It’s a man-off. A man-off.

From left to right: Don Draper of Mad Men, Tony Soprano of The Sopranos, Tommy Gavin of Resuce Me and Jimmy McNulty of The Wire

Back in college the magazine I worked for did a tournament to determine who the manliest man in history was. Contestants included Bruce Lee, Genghis Khan, Mickey Spillane and George Patton. What made a man “manlier” than other is how he fared in three categories: drinking, whoring and fighting. I have decided to extend this format to four of the preeminent male characters on television today: Don Draper from Mad Men, Tony Soprano from the Sopranos, Jimmy McNulty from The Wire and Tommy Gavin from Rescue Me. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a man-off.

Philosophy for the Shallow: Plato’s Cave, baseball and subjective reality

Once upon a time there was a Greek philosopher who took a bunch of mushrooms and wandered into a cave. He must have started a fire, and in the midst of making shadow puppets on the wall and mumbling to himself he was hit by an hallucinatory bolt of lightning. He realized that he controlled everything that he could see projected on the wall. His mind then jumped to a conclusion that could only be made possible by the presence of hallucinogens—what if everything we see is someone else’s shadow puppets.

When Plato came down, he formulated his Allegory of the Cave. He “philosophized” that most humans are unenlightened because they are content to simply name the shapes and shadows that others are projecting into their reality. However, the enlightened human will eventually turn around, see the “projectionist” behind them and walk outside.

A film studies graduate student ruins Spider-Man

My spidey sense is tingling

In the summer of 2002 Sony Pictures released the highly anticipated adaptation of the popular comic book series Spider-Man.  The film, staring Tobey Maguire and directed by Evil Dead alum Sam Raimi, would go on to smash box office records and usher in a new era of superhero driven cinema.   While many passed off the movie as “popcorn fare”  others saw it as something more.

While the film does brush up against such intriguing topics as the military-industrial complex post 9/11 and the effects a non-traditional family has on adolescence, the most gripping storyline involves young Peter Parker.

Sports that should be in the Olympics

Lest we forget...

With the Olympics drawing to a close and the accomplishments of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt quickly fading behind the ramp up to the Presidential election season, it has become apparent that Olympic achievements do not have the staying power that they once did. Remember when Karrie Strug won the gold medal with a broken leg and throughout the next three months she would randomly show up on shows like Melrose Place where the actors would point at her and say, “is that Karrie Strug?” because the writers couldn’t come up with an adequate Strug-centric plot. No, you probably don’t. Mary Lou Retton won the gold medal in gymnastics and she was in Scrooged. Does that ring any bells? No?

Anyway, my point is that the Olympics have lost some of their glamour in a media culture constantly searching for its next story. Plus, who has really watched the Olympics since Phelps won his eighth medal. The second week lineup of events has read like the red headed stepchild of competition: power walking, diving and synchronized swimming, just to name a few. I think the Olympics should add a couple of sports to drum up interest in the second week.

Sammuel Jackson does Shakespeare

Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell.

The inspiration for this comes from two sources: First, this scene from Pulp Fiction, and second this sketch from season two of the Chappelle Show. With that in mind I have reinterpreted Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech for Mr. Jackson. As a fair warning, I don’t really know who is reading this still so both the links and the speech after the jump contain copious amounts of swearing and violence. Not really for the faint of heart.