BREAKING: Disney to Acquire Marvel for $4 Billion

BREAKING: Disney to Acquire Marvel for $4 Billion: "The Walt Disney Company has announced it will acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction worth 4 billion dollars."

Christian Nerds Unite! United Methodeviations

Christian Nerds Unite! United Methodeviations: "Until a few years ago, I hid a shameful secret. I read comic books. Oh, sure, when found out by others I would try to ennoble my guilty pleasure by calling them “graphic novels,” but the honest truth is I love immersing myself in the Marvel and DC universes whenever I can. The reason I am no longer secretive or ashamed is simple: I am not alone. I have been amazed to find out that a large number of clergy and laity leaders in our church are comic book nerds JUST LIKE ME! For many church leaders, Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine, Spawn, and Wonder Woman provide as much inspiration (if not more) than Wesley, Borg, Wright, and Warren. (Though some seem to think that Rick Warren wears tights, a cape, and can fly…)"

Classic Television Showbiz: All in the Family

Classic Television Showbiz: "Probably the single best sitcom episode of the nineteen seventies, written by Steve Allen Show regular (and Don Adams' writer) Bill 'Jose Jiminez' Dana. This is Classic Television Showbiz's 2000th Post!"

Defying Gravity Defies Sci-Fi Conventions | RD Blog: The Devil's Advocate | ReligionDispatches

Defying Gravity Defies Sci-Fi Conventions | RD Blog: The Devil's Advocate | ReligionDispatches: "A primetime sci-fi soap opera takes on issues of secular vs. spiritual—in space."

A Valiant last stand - Prince Valiant

A Valiant last stand | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/23/2009: "A dismal end is foretold for the knight of the Singing Sword - not by the hand of the evil Mordred, but with the fate of print newspapers."

Krugman - All the President’s Zombies - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - All the President’s Zombies - NYTimes.com: "Washington, it seems, is still ruled by Reaganism — by an ideology that says government intervention is always bad, and leaving the private sector to its own devices is always good.

Call me naive, but I actually hoped that the failure of Reaganism in practice would kill it. It turns out, however, to be a zombie doctrine: even though it should be dead, it keeps on coming.

Let’s talk for a moment about why the age of Reagan should be over."

American Brokenness: A Lament | Politics | ReligionDispatches

American Brokenness: A Lament | Politics | ReligionDispatches: "Something about America died this summer. We should grieve its end.

What exactly has passed away? From where progressives sit, that's easy. It's the illusion that the nation could transition easily from conservative governance to liberal."

Cover Ups | Chip Kidd - The Moment Blog - NYTimes.com

Cover Ups | Chip Kidd - The Moment Blog - NYTimes.com: "You’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but that advice sometimes goes out the window at a comic book store. With racks and racks of new issues, a great cover is sometimes the best way to hook a new reader. And when you want your book to pop out, who better to turn to than the esteemed graphic designer Chip Kidd?

Kidd, a longtime comics fan, has designed several logos and cover treatments for DC Comics, and he’s working on a Batman story that will be published next year. He’s also participating in a panel discussion called “Comics: From Every Angle” at the Bryant Park Reading Room today at 12:45. The Moment caught up with him to talk about his DC Comics work and other items of comic-book geekdom."

Episcopal Cafe on the Newsweek article

The Lead

Who Cares about the Episcopal Civil War? | Newsweek BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller | Newsweek.com

Who Cares about the Episcopal Civil War? | Newsweek BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller | Newsweek.com

Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kindle

Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kindle: "I really took to both the Kindle and the Sony Reader: the Sony Reader for its sleekness, touch screen, night light, and overall design, and the Kindle for the insane convenience of e-mailing manuscripts directly to the Kindle, where I can download them wirelessly and read them anywhere. E-reading has changed my life and I feel like it's the way of the future.

You know which e-reader I like the best?

Um. Would you believe the iPhone?"

The Amazing! Incredible! Uncanny Oral History of Marvel Comics | Maxim.com | Maxim.com

The Amazing! Incredible! Uncanny Oral History of Marvel Comics | Maxim.com | Maxim.com: "The company that brought you the likes of Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Hulk turns 70. Like every good superhero, Marvel comics has quite an origin story."

Marvel's iconic web-slinger to soar with the other stars once again in the 83rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! | Marvel.com News | Marvel.com

Marvel's iconic web-slinger to soar with the other stars once again in the 83rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! | Marvel.com News | Marvel.com: "Marvel's iconic web-slinger to soar with the other stars once again in the 83rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!"

Reader's Digest To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Reader's Digest To File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection: "The publisher of Reader's Digest, the country's most popular general interest magazine, said Monday it will seek Chapter 11 protection from creditors amid declining circulation, an industrywide advertising slump and large debts."

Britain publishes more UFO files, but few answers - Yahoo! News

Britain publishes more UFO files, but few answers - Yahoo! News: "The National Archives on Monday released the government's complete file on the 'Rendlesham Forest Incident' of December 1980, one of Britain's most famous UFO sightings.

