The Genius of Buster

More than fifty years have passed since critics rediscovered Buster Keaton and pronounced him the most “modern” silent film clown, a title he hasn’t shaken since. In his own day he was certainly famous but never commanded the wealth or popularity of Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd, and he suffered most when talkies arrived. It [...]

’Dreadfully Ever After’: Best of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies trilogy – Denver Zombie | Examiner.com

The third and final chapter in the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies trilogy was released today from Quirk Books. Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith chronicles the continuing misadventures of the brave Bennett sisters in zombie-stricken England as they fight to destroy the undead scourge and live happily ever after with the men of their [...]

The Academy of Ebert from the Chicago Blog

While recovering from watching an Academy Awards broadcast helmed by a blasé multiplatform performance artist or two, we got to thinking about Chicago’s own cinematic rex. Or rather, he got us thinking, with a simple Tweet stating the obvious: “Is James Franco the first PhD candidate to host the Oscars?” Of course, we thought! This [...]

Shouts & Murmurs: The Cursing Mommy Cooks Italian

Chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop chop clatter chop skitter crash bang—F**K! Stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir stir skid bang skitter bang crash—SH*T! Hello. For those of you who [...]

Richard Nixon: Zombie Hunter

Last spring, Seth Grahame-Smith scored a best seller with “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” in which the 16th president slashes away at legions of undead political enemies. Now, another president is enjoying some hot paranormal action, this time onscreen. According to leaked videos posted online, the coming video game release “Call of Duty: Black Ops” features [...]

Move over McIntyre: Kafka comics lead a standup revolution – The Guardian

Two young comedians are spearheading a more theatrical style of comedy with their stage version of The Trial. When you think Franz Kafka, what comes to mind? Mitteleuropean gloom, perhaps. “Bowler hats, briefcases and faceless bureaucrats,” as playwright Tom Basden suggests. What you don’t think of is standup comedy – between Kafka and Michael McIntyre, [...]

Historians Admit to Inventing Ancient Greeks – from the Onion

WASHINGTON—A group of leading historians held a press conference Monday at the National Geographic Society to announce they had “entirely fabricated” ancient Greece, a culture long thought to be the intellectual basis of Western civilization. The group acknowledged that the idea of a sophisticated, flourishing society existing in Greece more than two millennia ago was [...]

The Debt of Socrates

I WENT down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddesses Brussels and Euro. There we chanced to find among other companions Polemarchus, who was sorely vexed. Why the long face? I asked. He replied that his wife, a hairdresser, had just been informed by the Assembly [...]

Cartoons from the Issue of May 10, 2010: newyorker.com

Check out: Crime and Punishment Cartoons from the Issue of May 10, 2010: newyorker.com.

The Downfall of “Hitler”

DCMA’d (removed due to the Digital Copyright Millenium Act):  Was it really a good idea for Constantin Films, the company that made the (excellent) 2004 film Der Untergang (Downfall), to step up its demands for YouTube to remove all the video spoofs using a clip from its film? On YouTube, we’re in a bunker, and [...]

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