We know you're probably smarter than a fifth grader and you're likely less obtuse than the denizens of The Jersey Shore. If you've watched your fair share of game shows and reality programs you've had the opportunity to measure your intellect against a wide range of the world's lower life forms. Now we've devised a potentially more humiliating exercise for you –– a quiz that will allow you to match wits, half or whole, with those beknighted bipeds who reject evolution –– just as evolution has so obviously rejected them. Trash the dictionary, skip Wikipedia, and tie your brain behind your neck, and see if you still can't outthink a Tea Party Patriot in the new Deadlines.
Headliners: OLYMPIA SNOW
Vast expanses of whiteness. And politeness. Glacial tedium. Rocky Mounties. Liberteh, egaliteh, mediocriteh. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver have come to epitomize everything the world treasures about Canada. The hapless hosts have good-naturedly played global hoser from the charmingly gimcrack opening ceremony with its stalled hydraulics to the dogged deference towards their obnoxious neighbors to the south in declining the shiniest medals. More Headliners
Kozmic Pictures: HOCUS POTUS
In honor of our two most terrifying National Holidays –– Halloween and Election Day –– comes the release of the second volume of putrefactive presidential classics in a Collector's Edition DVD set. Extend your quavering finger towards the gnarled lever in the coffin-shaped voting booth and elect to view these cadaverous candidates –– a ravenous bloodsucker who refused to be impeached, his mindless minion who would forgive any heinous crime, a disfigured madman with lust in his heart and a rictus grin on his evil face, and the shocking mesmeric horror we must all face. So cast your vile vote to reanimate these corrosive Commanders-in-Chief inKozmic Pictures Proudly Presents.
What Not: VENI, V-DAY, VICI
The Valentines Directorate (VD) has listed its top ten male lovers for the year dating from February 14, 2009. "It was a neck-and-necking competition this annum," commented VD chief Romeo L'Amour, "without a hicky's-breadth of separation between the top smoochers and the also-pecks.
"Unsurprisingly, the top vote getter was Tiger Woods, a "veritable martyr to passion", per L'Amour, "a man whose first name screams animal sex drive and whose surname suggests he's got the extremely stiff clubs in his bag to back it up." More What Not
STRIP MALL U.S.A.: HERO TOLERANCE
Read the first chapter in the brand new strip featuring the super exploits of America's premier heroes. They are our nation's fantastic forefathers and political powerhouses –– our Watchmen, X-Men, and Doom Patrol who, faster than a speeding ballot, leap tall bills in a single bond. In this introductory installment thrill to the hidden history of these potent POTUSes and their stalwart sidekicks who serve and protect the U.S.A.
Gertrude's Follies: COPY CATS AND DOGS
Read the latest chapter in the saga of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Pabs Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bucket the Poodle, and all the dizzy denizens of the Parisian demimonde inGertrude's Follies #40. In this chapter Gert asks Alice to have her manuscript Xeroxed while Bucket squats to conquer.
Igor Trips: TROOP MOVEMENTS
March on over to the third installment of the animated strip based on the singular visions of renowned cartoonist and illustrator, Igor Kopelnitsky. In this war-torn episode, we learn the fortune of soldiers gone missing in action. Pack an extra pair of socks in your backpack and cinch up your helmet to protect the old gray matter when you embark on sortie number three of Igor Trips.
Feggorama: GET CARTER
Remove the tongue depressor and have a healthy laugh at this therapeutic collection of gag cartoons. Visit the genuinely wild kingdom of Felipe Galindo, Mexico's master of the mirthful menagerie, as he folds whimsy into hilarity with just a hint of satire for a delightful confection of rip-snorting yuk-bombs that are as elegant as this introduction is tortured. Ecce Feggorama.
Petty Arcade: SECRETARY OF MISSTATE
Madame Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing a Scrabble-board's-worth of jumbled consonants and too few vowels as she embarks on her missions around the globe. Her predecessor, Condolleezza (talk about too many consonants) Rice, bequeathed her the Rebush playbook so that she might avoid the awkward stares that often greeted the Bushites as they ventured abroad. Wrap your lips around the first Hillarebus in the Petty Arcade.
CINEMA New This Week Alice in Wonderland — Alice in chintz. Brooklyn's Finest — Poor Brooklyn. Harlem Aria —Ham solo. Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss —Nazi Fagin. Iron Cross — I'm pissed, too. More Cinema Reviews
TELEVISION Funny or Die (HBO)— Die. For Love of Liberty (PBS)— Brothers in arms. How to Make It in America (HBO)— Makes it all over your rug. The Ricky Gervais Show (HBO)— I, toons. NFL Full Contact (TruTV)— Illegal use of hams. Superbowl XLIV (CBS)— Saints and sinkers. More TV Reviews
THEATRE
A Behanding in Spokane — Clap trap. The Miracle Worker — Deaf, dumb and bland. Time Stands Still — Like in a morgue. A View From the Bridge — Of Scarlett Johansson's abutment. Present Laughter — Past tense. A Little Night Music — Swede and lowdown. Race — Coarse. More Theatre Reviews
MUSIC
Contra / Vampire Weekend— Band. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix / Phoenix— Johan Sebastian Crock. Soldier of Love / Sade— Shoddy. Rebirth / Lil Wayne— Borin' again. Who I Am / Nick Jonas & The Administration— The Nixon Administration? More Music Reviews
LITERATURE Fiction
Kisser byStuart Woods — Pecker. The Swan Thieves byElizabeth Kostova — Swan flew. Noah's Compass byAnn Tyler — Arkward. I, Alex Cross byJames Patterson — I, Don Givadam. I, Sniper byStephen Hunter — It's sure shot. Deeper Than the Dead byTami Hoag — Intellectually. Non-Fiction
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime byJohn Heilemann & Mark Halperin — Poll dancers. I Am Ozzy byOzzy Osbourne — Oooze and Ozz. The Politician byAndrew Young — Candidate rape. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage byElizabeth Gilbert — Wed willies. Just Kids byPatti Smith — Punky booster. The Checklist Manifesto byAtul Gawande — To-doo-doo. More Literature Reviews
CINEMA
