Heavy on direct and light on metaphors means two years in state prison for a man who recorded a rap song in which he threatened to kill two police officers. ...more

July 30, 2009

They walk! They talk! They refuse to open the pod bay doors! Here's our list of movie machine icons, rated using our own robotic icon, Crank. ...more

December 12, 2008

John Tischner of Dunedin has praise for high school op-ed page columnist Sierra Mision. ...more

November 22, 2008

You think you know a guy, and then he goes and puts out an album like "Amplified." Q-Tip's 1999 solo debut, released on the heels of A Tribe Called Quest's breakup, had the MC ready to dumb things down to marketplace levels. It wasn't as bad as that, not all of it, anyway, but "Amplified" lacked the wit, the versatility and the good vibes of the Tribe. ...more

November 13, 2008

It's not that the crime thriller "Righteous Kill" is spectacularly awful. It's just thoroughly mediocre - a standard police procedural, a long episode of "Law & Order," unremarkable but for the pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. ...more

September 14, 2008

Am I the only one who doesn't get Jim Gries' problem with Social Security? He doesn't seem to like the Trust Fund system, but his speeding car and duck waddle metaphors make his point a little hard to follow. ...more

August 26, 2008

APPETITE FOR SEDUCTION Tripped across this list of chef pickup lines at Eggbeater, a food blog by Shuna Fish Lydon at eggbeater.typepad.com that I enjoy and read regularly. I liked the list because there are lots of in-jokes that only chefs can appreciate, such as the references to burned forearms, the lack of free time away from work and, of course, specific cooking techniques and seasonings. Great metaphors, all. ...more

July 30, 2008

About six months ago, I was having lunch with a political consultant and we were having a smart-alecky conversation about the presidential race. All of sudden, my friend interrupted the flow of gossip and said: "You know, there's really only one great man running for president this year, and that's McCain." ...more

November 15, 2007