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You’re in for a treat this summer: Star Trek is poised to be a popular success on the level of Iron Man.  It’s exciting, funny, and entertaining in ways that are accessible both to die-hard Trekkies and average movie lovers… except for the parts where it sucks.

I had a chance to see Trek at an advance screening last week, and yes, I liked it a lot.  But the critics have already started over-praising it Dark Knight-style, and I know everybody else is going to join in soon too.  So allow me, just for a moment, to counterbalance the raves with some sanity and present to you the reasons Star Trek might not be the best thing ever.  (Be warned that there are spoilers in this article.) (more…)

Network TV has been dying for years, but in the 2008-2009 which ends this coming month, it finally croaked.  If some of you don’t care, well, no crap.  Did you check out Better Off Ted the other night?  Yeah, me either.

It didn’t used to be like this — networks rolling out dozens of new shows each year only to cancel them four episodes into their runs.  In 1953 — yep, I’m going way back — an episode of I Love Lucy aired that played on 71% of all television sets in the United States.  Just yesterday I heard that ABC is considering renewing Scrubs for a ninth season.  The percentage of television sets tuning into Scrubs in its eighth season?  3.5. (more…)

It’s that time of the year again, if you live in San Diego. On Sunday night the annual San Diego Comic-Con wrapped up and so did the announcements about where pop culture is going in the coming year. Since we were not able to attend this year, here is a run down of significant announcements from the show.

•    For Batman fans, The Dark Knight was only the beginning. Clerks and Mallrats director Kevin Smith announced that he’s penning a three-issue Batman comic book called “Cacophony” in November. Then in January 2009, Sandman and New York Times Best Selling Author, Neil Gaiman will reunite with his Marvel 1602 partner Andy Kubert for a story called “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”

•    Smallville is about to get some new cast members this fall when DC’s Legion of Superheroes joins Clark Kent for an episode.

•    Marvel’s Black Panther will be getting his own animated series on BET. (more…)

Of all of the television shows out there, why is that Lost happens to be the most aptly named in the bunch? The perpetually perplexing show never creates plot tension to make a point, exactly…Rather, it creates plot tension just to screw with you. And, like all of the other episodes of Lost this season, the finale last night…well…screwed with me.

To broadly sum up the season, it went a little something like this: (more…)

I’m no Trekkie by any means, but this new Star Trek trailer looks pretty rad:

The most boring class I took in college was Statistics I.

It was boring and hard, which meant that no matter what I tried, I constantly fell asleep next to my computer and woke up completely lost.

If only I could have taken one of these classes compiled by Mental Floss Magazine, I’m sure my GPA would have looked much better. Instead of dozing off to the lulling sound of a professor droning on about ratios, I could have been studying muppets and watching Sesame Street.

All of these, at one time, actually existed.

The Horror Film in Context – Bowdoin – Watch people get their heads smashed in and then talk about why society likes to watch people get their heads smashed in.

Simpsons and Philosophy – Cal-Berkeley – How much does this popular show reflect society? Apparently enough to warrant a semester’s worth of lectures.

Maple Syrup: The Real Thing – Alfred – Haven’t you always wanted to know the entire history of syrup? (more…)