By Sharon McGovern

This is not a review, though I submit The Dark Knight kicks a** so very hard. Instead, this will be a brief look at themes employed in TDK; a sequel to Batman is a NeoCon. If you haven’t already contributed to the movie’s astonishing opening weekend take, you might want to decide right now if you want to read something that gives away a number of its plot points.

The Dark Knight begins with “the bat man” having become a fixture in Gotham. He inspires resentment for the toll his fight against evildoers is taking on the city and for his high-handed approach to law enforcement....

By Burt Prelutsky

Although I very much regret that I never had the chance to meet Jesse Helms, we did have what you might call a peripheral connection. The first took place nearly 20 years ago, when I was serving the second of my two terms on the Board of the Writers Guild of America.

Because the Board had the authority to mete out any sum less than $5,000 without putting it to a vote of the membership, groups and individuals were constantly showing up at our meetings and requesting...

That's right—Evan Sayet is back with another great show, this time at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles (a great venue). If you're anywhere near, you should go and laugh your tail off! Enter for details...

By Sharon McGovern

In conservative circles there is a tradition of wailing and gnashing teeth over American movie culture. It’s well deserved. There is much about the industry that is despicable, movies are dauntingly complex to make, and most of what passes as film criticism—which might serve as a corrective or guide—is degraded and lame. It’s a near miracle that decent movies are made at all, let alone any that would please the notoriously fussy and uptight Right.

The folly of the war in Iraq has been a defining theorem in Hollywood for the past few years, and the...

Fast-rising comedian and political pundit Evan Sayet has taken his Right to Laugh shows to some pretty impressive spots since he started them a few years ago. The Ha-Ha Cafe ...The Friar's of Beverly Hills ... and now The Laugh Factory. That's right, Sunset Boulevard, the heart of the Hollywood comedy scene. Big time, baby.

Click here for an interview with Evan, discussing the upcoming gig. Click here for more details on the show.

Evan will also be appearing on Fox News' Red-Eye tonight, July 17 (or tomorrow morning as the new midnight slot dictates), and radio's McIntyre in the Morning on Friday, July 18. Please check local listings.

Everyone with two brain cells to rub together has noticed it: the hosts of late night shows are tagging McCain with the age thing over and over and over and over, but they're basically leaving Obama alone.

(Okay, I'm not in the group who's noticed, not because of a dearth of brain cells, but rather because you won't catch me in the same room as a TV showing Letterman or O'Brien or whoever. My wife, however, has kept me apprised.)

Now, apparently, we have our answer as to why they're leaving Obama alone: they can't think of anything...

Everyone knows that Hollywood is exceedingly biased. Exposing that is nothing groundbreaking. However, in Spielberg, tear down this wall, Andrew Breitbart does it well. Some of his very well taken points...

By Bean-girl

Have you ever had an encounter with a thief breaking into your home? If not how many times have you read about their sudden attacks in newspapers and TV? Scary, right? Don’t want it to happen to you. Well, got some bad news for yah all... it already has.

Yes, I realized something long ago, most thieves in the night are your local newspapers and news shows, your high end fashion magazines, almost all of Hollywood movies and TV shows.

Oh, yes, you heard me right; they come into your life as innocent as a Vogue magazine, or a TV show...

by Eric "Not Quite Forever in Ripped, Pegged or Faded Blue Jeans" Porvaznik

Not too long ago in this little corner of the cyber-world, I waxed nostalgic about 1984, still my favorite year for music. So many great albums so far this year, I thought, more so than usual. It could happen, right?

Who would have thought that in the last few weeks since that column just how strongly the 80s would factor even further into -- and if I may unabashedly borrow from Hall & Oates -- making my dreams come true?

But wait, there's more ...

For all Southern California patriots, filmmaker Jack Marino will be making appearances this coming weekend in support of FORGOTTEN HEROES, his love letter to the veterans of the Vietnam War (not to mention all our troops past and present, and the good ol' US of A).

Joining Jack will be the film's star, William Smith, and for more information, please click here ...

by The Stranger

On 6/1/08, in the Sunday Times was a book review of a new bio:

POSTHUMOUS KEATS, the life and work of poet John Keats who died at the age of 25, far from home, poor, in Rome. Family members were either dead, or estranged from him. The woman he loved was convinced they had no future together. He had no reputation, or success. What must it be like to die at that age, in those circumstances? The review mentions that today Keats “ranks with Shakespeare now, in talent if not in...