Monthly Archives: January 2012

Ranking the New 52: The Bottom Five

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Thomas Mets

For the ranking of the new 52 books, I’m going to start with the worst. If I wasn’t making a point of reading all 260 issues, I probably wouldn’t have read all of this, which means this has given me … Continue reading →

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The New 52 VS Ultimate Marvel

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Thomas Mets

It’s a rare opportunity to see an entire comic book universe relaunched from scratch. It’s really impressive, essentially as a ground floor project. In five months, there’s more content than five years of the Ultimate Universe, which was the result of … Continue reading →

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The 2012 Republican Primary Candidates in Perspective

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Thomas Mets

Paul Begala, the Democratic political commentator and campaign manager, summed up the consensus of the candidates in the 2012 Republican primary, suggesting that Obama is already one of the winners of the 2012 campaign. Barack Obama: If his predecessor cursed … Continue reading →

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On “Average”

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Thomas Mets

Something I’ve noticed in many disagreements is the tendency to argue from opposing frames of reference while remaining ignorant of that gap in understanding. It’s sometimes funny to look at these discussions from the outside, realizing that a simple explanation … Continue reading →

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Explaining Romney VS Gingrich to Democrats

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Thomas Mets

I think Romney’s the strongest Republican candidate remaining, but I can understand the opposition to him, although it seems to perplex Democrats. It reflects a difference in the way some people narrow down their choices of candidates. Usually, I’ll narrow the … Continue reading →

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Oscar Nomination Predictions

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Thomas Mets

This seems to be my last chance to make some predictions for what’s going to get Academy Award nominations. I’ll just use mgk’s template. I’m posting this at the last possible minute, so most people who read it are going to … Continue reading →

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Newt Gingrich VS Henry Kissinger

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Thomas Mets

I had a discussion with my brother a few weeks ago, on the question of whether Newt Gingrich was “pop-culturally irrelevant.” I argued that, as far as younger voters are concerned, he can be compared to Henry Kissinger. Both are … Continue reading →

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Where Republicans and Feminist Academics Agree

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Thomas Mets

American conservatives tend to have a conflicted response to authority, and that shows in the reaction to the New York Times‘s Truth Vigilante column. Conservatives seem to have a postmodern position, similar to what is associated with several strands of (mostly liberal) academia. … Continue reading →

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Marvel VS DC Part 3: Criminals and Terrorists VS Supervillains

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Thomas Mets

When “civilians” imagine how typical comic book villains act, they’ll generally think of DC bad guys. These are all the Batman enemies with built-in weaknesses (Riddler’s desire to leave clues, Two-Face’s reliance on his coins), the mad scientists who Superman … Continue reading →

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Pop Culture Futurist Part 2: Product Placement

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Thomas Mets

For the last two years, the TV show Chuck has had a deal with Subway, featuring an absurd amount of product placement. And I think we’re going to see a whole lot more of that it in film, television and … Continue reading →

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