all that line-standing and ride-riding at Disneyworld, the fam and I did find time to flip on the television to watch a little-known cable channel […]
Movie Monday: Snow White and the Huntsman
Who says we’ve outgrown fairy tales? Sure, our 21st-century culture may be a little more cynical and self-aware. Maybe some of us stifle eye-rolls when it comes to cute, animated forest creatures cleaning out cottages. But audiences once again proved that we’re still susceptible to stories that begin with “Once upon a time” and end […]
What It Means to Be a Twit
I’m officially a twit. That’s what you call folks who use Twitter, right? I’m still new to this thing, so I’m not so sure of all the terminology. I never thought I would join Twitter. I never really saw the point, and anyone who’s read one of my movie reviews knows it takes me far […]