It’s time to talk about abortion. And as a straight white male, I feel the most qualified. I’m pro-choice, so if you already know nothing’s gonna change your mind, better skip this article. It would be a waste of your time. My base line is that I have no right to make decisions about procedures I know nothing about and can never experience. Men may have a say, but women need to design the rules. Men don’t get more than that until something makes them obliged to share the consequences of a baby. I’m in favor of giving women choices, but for some reason people think “pro-choice” equates to “pro-death”.…
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I Learned Some Bad Lessons About Love from The Wonder Years
I don’t know what all this business about family togetherness and keeping fingers of phones at the table is about. My family watched TV at dinner. From six o’clock to seven, pre-prime time, were all the syndicated sitcoms from the house that Generation X built. Murphy Brown, Designing Women, America’s Funniest Home Videos, Empty Nest, Growing Pains, Night Court. And The Wonder Years. I didn’t know it at the time, but The Wonder Years was for my parents what The Goldbergs is for me — a sitcom that capitalizes on nostalgia and trying to convince oneself that the pop culture was more meaningful than it was (in this case, that…
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Pee-Wee’s Playhouse
Since I’ve had a weekend to myself, I’ve been revisiting nostalgia. Here’s my observations. Dixie is way frickin’ hot. I don’t know how I didn’t see it when I was a kid. King Cartoon is high all the time. He’s got to be. He talks like slowed-down Neil DeGrasse Tyson. His eyes are always half-closed. He’s obsessed with old Max Fleischer cartoons. And he thinks his taxi driver is his royal herald and coachwoman. He seems like an old blues musician who smoked reefer. There was some amazing stop motion in this. Like a lot. I’m surprised how much Will Vinton was able to produce. Between Pee-Wee’s “toys” and Sid’s…
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Avatar: Not a James Cameron Movie
I recently discovered the joy of Avatar: The Last Airbender — a great cartoon with bad timing. My first introduction to Avatar was on Nickelodeon. A channel that was most known for Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents. In other words, cartoons for stoners. Plus it came out around the time that James Cameron’s movie was big buzz, so I thought it was piggybacking on a known IP. It was an “American-made anime” meaning it had that cheap-looking animation. Heavily Asian influenced style. Who is this main character that looks like the baby from Dragonball Z? With weird blue markings and he looks 10. Then the terrible movie came out…
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Top 10 Mermaids
Ariel from The Little Mermaid Let’s get this one out of the way. You can’t deny the woman who spearheaded the Disney Renaissance her moment in the sun. Nor can you deny all the boys who learned at the tender age of eight what a woman is. She’s the quintessential mermaid, the one everyone thinks of when you say the word. The first, best, and greatest. Myriad articles have been written about her, so I won’t begin to repeat the all-thing. The mermaids from Peter Pan I don’t think they even have names, but if you minus “The Little Mermaid” on Google search, this is what comes up. This was…
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The AuthorQuest Bears and Too Much TV
Am I the only one getting sick of people telling, no DEMANDING, that you should be watching this-this-and-this show? Why aren’t you watching it, they say. It’s fantastic! It’s awesome. Here’s a bunch of in-jokes you won’t get unless you’re watching. You’re a bad person if you’re not watching it. Here’s a short list of all the shows that I’m a terrible person for not watching -Warehouse 13 -Once Upon a Time -Doctor Who’s current season (I don’t get BBC) -Breaking Bad -Arrested Development -Mad Men -Clone Wars -Arrow -Grimm -The Middle -American Horror Story -Hannibal -Louie -Justified -Sherlock -Homeland -Southland -Downton Abbey -Archer -Parks and Recreation -Community -The Walking…
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Union Dues: Why Do Superhero TV Shows Fail?
A few months ago, EscapePod ran a story from the Union Dues universe. For those who don’t know, Union Dues is a series of short stories in the Superhero genre. What makes this different is that the stories aren’t about epic clashes with super-villains or having to be in two places at once. These stories explore the meta-life of superheros, as they all fall under the protection of “The Union”. The Union is a shadowy corporation that “forcefully retains” any human who demonstrates superpowers, and uses them not just for hero work, but for merchandise and publicity. Examples: A “Big Guy” is imprisoned for accidentally killing a kid. A boy…
