The following is a new book review by Richard C. Crepeau, posted at PopPolitics magazine. Those who heard the voice of the late Jim Corder, professor of English at Texas Christian University, will hear it again in these five essays and one poem contained within “The Heroes Have Gone: Personal Essays on Sport, Popular Culture and [...]

So you think sipping that mint julep today — Southern bourbon, sugar, mint and crushed ice — connects you to tradition? Jeff Burkhart, a bartender and writer, notes that the recipe for the first mint julep was quite different: Professor Jerry Thomas, the original celebrity bartender, took on the subject in his 1862 bartending treatise “The Bon [...]

What Tom Shales said. More from AJR, CJR, Greg Mitchell and Will Bunch, who concludes: Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter: This. Must. Stop. Tonight, if possible. I thought that we had hit rock bottom in March 2003, when we failed to ask the tough [...]

We’ve just moved eight years of articles and blog entries over to shiny WordPress. There are a few kinks that we’ll be fixing over the next few days — including adding an updated blogroll and other resources — but feel free to drop me a note if you can’t find what you’re looking for or [...]

It’s not every day that a small, important book ends up in the hands of a big, well-known star, sunning, in a bikini, in Malibu. This week the stars aligned, as Pamela Anderson was spotted reading “Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity,” a book Kirkus called “a work of honesty and, yes, integrity.” Close-up: Let [...]

The following is a new film review by Laura Fokkena posted at PopPolitics Magazine. Chicago-based filmmaker Usama Alshaibi in a scene from the documentary “Nice Bombs.” In January of 2004, just as dawn was breaking, Chicago-based filmmaker Usama Alshaibi bribed the guards on Iraq’s Jordanian border and drove back into the country he hadn’t seen in 24 [...]

There will be many sweet remembrances of “The Wire” in the coming days — and a few interviews with David Simon posted shortly [update: see below] — but for now here’s an excerpt from the first review I read, by Alessandra Stanley. And what a good one it is: “The Wire” ended at just the right [...]

What better way to recognize Thanksgiving than with a history of one of this country’s most honored traditions: tuning out friends and family to focus on what really matters — touchdowns and big hits. “The history of both Thanksgiving and football goes back to the Middle Ages, so it may not be so strange that the [...]

We are very excited to welcome Jesse Miksic as a new contributing writer to PopPolitics. When he is not writing fiction or criticism, taking photographs or making his living as a graphic designer, Jesse is pursuing his MA in media studies at the New School. Check out his occasional political rants at BlogCritics.org or peruse his [...]

Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) in “Damages” TV is quickly becoming the place to find “multidimensional female protagonists.” “The list of gutsy women with more than a few flaws is long — “Saving Grace” (TNT), “Bionic Woman” (NBC), “Painkiller Jane” (Sci-Fi), “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” (Fox), and “In Plain Sight” (USA), to name [...]