CUPID AND PSYCHO: I’m sure someone could come up with a lot of really annoying psychoanalysis of me based on the particular points at which I shift from being incredibly attracted to Bernadette Peters’s witch to identifying intensely with her and back again. I’m just right–can’t they see?! Read more

I SHOULD BE DRINKING A TOAST TO ABSENT FRIENDS/INSTEAD OF THESE COMEDIANS. The inimitable Abhay Khosla on Scott Pilgrim. Read more

IN MY HEAD, I’M ON MY KNEES: I review Catholic and Feminist: The Surprising History of the American Catholic Feminist Movement in the latest First Things. Subscribers-only for now. Keep in mind that when I make a statement, I’m standing behind that statement; but when I suggest, or question, it’s because I think my questions are a better way to approach the complex truth than any partial or provincial comment I could make. Read more

The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself.—The Imitation of Christ Read more

ALIAS LOVE: I make myself ridiculous all over the prospect of more Bendis/Gaydos Jessica Jones complete awesomeness. Read more

SHAMED CULTURE: Shamed Dogan (rhymes with “Club Med”) is back online! Read more

THE STRINGS THAT CONTROL THE SYSTEM: More on Iron Honky. One: My basic thing about Tony Stark can be completely conveyed in the “No Handlebars” fanvid which is not the thing you get on YouTube if you search for “‘iron man’ ‘no handlebars'”–so email me, for real, if you want to see it. That video is better film criticism than I could do in a year of Sundays. Two: The race thing isn’t the only thing about Iron Man. Honestly,... Read more

I’ve got an infinite number of places to go, the problem is where to stay.–Johnny, Mike Leigh, “Naked” Read more

I CAN TIE A KNOT IN A CHERRY STEM: Comics review. So everyone who knows me knows I couldn’t resist the paperback copy of Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle. This is the early ’80s story arc in which our hero, Iron Man, gained an origin and an addiction. I loved it with a deeply stupid love. The covers are so bad. The front cover is basically, “John Romita, Jr. Presents: THE HUMAN THIGH!”, and then the back cover is... Read more

GIRLS LIKE VIOLENCE: William Writes has a pretty awesome post criticizing my “Sublimity Now!” column. I don’t know that I can respond, necessarily, but I guess I will ask: Can there be a peaceful rapture? Because I pretty much think no, and his post suggests that this might be a relevant difference between us: I’ll go with rapture over peace, if I have to pick. But seriously, you should read this post, because its understanding of beauty is really different... Read more