Matt Patterson

Well, apparently I’m a terrorist. At least according to the definition of a wide number of Congressmen, reporters, television personalities, and even – so it’s reported – the Vice President of the United States himself. What did I do to

Wisconsin is the birthplace of American public-sector unionism. In the 1930s the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) first organized in Madison. How ironic then that Wisconsin may also be the burial ground for public-sector unionism. Governor

“Music was my salvation really, and always has been.” – Joey Ramone Years ago, a young woman sat across from me on a near-empty train. She looked like she had been crying. Pulling her sweatshirt sleeves down over her hands,

Praise be, they’re back. MTV has recently announced the triumphant return of Beavis and Butt-head. Original series creator Mike Judge is on board to produce new episodes which will air on the one-time music network later this year. As John

If you haven’t seen ABC’s breakout hit Wipeout, then, well, I just feel sorry for you. You may instead have been watching critically acclaimed, scripted dramas like Big Love, or award winning educational programming on Discovery or National Geographic. Hell,

I started out trying to write a typical, end-of-year, best of list. I really did. I agonized for days over the best movies I had seen in 2010. But every time I had something I was sure of on my

Fans of a certain costumed web-slinger have been dismayed by a string of recent developments which have threatened to bury the crime-fighter’s sterling reputation under a mountain of kitsch and banality. First, there was the departure of director Sam Raimi

I sometimes wonder if Americans really have any idea of the scope of the danger facing this country. I also wonder if they don’t deserve the disaster that is coming. Americans loudly focus their anger on the President, who is

David Brooks is a thoughtful writer and, by all appearances, a nice fellow. But on his February 9 appearance on Charlie Rose, Brooks painfully revealed the limits of his understanding and the poverty of his vision. These failings are not

Just before Christmas rumors began to leak out of Hollywood that Sam Raini’s Spider-Man 4 had run into trouble. Nonsense, came word from Sony; the production is only on “holiday break,” all is well in Spidey-Land, and your favorite web-slinger

I have in the past been a skeptic of Sarah Palin. Not of her political talent, which is considerable, but of her grasp of – and even interest in – substantive policy issues. When she abruptly resigned the governorship of

Dear Hollywood, I’m sorry, but things just aren’t working out. That’s hard to hear, I know, and believe me, it’s hard to say. After all, we’ve had some great times together. But let’s face it – those great times are

Part 3 – 1976, The Big Bang (Author’s note: Apologies to all the readers of “The Vault” who wrote in wondering when the next chapter was coming. I promise I have not abandoned this series, and have been grateful for

On October 13th, Bob Dylan released an album of Christmas standards entitled Christmas in the Heart. The reaction from critics, and much of the public, has been: Is this some kind of joke? “Hearing Bob hack out the words ‘With

Earlier this year, I rented and re-watched the entire series run of Cheers. Towards the end of the series, the hayseed junior bartender Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson) decides to run for city council. He is encouraged in this endeavor by

What is horror? The word comes down to us from the Old Roman, horrere, which means literally “to stand on end” (as in hair) or “to shiver,” whether from fear or cold – Ovid refers to the “chill-bearing breath” of

What happens to an artist whose creative peak has long past? That is the question which looms like a sustained E chord over the new documentary It Might Get Loud, a strange and wonderful cinematic ode to the electric guitar

OK, first things first: U2 put on a great show in FedEx Field in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. This was a relief, because the previous Saturday they had turned in a dismal, oddly disjointed performance on “Saturday

Part 2 – In The Beginning 1965. Cafe Bizarre. Greenwich Village, New York City. An unknown band takes the stage and begins to play. The electric viola weeps an unearthly, hypnotic lament, as the singer chants: “Not a ghost-bloodied country,

Ah, August. Hot. Muggy. Sluggish. School approaches; summer vacations are over or nearly so. The new television season is weeks away. And even in a good movie year – which 2009 has decidedly not been – all the best blockbusters

Part 1 – Introduction The bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled… – Bauhaus, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” Goth is dead. Well, OK, maybe not. But if it is not dead, exactly, Goth certainly isn’t what it

What is the difference between art and entertainment? There is, obviously, some overlap: Not all art entertains (though some does); not all entertainment is art (though some is). At bottom, it seems, the difference is one of intent – the

This month marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind. Mr. Armstrong is still alive, and, as far as I know, in good health. But alas, one day, like all of us, Armstrong will

Joe Satriani lives. On the self-titled debut album Chickenfoot, Satch sounds better and looser than he has in years – it’s easily his best work since 1993’s Time Machine. With his bald pate, shades encased face, and the sleek and

This series of essays was not intended to be a laundry list of conservative literary authors – laundry lists are always boring and never helpful. Instead, they were intended to be an investigation only, examining the dearth of conservatives in

In our interview, Michael Blowhard had this to say about conservatives and their temperament: “Conservatives are often practical, non-theoretical people with an aversion to flossiness and silliness. And the American literary world as it’s currently constituted is pretty damn pretentious

Last night, I dreamed of Johnny Cash. He was sitting at the edge of my bed with a guitar, strumming and humming no tune in particular. Then he stopped, looked at me and said, “You got to play, son.” I

In March 2008, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet, author of “Glengary Glen Ross” and the man many consider America’s greatest living dramatist, wrote an essay for The Village Voice titled “Why I am No Longer A Brain Dead Liberal.”

John Derbyshire, columnist, essayist, critic, raconteur, has an opinion. On everything, it seems. Thankfully, he is not shy about sharing them, and was kind enough to speak with me by phone one afternoon. In addition to wearing the above listed

In the beginning there was the word, and it had form. Homer wrote his two great works, The Iliad and The Odyssey, in dactylic hexameter. Not for arbitrary reasons was it so organized – in pre-literate Greek society, epic poetry

Mr. Blowhard gives us several juicy bones upon which to gnaw. First, the point about closet conservatives. They come in one of two breeds: 1) those who hold conservative views but keep them quiet, preferring to avoid discussing politics altogether

Dennis Miller started out on the political left and, as he matured (helped along considerably by the shock of 9/11), he migrated to the political right. In this wayward sojourn, he is in fine intellectual company: To name but a

Michael Blowhard, of 2Blowhards.com fame, describes himself as “…. a blogger who has lived and worked in the NYC arts and media worlds for 30 years, and who worked in and around the NYC trade book publishing world for 15

Big Hollywood is a unique and long needed institution – a place where conservatives can gather and talk about pop culture and entertainment, the ultimate goal being, as I understand it, to encourage conservatives to engage in the culture war

The new Bob Dylan CD Together Through Life comes in a bright, plastic jewel case, but it may as well be cuneiform scratched on a baked clay tablet. Sure enough, though the shrink-wrap crackles and snaps at the unwrapping, the

Just before seeing “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” I checked the Tomatometer, hoping against hope that there had been a sudden surge since I had last checked it a half hour previously. No such luck: The “Wolverine” TM still stood at a