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ABC News’ political blog “The Note” has some provocative thoughts today governing politics and the media over the next six weeks or so: Since there’s that whole Labor-Day-kick-off thing, and it’s the beginning of a very big month, let’s clear the air with a very big a-hem of reality: the …

Whine fret whine, speculate, whine some more – movies really are different it would appear, at least so far. The summer film box office ended up being the highest ever: A little fish named Nemo made some big waves at the box office, helping to lift this summer’s grosses to …

Craggy faced tough punched his way to stardom. My favorite Bronson role was as the only surviving member of the Dirty Dozen . My favorite of his leading roles was in Hard Times, Walter Hill’s directorial debut about a taciturn street fighter in New Orleans in the ’30s managed by …

For all of the flailing, flagellating and flapping of wings in the blogosphere, two-thirds of voters – including two-thirds of Democrats – were unable to name ANY of the Democratic candidates for president, according to a CBS News poll released yesterday. This seems about exactly in line with what I …

The start of another tour, last night’s concert webcast, and the forthcoming R.E.M. greatest hits (from the Warner Brothers years only – ’88-03) remind me that the band has never made music I want to hear more than their very first full-length album, Murmur Murmur is still the group’s defining …

The rerelease of Animal House on DVD is a pretty big deal for me and apparently for many – it was a sell out at our local Wal-Mart. My obsession is in ample evidence in this analysis of the movie, and this look at the soundtrack. But there are people …

While most agree the Ramones’ astonishing first album – which roared through the competition like a 747 in a paper airplane contest – is their most important album, it isn’t my favorite. My favorite is one of the band’s most eccentric, produced by the enigmatic pop icon Phil Spector, and …

Edna Gunderson (has there ever been a less rock ‘n’ roll name) of USA Today has a nice overview of punk as it approaches the 30-year mark – trust no genre over 30? The monolithic din that rose up against disco and prog-rock in the ’70s has splintered into sonic …

That’s just warmongering fantasy: Iraqi police have arrested four al-Qaeda-linked suspects in the bombing of Iraq’s holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, a senior police official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The official, who said the explosion death toll had risen to 107, said the men – two Iraqis and two …

My oldest daughter enters college in a few weeks and I am very excited for her, proud too. It’s hard to believe I matriculated to sweet little Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio – “America’s Quiet Surprise” (I shit you not) – 28 years ago. I had just turned 17 and …