It had actually slipped my mind that I’d ordered this, so I was delighted today to get my copy of the very large, very handsome, lavishly illustrated re-issue of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Curse of Lono, signed by both Thompson and artist Ralph Steadman. This now goes into head-to-head competition with the autographed copy of […]

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Eugene Volokh and Ed Feser both elaborate at some length—rather more than one would think necessary—the point that complaints about some group (usually conservative Christians) “legislating morality” don’t make sense if read literally, since just about any policy advocacy—whether it’s banning murder or mandating daily prayers—entails taking some moral stand or other. They’re right in […]

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Seriously, now, whose godawful idea was this ridiculous fad? I’m told it has frat origins, but seems to have crossed all boundaries of gender and age. I’ve even seen a few mannequins in the windows of chi-chi designer label shops sporting popped collars. Normally I’m all about de gustibus non disputandum est, but if there […]

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Over at Pitchfork, David Cross has a pretty brutally funny essay in which he reveals his top 10 made-up albums to listen to as accompaniment for reading overwrought Pitchfork reviews. Escher’s got nothing on this shit.

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Err, OK, make that I’m so vain. My colleague Kerry and I got headshots taken earlier this week courtesy of the multitalented Declan McCullagh. Some of the ones that turned out OK (at least given the limits of the source material): One Two Three Four There were also some Captain and Tennille style cheesy album […]

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The interstitial images, or “bumps” on Cartoon Network’s late-night Adult Swim bloc are often more interesting than the shows themselves. I found the one above inexplicably disturbing and poignant: It shows a deer with its eyes gouged out beside the text “When did you stop remembering?”

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Careful Matt, sound too wary of government intervention and you’ll get tagged as a fascist.

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Rumor has it that Dumbledore bites it in the next Harry Potter book. That would’ve been my guess for purely plot-based reasons. Thing is, Dumbledore’s a sort of perpetual deus ex machina: They’ve established he can kick Voldemort’s ass, so he’s got to be implausibly called away or unavailable whenever they want actual tension in […]

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Courtesy of Joanna Robinson, I discover a book I’ve got to pick up.

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It’s supposed to be news that wormholes are unstable? Dude, anyone who used to watch Deep Space Nine knew that.

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