sweetney

The other night I was watching "Mad Men" -- a show ostensibly about the machinations of the Madison Avenue advertising industry of the mid-sixties, but in truth more about what the lives of women were like during that era -- when I realized something. The only time in history I could've ever existed was during the past forty years.   Read more >

Faced with the aggrandizing media spectacle that's ensued since Michael Jackson's death last week, I can't help but wonder if we aren't experiencing some kind of collective cultural amnesia. The sudden, overly reverential elevation of Jackson's body of work and life these past few days is an odd turn to say the least, and in that sense a fitting end to the highly unusual life of very peculiar -- and yes, uniquely talented -- man.  Read more >

I'm going to start this post with the following preamble: disagreement does not have to be agitating or wholly divisive, and I hope that at the end of this we're all still friends, still speaking, and that you'll still hug me at BlogHer in a few weeks. Because I'm going to venture a guess that I'm in the minority with regard to my opinion on what David Letterman said Tuesday night, and whether or not what he said was acceptable.  Read more >

In honor of this Memorial Day I'm taking a look at a few of my favorite war movies -- though to be perfectly frank with you at the outset, I've really never been a big fan of the War & Military genre of film, generally speaking. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than watching stuff blow up... provided it's a Romulan spacecraft or a Transformer or some other creature similarly othered into something inhuman. I like to keep my enjoyment of stuff blowing up far, far away from this tender and easily triggered little thing I have permanently installed in my skullcase called human empathy, which I find nearly impossible to turn off. And let's face it: however grand the pyrotechnics, recognizing one's own humanity in something blowing up is, well, kind of a killjoy. How can I ENJOY the explosions and blossoming fireballs if I have to FEEL things? BAH! Stupid feelings!  Read more >

I'll begin with a confession: I really have no clue what I'm talking about here.  Read more >