Continuing on with our Alabama Liberal China week, I thought it might interest some—-not many, but some—-to know what it’s like to go to a movie (The Avengers) in Shanghai. If you answered “Probably not much different and you’re wasting our time writing about this when you could be endlessly talking about the presidential election,”…
TV Review: What’s It Like to Watch TV in China?
Kicking off our China week on the site after a two week trip to Shanghai (and weekend in Hong Kong) begins with a twist on our usual media Mondays. Later on today I’ll be talking about Chinese “cinema,” but first let’s talk about one of the last things anyone would notice before they visited China…
Alabama Liberal Goes to China!
If that title wasn’t straightforward enough, let me confirm that, yes, I did just get back from a recent two week trip to China (specifically, Shanghai and then a shorter time in Hong Kong). The next two weeks of the blog will be a deviation from the articles that usually run as I hope to…
A Final Roundup of Missed 2011 Movies including The Artist, Win Win, A Separation, Conan Can’t Stop, and More
So what in the hell does that awkward title mean? It means that I recently took a very long international roundtrip on an airplane (more about where I went tomorrow, but I think most readers will be in for a surprise) and one of the only things keeping you sane back in coach—-where I was…
TV Review: I Recap the “Desperate Housewives” Series Finale, So You Don’t Have to Watch It
Dear Readers, there is a shameful period of my past that I’m none too happy about. No, I don’t mean any incidents in college or high school that may or may not involve elaborate pranks and debauchery, I mean the 2004-2005 television season when I, like just about anyone at the time who was watching…
Mom Joke: Collar on Backwards
A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he had his collar on backwards. The little boy asked why he wore his collar backwards. The man, who was a priest, said, ‘I am a Father’ The little boy replied, ‘My Daddy doesn’t wear his collar like…
Larger Editorial: Why We Need to Rediscover Economic Liberalism
Who is this ambiguous “we” in the title of this post? Democrats? Liberals in general? Bloggers? New Yorkers/San Franciscans/urban dwellers on both coasts? How about all of the above? Democrats, liberals, liberal progressives, social liberals, whoever votes or has voted or will vote for a progressive cause in their lifetime desperately need to rediscover the…
Entertainment Editorial: Five Shows Ruined By Success
In an age of a thousand TV channels, it’s become harder than ever to really break out and enjoy that fleeting sensation known as “success” in television—-the kind of thing that can get Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner and The Sopranos’s David Chase enough money to never have to work for five lifetimes—-and that can guarantee…
Why “Mad Men,” Gets the Difference Between the 60’s Fantasies of the Past and Realities of the Future
By now so many shows have been set in the 50’s and 60’s that they’re practically a sub genre of their own (albeit not usually a successful one). The “60’s set shows” often showcase intact nuclear families being as wholesome and perfect as the time allows while grappling through a series of “world changing events”…
TV Review: “Touch,” a Show Worth Saving
It’s that time of year when the broadcast networks (ABC, Fox, pitiful-ratings-wise-but-decent-creatively NBC, and pitiful-quality-wise-but-explosive-ratings-wise CBS) begin to schedule their shows for the upcoming Fall season, and that means that within a couple weeks we’ll know the fates of all the “bubble” shows that could either get renewed or get put out to pasture. Now…
Mom Jokes: Running Naked
A woman was having a daytime affair with her boyfriend. One rainy day she heard her husband pull up outside while she was in bed with him. “Oh my God, it’s him. You have to get out of here!” “I can’t jump out the window. It’s raining out there!” “My husband’s got a hot temper…
Bubba’s Sex Tips: On Cinco De Mayo, Bubba Tries his Charms on a Latina
Whelp, today is Cinco De Mayo, some type of Mexican holiday where they learned to count to five or something…I’m not a Mexican historian. What I do know is that it’s a great excuse to fire up the grill and make some delicious pork tacos, pork burritos, pork quesadillas, and deer fajitas (made with pork…
Larger Editorial: I May “Like” Romney More, but Santorum Was the Better Candidate Against Obama
Immediate Disclaimer about the headline of this article: 1. I do NOT like Mitt Romney, only that I think he would be a better president than Santorum (a man who has no equal in ignorance and hypocrisy). 2. I do NOT think Santorum would be a better president, merely a better candidate. To explain further:…