television
CW’s ‘The Flash’ Impresses with Unusual Avoidance of Gloom

The CW network has become something of a cottage industry for B-level (and C-level) superh...

books
Interview with (Fictional) Bestselling Mystery Writer Richard Castle

The ABC-TV series Castle (Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern) features as co-protagonist a bestse...

books
The Twilight of the American Enlightenment: The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief by George M. Marsden

This latest book by historian George M. Marsden is an insightful history and analysis of...

mysteries
‘Blue Bloods’ Jumps the Shark

I write this post with a heavy heart. Blue Bloods has been one of our family’s favorite ...

movies
The New Ghostbusters: ‘Hilarious Women’

The good news is that a new Ghostbusters film is finally looking likely: writer-director P...

genres
Syndicated ‘The Pinkertons’ Western Drama Series Presents History (Surprisingly) Fairly

Set in the Great Plains region in the years immediately following the American Civil War/W...

movies
“Touch of Evil”: Orson Welles’ Most Profound Film

Orson Welles will likely always be most remembered for his first film, "Citizen Kane" ...

mysteries
Lynch, Frost Return to ‘Twin Peaks’—Why It Might Just Work

It's been a "damn fine" year for admirers of the early-1990s ABC TV series Twin Peaks:...

music
Remembering Paul Revere and the Raiders

I enjoyed the music of Paul Revere and the Raiders when I was growing up. Their characteri...

economicspolicy
New California Law Shows True Nature of Modern Liberalism

Modern liberalism has pulled a fast one over the American people. Liberals and their mouth...

culture101
A Good Month to Read Gothic/Horror Innovator and Master Edgar Allan Poe

If you're thinking about doing some gothic/horror reading this month, you can't go wrong b...

television
Funny, Smart ‘Last Man Standing’ Returns for Fourth Season

The ABC-TV sitcom Last Man Standing returns tonight for its fourth season on the alphabet...

mysteries
ABC’s ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ Gets Away with Contemporary Cliches

In choosing programming, ABC-TV tends toward what its managers must think of as a rather ...

fiction1
‘Monogram Murders’ Exemplifies Problems with Contemporary Crime Fiction

My web friend Enrique F. Bird is a longtime aficionado of mystery and detective fiction an...

comic-books-graphic-novels
FOX’s ‘Gotham’ Effectively Explores Origin Story Elements

Episode two of Gotham, broadcast last night on FOX-TV, established an interesting theme ...

books
Book Review: ‘Night Call and Other Stories of Suspense’

NIGHT CALL AND OTHER STORIES OF SUSPENSE - By Charlotte Armstrong (1905-69) - Edited by R...

comic-books-graphic-novels
FOX’s ‘Gotham’ Takes Promising New Angle on Batman Story

The many manifestations of the Batman character over the decades all have one thing in c...

books
Jack Carter Returns

"The rain rained.” It takes a tremendous amount of courage, or foolishness, to begin a...

religion
OK Muslims Cheer Beheading of Colleen Hufford

Immediately after a press conference by local authorities regarding two murders, one of wh...

movies
‘Olympus Has Fallen’ Sequel Finds Director

Olympus Has Fallen, an action film starring Gerard Butler, was one of two movies about inv...

journalism
Media’s Domestic-Abuse and NFL-Abuse Problems Observed

Writing in The American Spectator, columnist Jeffrey Lord makes an important point about...

religion
It Begins: Beheading in Oklahoma

AP reports: A man who had been fired from a food processing plant in an Oklahoma City s...

mysteries
Quality Improvement, Steady Ratings Boost NBC’s ‘Mysteries of Laura’

There's good news for those who watched and liked NBC's attempt at a USA Network-style m...

commerce
Misguided Attacks on Suburbia Undermine Essential Values, Affront Critical Voting Bloc

Writing in The Orange County Register, the distinguished urbanologist Joel Kotkin notes th...

fiction1
The Heroic (and Much-Needed) Values of Pulp Fiction

Most people, I am sure, think of pulp fiction as lurid, oversexed, ultraviolent, profanity...

music
Jason Isbell Wins Big at Americana Music Awards

Jason Isbell was the big winner at this year's Americana Music Association Awards.  In ad...

mysteries
‘Mysteries of Laura’ Botches a Perfectly Good Formula

NBC is trying a fresh approach to drama in the new series The Mysteries of Laura (Wedne...

mysteries
‘Longmire’ and Boomers’ Marketing Power—Are Both Underappreciated?

Do the TV networks have too little respect for the market power of older Americans? So s...

culture101
With the Rise of Radical Islam, Multiculturalism is a Spent Force

Multiculturalism is a product of relativism; the only way you can believe that all culture...

commerce
Google Introduces Encryption by Default, Protecting User Data

Quickly following the lead of Apple, Inc., Google has announced that it too will encrypt i...

economicspolicy
Scottish Referendum Shows Fascist Tendencies of British Elites, UK Libertarian Writes

The strong connection between progressive elitism and fascism, noted a few years ago by Jo...

commerce
Apple’s New Security Policy Is Great News for iPhone, iPad Users

Apple Corp. last night announced that it is implementing a new security protocol that will...

journalism
Benghazi, Media Bias and the Conservative Counter Culture

Claiming liberal media bias is a cliché and comes across as hackneyed to me whenever I he...