Tonight is the Super Bowl of gay television as it was not only the series finale of NBC’s Smash, but the premiere of this above-average TV movie about Liberace. HBO continued their winning streak of biopics for unconventional icons (Al Pacino in You Don’t Know Jack and The Phil Spector Story) with this film, which…
Author: Alabama Liberal
Pop Culture Battle 3, Book of the Summer: “The Interestings” vs. “Reconstructing Amelia”
What’s the book of the Summer? Both of these books have been mentioned on countless lists, and it’s time to settle this… The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer…About: A group of six creative kids goes to a summer camp for artists in the 70’s and make friendships that last a lifetime, even as some of them…
Pop Culture Battle, Part 2: Netflix’s House of Cards vs. the BBC’s House of Cards
Netflix is hustling to get in the original content game (this month’s Arrested Development return is probably their biggest coup to date), and their nasty political drama, “House of Cards,” truly is as good as anything on most cable networks. [I still don’t think it touches most dramas on AMC or HBO.] It’s smart, well-made, and excellently…
Pop Culture Battle…Bates Motel vs. The Following vs. Hannibal
Three shows enter, only one show shall leave (the first of three pop culture battles today). What’s the best serial killer show on TV? Bates Motel…Going for it: Is the show better than I thought it would be? Yes, but that’s not saying much. The cast is strong, particularly Vera Farminga as the infamous Mother…
Now That Mark Sanford is Back…Can Somebody Good Be Next?
Last week, I wrote an article about Mark Sanford’s big comeback. He was re-elected to his old congressional seat (the one he occupied before becoming an infamous Governor) beating no less than Stephen Colbert’s sister. But now what? By all accounts the once-and-future congressman will cause friction for the RNC, who refused to back him…
More Book Reviews: The Teleportation Accident, What the Family Needed
Two literary novels with a sci-fi angle that are more interesting than truly successful… The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman…This book has already been described as a “cult hit,” which means that most people probably won’t like it very much. Sadly, I’m in that category. It is occasionally brilliant (a man in 30’s Germany wonders about…
Book Reviews: Ghost Man, Dinner, 12 Tribes of Hattie, Bringing Up the Bodies
Ready for a round-up of books that came out last year or a few months ago? No…well, too bad… Bringing Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel…This book came out last year and pretty much everyone who was going to read it already has, but I thought I would weigh in briefly on this (slightly)…
Movie Review: “Mud,” a Quietly Triumphant, Romantic Film
A slow-building, completely charming indie about two boys in the waaaay rural South (think Mississippi Delta) who travel out to an island and discover a fugitive (Matthew McConaughey, continuing his career resurgence) who needs their help. One of the boys is having some personal problems (his parents are getting divorced…his “girlfriend” barely acknowledges him when…
Movie Review: Disconnect
This film wants to be “Traffic” for online crimes instead of drugs, but the impact is softened at every turn because of a faux-Crash vibe. The film keeps telling us that everyone is human, and that soft emotional center really undercuts the movie’s would-be grittiness. What Works: Three interconnected stories following a teenager who meets…
Mom Jokes: Hell of a Day
[Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!] There I was sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large, trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink and gulps it down in one swig. “Well, watcha gonna do about it?” he says, menacingly, as I burst into tears. “Come…
Bubba’s Sex Tips: Miley Cyrus is the World’s Hottest Woman?…I Demand a Recount
Maxim Magazine——a great read if you like seeing naked women…that are fully clothed and you haven’t heard about Playboy, Hustler, or something called “the internet”——-just proclaimed Miley Cyrus as the World’s Hottest Woman. My immediate reaction was “Isn’t Billy Ray too old to be the world’s hottest woman?” Then someone explained that the mulletted former…
Larger Editorial: The GOP’s New War On…Overtime Pay?
One of the big issues people aren’t even aware of (it’s not entirely their fault, it’s not getting nearly enough media coverage) is the GOP’s plan to radically change the way you receive Overtime Pay. They’ve proposed a bill that would give employees a choice (and anytime they want employees to have a choice…it’s between a…
TNT, Please Renew “Southland” (and grading all the seasons)
I know I’m weeks too late for this article to be relevant (Southland’s 5th season finale was on April 16th) but, in a way, that’s all the better to keep this terrific, criminally underrated show on people’s minds. If you haven’t been watching “Southland” when it was on NBC, then got cancelled, then got a second life…