NOTES ON SFU FINALE Analogous to SEINFELD's closer, where creator Larry David reached for sentimental self-hatred and found barely pity. (CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM often pulls this off.) Alan Ball's feast of death became a weeper, true sign of a writer who's fallen too much in love with his characters … [Read more...]

Even for a family hotel, $13.95 is an obscene amount to pay for MR AND MRS SMITH, but it has its money shots, especially Jolie's wicked smirk. As producer I would have trimmed it down about twenty minutes, but hey. The meta story makes it all but irresistible: that Vaughn and Aniston hooked up after … [Read more...]

In honor of Oprah, I've been listening to Mark Hammer read GO DOWN, MOSES aloud in the car during commutes, a rendition of the novel that catches every nuance, every tingle, every shiver of recognition, especially in the freighted silences that explode inside the dialogue like landmines. Check WF's … [Read more...]

[SNARKY POST-MODERNIST REJOINDER] [Witty, irreverent yet immodest declamation of how busy blogger has been working on innumerable book projects and accepting awards, barely time to think nevermind blog, but here they are, cranking it out...] [EXASPERATED threat to quit blogging … [Read more...]

This date (August 9) carries a special meaning for us geezers who remember George Bush Sr., then heading up the RNC, as one of Tricky Dick's more ornate apologists. We like to read old copies of STONE, turn up some Bad Company and hit the Nixon Monument (#15 of 16, description only, of B. Kliban's … [Read more...]

FILE UNDER: STAR TREK, THE ASHTRAY Michelle Phillips bookmarks, in the press kit to her VICTIM OF ROMANCE AND RARITIES (Hip-O Select). SELECT PODCASTS: I'm disappointed in the iTunes podcast feature, especially the auto update to iPod which takes forever. I do it manually and it's far more … [Read more...]

WHERE I DRAW THE LINE AT TIMMY WONKA'S TASTELESSNESS SIX FEET UNDER: #60 Ecotone Well it was a doozy, and the more it seems like a soap and the more I get ready to dismiss it, the more I find it's turned some cliché into something original and weird. I didn't think they would off Nate, and I'm … [Read more...]

The liberal hand-wringing over Justice O'Connor has been pathetic: her two most important decisions? Bush vs. Gore, followed swiftly by her stepping down, giving Bush a big wet sloppy one. Rumor has it her husband is ill; nobody bothered to track this down, or figure out her true motive, which makes … [Read more...]

LIST UPDATE 2005 SO FAR … [Read more...]

SM: I am scared that Nate is going to hook up with George's daughter on 6FU. Or maybe they are leading me to think that and something worse will happen. Or nothing at all. I love that it's getting unpredicable now. One of my friends is convinced that Billy will kill someone. Maybe Billy and George … [Read more...]

"The last temptation is the greatest treason, To do the right deed for the wrong reason." Palast quotes Eliot to illustrate the uselessness of Miller considering Rove a "source" (from Common Dreams.org). STOOGE STANDS UP IN LEAKY BOAT "Did I talk to him? Rove's hands move my mouth, why would I … [Read more...]

Jimmy and I walked out of the studio agreeing that "Reason to Believe" was more misinterpreted than even"Born in the U.S.A." CALLING ROBERT ALTMAN 500 nude sunbathers (BoingBoing) KARL ROVE ON THE ROPES Nail. The. Bastard. (Yeah right.) IF THIS GUY WERE A LIBERAL HE'D BE HANGED Novak … [Read more...]

Terror. Once again, reality outdoes fiction. More later. For now: Tim Riley will appear on a Springsteen panel for NPR's "On Point" on Friday evening, July 7, at 8pm. Check this list to see if your local station carries this show, or listen live: http://www.onpointradio.org/stations/ … [Read more...]

Don't know what the story is with O'Connor stepping down, but nobody's got it yet. If she really took ROVE and RHENQUIST by surprise, she's even cannier and more venal than her vote for W. suggested. After all, this move is the ULTIMATE swing vote, right? unused radio script for PINK FLOYD (aired … [Read more...]

Time magazine chokes, Iranian President-elect possible hostage-taker, and Brooke Shields goes all FEMINIST on Tom Cruise. Kelly Macdonald saves humanity, a concept the nimble Nighy somehow manages to keep aloft for an hour and forty minutes. In the real world, let's hope Pink Floyd takes the stage … [Read more...]