It was among more than 4,000 pages posted online Monday documenting 800 alleged encounters during the 1980s and 1990s. Over the past three years the Ministry of Defense has been gradually releasing previously secret UFO papers after facing Freedom of Information demands."

'SPIDER-MAN' BROADWAY SHOW PRODUCTION PUT ON HIATUS AFTER MONEY RUNS OUT - New York Post

'SPIDER-MAN' BROADWAY SHOW PRODUCTION PUT ON HIATUS AFTER MONEY RUNS OUT - New York Post: "SPIDER-MAN has vanquished Green Goblin, Electro, Doc Ock and Lizard.

But when it comes to the greatest supervillain of them all -- The Riedeler -- Spidey has met his match.

The $45 million 'Spider-Man,' directed by Julie Taymor and written by Bono and The Edge, is caught in my net, and I can report today that escape is virtually impossible."

Brian McClaren: WWJD | The Beatitudes Society

Brian McClaren: WWJD | The Beatitudes Society: "An Open Letter to Conservative Christians in the U.S., On Health Care"

Krugman - Republican Death Trip - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Republican Death Trip - NYTimes.com: "President Obama is now facing the same kind of opposition that President Bill Clinton had to deal with: an enraged right that denies the legitimacy of his presidency, that eagerly seizes on every wild rumor manufactured by the right-wing media complex.

This opposition cannot be appeased. Some pundits claim that Mr. Obama has polarized the country by following too liberal an agenda. But the truth is that the attacks on the president have no relationship to anything he is actually doing or proposing."

The lost art of reading -- latimes.com

The lost art of reading -- latimes.com: "The relentless cacophony that is life in the 21st century can make settling in with a book difficult even for lifelong readers and those who are paid to do it."

Budd Schulburg preached a powerful sermon 'On the Waterfront'

Episcopal Life Online - OPINION: "Old movie buffs had reason to mourn Budd Shulberg this past week. He wrote the screenplay for the 1954 Academy Award Best Picture, On the Waterfront. Besides being a movie about mob corruption on the docks of New Jersey, On the Waterfront preached a powerful sermon --especially pertinent to an Episcopal Church determined to focus on mission -- on how we are to live; not hidden in the church, but alive as the church in the world."

WOW: Google to Launch a New Version of Google Search

WOW: Google to Launch a New Version of Google Search: "Google (Google) has a giant target on its back. Microsoft has been on a spending and deal-making spree to grow Bing (Bing), recently signing a huge search deal with Yahoo. And with Bing starting to steal some market share from Google, it’s proving to be a formidable opponent. Oh, and now you can’t count out Facebook (Facebook) either, which just launched a new realtime search engine.

Google’s not taking any of this lying down. Secretly, they’ve been working on a new project: the next generation of Google Search. This isn’t just some minor upgrade, but an entire new infrastructure for the world’s largest search engine. In other words: it’s a new version of Google."

Krugman - Averting the Worst - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Averting the Worst - NYTimes.com: "So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government."

Steven Pearlstein: Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com

Steven Pearlstein - Steven Pearlstein: Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform - washingtonpost.com: "As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don't agree. Today, I'm going to step over that line.

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems."

Alexander McCall Smith - Keep Your Hands Off Our Haggis - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - Keep Your Hands Off Our Haggis - NYTimes.com: "The insult to the Scots this year is that haggis, the Scottish national dish, is not really Scottish, but English. Now this may seem a matter of little consequence to Americans, but how would the United States react if apple pie and turkey with cranberry sauce were to be claimed as the products of, say, French cuisine? Or if somebody asserted that baseball was invented by the Romanians (which it was)? These things are a matter of national pride, and people should take great care when talking about them."

Krugman - The Town Hall Mob - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - The Town Hall Mob - NYTimes.com: "the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the “birther” movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.

And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the economic interests of their backers."

Op-Ed Columnist - Barack’s Progress Report - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Barack’s Progress Report - NYTimes.com: "Barack Obama had his 48th birthday this week. Since we learned during last year’s campaign that he can be blamed for anything bad that’s happened in this country since he was a toddler, perhaps this is a good time to suggest that it’s his fault the Beatles didn’t perform at Woodstock."

Abroad - Tarzan Show Sets Parisians Aflutter at Mus�e du Quai Branly - NYTimes.com

Abroad - Tarzan Show Sets Parisians Aflutter at Mus�e du Quai Branly - NYTimes.com: "Edgar Rice Burroughs’s famous ape man is the subject of a summer show at the Mus�e du Quai Branly here that mixes old comics and film clips with children’s action figures, a stuffed crocodile and the female robot from “Metropolis.” (Don’t ask.)

This being a serious museum, there are a few genuine African totems and shields, which look as out of place in this context as Maureen O'Sullivan did, toting her banana-leaf pocketbook and wearing a pair of homemade pumps, while standing in the bush beside the loinclothed Johnny Weissmuller and two forlorn elephants in the film “Tarzan Finds a Son!”

