This week, Microsoft announced the official release of their latest internet travesty: Internet Explorer 8. Honestly, I’m impressed. I would have never guessed that in 2009, Microsoft would still be attempting to improve one of the worst, most bug-riddled, ass-backwards and incomprehensible web browsers in the history of the Internet.

For the millions of dollars and man-hours they no doubt threw into this idiotic project, couldn’t they have just bought out another company and raped an already working product into the babbling, disjointed mess we’ve come to expect from Bill and his boys? It probably would have at least improved profit margins. But I suppose this is what they call “Perseverance.” I bet Bill’s got one of those inspirational posters hanging up right beside his desk.  (more…)

I know that soccer will never become what sports like football and baseball already are here in the United States. If not for the huge demographic of American sports fans that think it’s a “fruity commie game,” it could still never fully succeed here because there just isn’t any down-time built into the games for advertisers to pump full of commercials. The capital-driven mindset that powers our media (and therefore, our country) just can’t get the math to work out in their favor, so soccer gets relegated to obscure premium cable channels, and a few games a month on ESPN2.

So for a soccer fan like me, it’s always a treat to see something go right. For many years, the MLS has been little more than a hilarious sports in-joke. The first team in the league to actually make a profit was the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2003–a full seven years after the league started. To date, the league itself has lost over $350 million. Not exactly on its way to pushing the NFL off CBS in the fall. (more…)

Now that movie studios have seen success in The Dark Knight, 300, Sin City and most recently, Alan Moore’s Watchmen, they will almost certainly be clamoring at the door for even more graphic novels to adapt into feature films.

Just like X-Men was followed by utter sh!tstorms like Elektra and Daredevil–even Tim Burton’s brilliant take on the Batman franchise begot Joel Schumacher’s double-trouble nipple-fest, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin–studios will see the revenues collected in the last few years by graphic novel-inspired flicks and rush them to production to collect on the trend.

The first books to go down in flames will be those with established followings and awards under their belts, because they’re the best bet at turning a profit. So before Fox Searchlight goes stamping their name on some self-indulgent reels of celluloid at the expense of timeless art, there are a few names in the comic biz you should know, before everything they’ve touched their pen to becomes a merchandising exercise. (more…)