Marvel Sues to Keep Spider-Man, X-Men Copyrights

Marvel Comics is suing the estate of its second most famous figure in order to keep the rights to its most lucrative properties. The home of superheroes including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men sued one of its most successful artists Friday to retain the rights to the lucrative characters. The federal lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan by Marvel Worldwide ...

George Carlin with Jon Stewart

An interesting 10-minute interview with the late comedian George Carlin by Jon Stewart: As best I can determine, this is from "George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy," which was released in February 1997. Judging by how much Stewart has changed -- and the lack of a ponytail on Carlin -- that seems about right. via Andrew Sullivan

Festivus Continues Long After ‘Seinfeld’

"Seinfeld," the "show about nothing," gave us many memorable scenes that continue as cultural icons long after the show itself has become dated an unwatchable. One that apparently keeps growing is the mock holiday celebration called "Festivus." Long before company celebrators bench-pressed fax machines, partygoers performed competitive face-plants into ice water, or family members gathered around an aluminum pole ...

Colbert on Colbert

Veteran journalist Jim Warren recounts this weekend's 50th anniversary celebration at Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe.  He dutifully claims that "the obvious highlights were Friday and Saturday shows with Martin Short, Steve Carell, Bonnie Hunt, Jim Belushi, George Wendt, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, Shelly Berman, Rachel Dratch, Robert Klein, Jack McBrayer and tons more."  He ...

Just a Day Job

Scott Adams on the brutal reality of "day jobs" for aspiring artists. Of course, has a Berkeley MBA and was working at Pacific Bell when he first started publishing his Dilbert strip, so it's likely the Dilbert and Wally characters are expressing views other than his own.  But there does come a point when your "day job" is what you do ...

Nancy Reagan and Mr. T Christmas Photo

Teresa Kopec says, "This may be the greatest Christmas photo ever." I don't know about that, but it's pretty amusing. Also amusing is that Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud) seems to have enjoyed something of a career revival, reprising the persona he made famous in the early 1980s in a series of commercials (most notably for the "World of Warcraft" video ...

Obama the Superhero

Taegan Goddard wonders whether it's "time for Obama to get angry" with recalcitrant bankers and Senate opponents alike.  He cites Mark Murray's observation that "If there is one thing that both yesterday’s meeting with the bankers and today's meeting with Senate Democrats have in common, it's that they’re situations where some might argue that it's time for the cool, calm, ...

Quote of the Day – Star Wars Edition

"I always admired George. You know, George is a guy that does what he loves. And I do what I love. The difference is what George loves makes hundreds of billions of dollars." - David Lynch on turning down George Lucas' offer to direct "Return of the Jedi." via Jason Kottke

Tiger Woods Affairs Highlight Racial Attitudes

Perusing Yahoo! News last night, I came across a rather amusing AP story titled "Tiger's troubles widen his distance from blacks." Amid all the headlines generated by Tiger Woods' troubles — the puzzling car accident, the suggestions of marital turmoil and multiple mistresses — little attention has been given to the race of the women linked with the world's greatest golfer. ...

Comcast Buys NBC to Get USA, Bravo and SyFy

I'm dubious of the Comcast-NBC merger, which NYT describes as a "Deal that Reshapes TV." Almost immediately, the transaction reshapes the nation’s entertainment industry, giving a cable provider a huge portfolio of new content, even as it raises the sector’s anxieties about the future. In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said the deal ...

Leave Tiger Woods Alone

Responding to reports that the Florida Highway Patrol is seeking a warrant to seize medical records to investigate Tiger Woods' car crash to determine whether  "determine if the wounds Woods sustained are consistent with a car accident or domestic violence", Tom Maguire snarks, "what kind of a world are we living in if the world's most famous athlete can't quash ...

Thought of the Day

Jonathan Last calls this NYT obit for Dennis Cole "the saddest thing you'll read today." To think that you can be one minute marrying one of Charlie's Angels and then a few years later dying alone in Ft. Lauderdale while doing cruise ship acts. People have taken faster, deeper dives, of course.  But, yes, not the life he'd have imagined in 1978. Naturally,  ...

100 Best Quotes from The Wire

Someone with a lot of time on his hands has compiled a 10 minute video purporting to be "A selection of the top 100 quotes from The Wire, the greatest TV show ever made." Not surprisingly, virtually all of them contain NSFW language, with the F- and N-words being especially well represented. via Jason Kottke

DVR Saving TV

Television executives have figured out that people watching their shows via TiVo-delay is a good thing. Against almost every expectation, nearly half of all people watching delayed shows are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer. According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching ...

Mathematics of Layla

Bernard Chazelle explains "the technical part" of Eric Clapton's classic "Layla." Played here with an assist from Mark Knopfler, for those in need of a reminder. The intro and chorus follow the progression of "All Along the Watchtower" (i-VII-VI-VII-i, ie here, Dm-C-Bb-C-Dm): one of the most common chord sequences in rock (0:27-1:10). The song is in Dm, but the verse ...