Tynan's Anger

Arts & Culture Commentary from a Loving Digital Skeptic

Girls Scouts, Heed The Words Of Wisdom From John Mulaney

The best young comedian on the planet (and I’m gonna guarantee that) gets his first network TV exposure:

Five Questions Raised by the New M.I.A. “Born Free” video

Will the American media take the bait and start the controversy that M.I.A. is clearly hoping to provoke? If not, does this mean that new music is really that irrelevant to American culture anymore? How many people will get the rudimentary detainee metaphor that red hair=brown skin? Will the song’s resemblance to Suicide make it [...]

Theater Guide: 2009-2010 season, through March

[For more info please read my guide to theater reviews] It’s A Hit! Emperor Jones A+ Superior Donuts Variety film critic Todd McCarthy said that A Serious Man, which I considered the best movie of 2009, was the kind of movie that the Coen Brothers could only make after winning the Oscar. I sort of feel [...]

Pulitzer Prize Analysis – 2010

So the National Enquirer didn’t win a Pulitzer for its coverage of the Edwards scandal. It wasn’t even a finalist. That was probably never likely to happen (sorry gossip rags!). The much, much bigger news is that ProPublica won the Pulitzer, which was no doubt deliberate, but also deserved. It sets a very good precedent [...]

The Straw Man in the Bubble

The Problem with Theater Controversies: (Commissioned, with remarkable success, by Austin Hall on fiverr)