The critically acclaimed Boardwalk Empire returned for its second season this week with ‘21,’ which informed viewers that all was not well in Atlantic City, and set the stage for what looks like...
Two men were murdered by the state last night in ‘legal executions’ in Texas and Georgia, respectively. Lawrence Russel Brewer was a white supremacist who committed a vile hate crime and was...
Cherie Priest's Ganymede (Tor, 2011), the latest entry in the Clockwork Century series, is a delicious cross-country steampunk adventure spanning from the bayous of Louisiana to an underground...
This network television season, it appears that the big players are in a race to the bottom to see how low you can go in an exploitation of current economic and political conditions. My hat is off to...
The Politics of Down Syndrome (Kieron Smith, Zer0, 2011) is an attempt at a primer on some of the social, ethical, and political issues that surround Down syndrome. With chapters on prenatal...
Inspector Lewis returns to PBS next week with a fourth season brought over from the United Kingdom’s ITV, a frequent PBS content partner, as fans of Downton Abbey may be aware. Lewis, adapted from...
Esi Edugyan’s Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail, 2011) is one of the more outstanding entries on this year’s Booker Prize longlist. A lyrical, complex, layered narrative of friendship, betrayal,...
Last month, Frontline in association with KQED and the Center for Investigative Reporting produced a half hour special, 'The Pot Republic,' probing into the state of marijuana in California. Their...
Netflix has just made Mad Men available on streaming, just in time for the announcement that shooting for the long-awaited season five is due to start next week. This, of course, led my editor to...
AMC’s Breaking Bad returned last week with a deliciously dark season opener after forcing viewers to wait 13 months after last season’s cliffhanger finale. As the finale had led viewers to...