The show has been wildly popular."

Seven Lies About Lying (Part 1) - Errol Morris Blog - NYTimes.com

Seven Lies About Lying (Part 1) - Errol Morris Blog - NYTimes.com:
Errol Morrris talks with Ricky Jay about deception and lying.

5 Nuggets of Knowledge About ... "Annie"

Gaylord Herald Times - Features - 5 Nuggets of Knowledge About ... "Annie": "Eighty-five years ago on Aug. 5, 1924, Harold Gray introduced newspapers around the nation to his comic strip creation, “Little Orphan Annie.” We all know how she started life in an orphanage and was eventually adopted by Daddy Warbucks. Throughout the years, however, Annie spent much time traveling and meeting unique characters."

On The Media: "Too Good to Check" (July 31, 2009)

On The Media: Transcript of "Too Good to Check" (July 31, 2009): "Did you know that Walter Cronkite is so identified with the news business that in Sweden an anchorman is called a 'Kronkiter'? And speaking of anchorman, did you know that word was coined in the 1950s to define Cronkite’s role on broadcast TV? Neither did we. Perhaps because none of it is true. Ben Zimmer, executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus, traced some of the myths surrounding the man who was once the most trusted in America."

Here Come the Racists - The Daily Beast

Here Come the Racists - The Daily Beast: "During the campaign, Barack Obama’s enemies seemed reluctant to smear him with ugly rhetoric. But as The Daily Beast’s Matthew Yglesias points out, the last week has seen it come out in full force."

TV Guide Magazine | News | A Sneak Peek at The Jay Leno Show

TV Guide Magazine | News | A Sneak Peek at The Jay Leno Show: "Promising that “it’s not going to be a prime-time version of The Tonight Show,” Jay Leno is revealing some of the emerging details of The Jay Leno Show which premieres Sept. 14 on NBC.

“It will have a lot more comedy pieces,” Leno says, in an exclusive interview with TVGuideMagazine.com. “We’ll be using a lot of young comedians that are not necessarily stand-ups—though some are—as correspondents, shooting and editing their own pieces and putting them in the show.'"

I have a bad feeling about this.

What If Michael Jackson Made ‘Spider-Man’? Stan Lee Explains How It Almost Happened!

What If Michael Jackson Made ‘Spider-Man’? Stan Lee Explains How It Almost Happened!: "Last month, Michael Jackson's death prompted a recollection of how close he and Stan Lee came to buying Marvel Comics. The piece received quite a bit of attention, so when I had the chance to talk with Lee during this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, I had to ask the legendary co-creator of the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk and countless other comic book superheroes about his professional and personal relationship with the King of Pop.

While Lee had kind words for the recently deceased pop culture icon, his mention of Jackson's interest in another of Lee's famous co-creations perked up my ears. In the grand tradition of Marvel Comics' famous series, Lee's response offered up a 'What If?' tale involving Jackson and Spider-Man tailor-made for an alternate Marvel universe."

Astronomers Work to Solve Mystery of an Asteroid, Meteor or Comet Collision with Jupiter - Popular Mechanics

Jupiter Impact - Astronomers Work to Solve Mystery of an Asteroid, Meteor or Comet Collision with Jupiter - Popular Mechanics: "Something invaded our solar system and whacked Jupiter, but professional astronomers were looking the other way at the time. Now, as the shock wave slowly subsides, astronomers are working around the clock to find out exactly what hit Jupiter–and why they didn't see it coming."

Far Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama | Religious Right | ReligionDispatches

Far Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama | Religious Right | ReligionDispatches: "From the media influence of the 'birthers' to suggestions that the president wants to euthanize the elderly, a propaganda campaign against Obama is in full swing. Who, exactly, is behind it?"

Episcopal Church Picks Gay Priests for Promotion - NYTimes.com

Episcopal Church Picks Gay Priests for Promotion - NYTimes.com: "Only weeks after the Episcopal Church ended a de facto moratorium on promoting gay men and lesbians into the church hierarchy, church leaders in Los Angeles nominated two openly gay priests as assistant bishops on Sunday. The move came a day after a church search committee in Minnesota announced that it had settled on three candidates, one of them a lesbian, for bishop."

The Media Equation - A Talk Magazine Party That Presaged the Decline - NYTimes.com

The Media Equation - A Talk Magazine Party That Presaged the Decline - NYTimes.com: "Magazines are on pace to book little more than half of the advertising pages that the industry did 10 years ago, and dozens of longtime titles have disappeared. The last big magazine introduction — Portfolio at Cond�Nast Publications — flamed out this spring after two years at a cost of more than $80 million. Now even Cond�Nast Publications, the world headquarters of printed luxury, has brought in the bean counters from McKinsey with an eye toward further cuts. There may never be another large magazine launch ever, and certainly not one that was accompanied by the fanfare of Talk."