This week’s theme of Freedom has me thinking about the most sacred of America’s fast food: McDonald’s fries. People acknowledge that McDonald’s burgers taste like old tire treads and McDonald’s itself seems to shrug that off (“Hey, your kid wants a happy meal with a little fucking toy made in China, so blow us and…
Red State Vs. Blue State: Liberal Freedom vs. Conservative Freedom
In honor of the 4th of July comes what I like to call “The Freedom Debate.” Today I’m debating a fairly good acquaintance that I actually know to be a pretty smart man…of course he’s also a conservative but nobody’s perfect. The topic is all things Freedom, are we more free, less free, and what…
Down & Out in Bumblefuck: The Rural News Asks “What is Freedom?”
The 4th of July (so often just an occasion to get drunk and shoot fireworks) has put me in an unusually reflective mood. I wondered all weekend the question of “What is Freedom?” and “Do we have more or less of it than previous generations?” It’s a question I try to answer during my debate…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Transformers 3
What can you even say about a Transformers movie? “It’s there” is about the nicest thing. Michael Bay is such a special needs director that you feel like giving him a passing grade just for turning in a movie on time (his signature 4th of July slot) and letting him finally graduate so you don’t…
Movie Review: Bad Teacher
It’s not often a movie is brave enough to put the word “bad” in its title. Rarer still is the one that has an obnoxious advertising campaign, a script that’s short on laughs, and the most unlikable lead character I’ve seen in a movie this year…yet still manages to get me to go against my…
Entertainment Editorial: Drive In Movies
I try something the site never has before with this item: nostalgia. I can still remember the first time I went to a drive in theater. It was the Summer of 1996 and the Drive In had just opened–this was before the traditional movie theater went bankrupt and used as a squatter building for meth…
TV Review: Men of a Certain Age
Few shows on TV (and absolutely no shows on TNT) are better than Men of a Certain Age. And yet few shows on TV make me more hesitant to admit I watch them religiously. Sure, you might get cool points for talking up flashy violence like Sons of Anarchy or my personal favorite show Breaking…
Mom Jokes: A Woman’s Diary Vs. a Man’s Diary
Her Diary: Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn’t…
Sunday’s Sermon: What’s the Matter with Kansas? (And South Dakota and Indiana and…_
A couple years back there was a great non-fiction book written about how Kansas morphed from an outpost of liberalism into arguably the most conservative state in the country (take out Utah, Arizona, Montana, and Alabama and it isn’t so arguable). It also covered how residents of Kansas routinely vote against their own economic interests…
Larger Editorial: Glenn Beck’s Final Show, So Long Shit Bag
Today, we have a special treat…if you count water boarding as a treat. I will be watching Glenn Beck’s final show, the first I’ve seen from start to finish. Minute 1: Beck is outside the New York City studio his show is filmed at. Okay, I can do this. I’ve got a Snapple and an…
Petty Issues
While watching the fourth season premiere of True Blood I found myself saying “What the fuck am I watching?” and not in a good way. Fairies chasing people in the desert while shooting white bursts of lightening, Jason leading a cult of diseased looking children, Tara as a lesbian? At a certain point, it tips…
Working Class Economist: The Private Sector Wants Gay Marriage
Republicans like to pretend that the private sector can solve any and every problem. The post office loses one of your packages? Privatize it. Public education getting you down? Dismantle the whole budget and give out private school vouchers. Ron Paul even believes the Civil War wasn’t necessary and the private sector could have solved…
The Fast Food Critic: Movie Theater Popcorn
Today I take a cheat in a way by reviewing something that isn’t technically fast food. Still, since I don’t do this feature most weeks, a cheat is better than nothing. The item today is the internal scourge of the movie theater: theater popcorn. It’s greasy, it’s smothered in enough salt to cure a ham…