I couldn't quite get the clear picture of Buckingham palace in the shade that descended over St. James Park. My wife and I, along with our hosts, gave up and made our way to a nearby cafe for beer and fizzy water.

The day was long, and the tea was plentiful, so I surrendered to my bladder and found the nearest urinal. While relief coursed through me ( Read more... )

I was, until this past weekend, a tourist, and I loved it.

Usually, my wife and I simply strolled through the City of London (and Westminster, etc.) with our hosts. Often, though, they enjoyed some professional sightseeing assistance. These are very informative, and they reveal certain traits about other tourists--usually Americans. For example, ( Read more... )

I learned a number of things after spending the past two weeks in London:

The folks who staff the immigration desk at the airports are called Border FORCE!, which, you have to admit, sounds pretty exciting. The English are still pretty touchy about their (former) empire; I'm pretty sure this is tongue in cheek. Everything seems cheaper when it's in ( Read more... )

So I'm walking down the street, and I see this guy. He's young and tan and good looking, with blond hair peeking out of his backwards baseball cap, wearing Abercrombie shorts and expensive aviator sunglasses that are dangling from his unbuttoned, pastel-colored polo. And I think, "This guy is a dude-bro douchebag. And I think he's a rapist." I've ( Read more... )

I just learned about the Stephen King Drinking Game! Here's the rules set out by Nostalgia Critic:

1 Shot for the story taking place in Maine
1 Shot for the Monster's origins never being explained
1 Shot for the 1-Dimensional Bully with no redeeming values
1 Shot for the same Bully characters seeing Violence & Murder as the only answer
1 Shot for ( Read more... )

I am sick of the social-media shouting at itself. I am sick of anybody, right or left, posting images with misattributed quotes or links to articles from online magazines with agendas. I am sick of hearing that Monsanto is evil; the Second Amendment is sacred above all else; gay marriage undermines our entire way of life; Planned Parenthood ( Read more... )

I don't think this is that hard to get: extending humanity, civil rights, economic opportunity, and dignity to a race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality does not subtract any of these things from YOUR race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality*. Humanity, civil rights, economic opportunity, and dignity are not finite resources.

*Unless ( Read more... )

Because this is something I've been thinking about lately whenever I see the news:

"'HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.'

"'Tooth fairies? [Santa Claus]? Little--'

"'YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.'

"'So we can believe the big ones?'

"'YES. JUSTICE. ( Read more... )

I want to share with you a cinematic pet peeve, one which disproportionately affects fantasy and science fiction movies, and that is the opening voiceover narration.

A good example of this is the classic Sean Connery monologue: "From the dawn of time we came, moving silently through the centuries, living many secret lives, struggling to reach the ( Read more... )

Earlier this week, I made a post in which I discussed my overall negative but also confused feelings about the Garden State of Veronica Mars Kickstarter and such, and it led to a very intelligent conversation, which can be done on the Internet. This article was just shared this with me, which definitely brings a new wrinkle into the debate.

Discuss