Thursday, June 30, 2016

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

“The Great Space Racism” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

From Star Trek’s Khan to Buck Rogers’ Kane to the Simpsons’ Kang, a lineage of racism has given us some fine science fiction, as I explain in today’s column.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

“Spock Is Evil: He Killed Two Star Trek Worlds” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

There is only one way to make sense of what J.J. Abrams did to the original Star Trek timeline and what he did to the “Kelvin timeline” from the current films: As I explain in today’s column, it really was all part of Spock’s evil plan.

Monday, June 27, 2016

“Independence Day: Revisions” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

The pattern I’ve noted of Roland Emmerich’s film projects warning us that space aliens may be tied to climate change continues, even in a little bit of the spectacular-yet-slightly-bland Independence Day: Resurgence, as I write in today’s column.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

“Network of Empaths” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

We would do well to stop denying the fact that the sociopaths and jerks tend to get on top in politics, media, business, and social life -- but in the long run, empaths may have a built-in advantage, I write.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

“Doomed Gatekeepers” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

For all its flaws, the twenty-first century is clearly an era in which no small handful of celebrities, politicians, or moguls can hope to maintain its monopoly on power for long, thank goodness, as I write in today’s column, optimistic even as new details on Michael Jackson’s crimes and politicians’ lies come to light.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Thursday, June 16, 2016

“Goofballs and Their Media” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

People will say dumb things, whether it’s Gersh Kuntzman fearing the experience of firing an AR-15 or NPR being baffled about why Venezuela’s economy is dying, but in today’s column I say I still prefer stupid squabbling to the impulse to censor.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

“Bernie Sanders Would Sell Well” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

In today’s column, I note that Bernie Sanders would fare better in the diverse world of the marketplace, given all the supporters he has, than he will in the winner-take-all nasty world of democratic politics that he irrationally promotes.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Monday, June 13, 2016

Saturday, June 11, 2016

DC Comics’ New 52 and Rebirth: A Corporate Theory

For what it's worth, one disturbingly simple way to explain half the strange DC Comics Universe events of the past five years might be to assume that harried comics writer Geoff Johns was told by a studio exec, "We want to have a Wonder Woman reveal in the movie, prefigured in the comics, about one of her relatives being evil. Just make it so that her father is an evil god or the evil New God or one of the evil New Gods or that she has an evil sister or an evil duplicate from Themyscira or an evil duplicate from another universe or an evil daughter from another universe or an evil brother or her duplicate from the other universe has an evil son or her duplicate from Themyscira has an evil son or the son is the evil New God or the son is Luthor's child or is a duplicate of Luthor."

To which Johns said, "Uhhh."

And the executive said, "You have to do all that."

And they did. They actually, literally did. All of it. All the rest may be mere side effects.


And then Johns went insane, like Chinese scholars asked to adhere to contradictory edicts during the Cultural Revolution. And later, when there was a tiny shift in the corporate power structure, he decided to kill several characters and depict two of director Zack Snyder's favorite characters as cruel gods toying with the cosmos.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

“Utopia 500 vs. Dada 100” by Todd Seavey on SpliceToday

With the Armory a few blocks from me filled with films of people defecating and vomiting in the name of art right now, it is an apt time to mark the 500th anniversary of the novel Utopia and the 100th anniversary of the Dadaist art movement, as I do in today’s column.

Monday, June 6, 2016