My first thought, so stereotypically Jewish it's guilt-inducing, is a practical one: that cannot be good for the joints. The resulting arthritis is going to be monumental. And yet, what I'm watching is something I'd never imagined a human body to be capable of. It is exhilarating. It's the first long action sequence of the new Bond film, Casino Royale, and the burnt-faced bad guy is trying to escape 007 in a conveniently located construction site. He's climbing walls, jumping from metal beam to metal... READ ON

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Oh, the outrage they incite. So much as mention the name Bill Gates around a Mac-olyte, and you're promised to get 10 minutes of intolerable screeching that will include the words "devil" and "nerdy little goober." Same vitriol goes the other way around, too, except substitute the references to: "pompous prick" and "substance-less prick." Me, I don't have a horse in the race. I prefer Macs and my iPod gives me the tinglies -- but Bill Gates certainly does some nice stuff for... READ ON

Today, it's gloomy in New York. It's been like this for days now, some queer stretch of the August blues, and there's not much to say about it other than it's only slightly worse than the human clambake that typically occurs on the streets this time of year. Days like these, staring out the window into the gray menace, one feels an acute desire for transcendence, for a reminder of what man is capable of at his best, when he's not busy diddling his fiddle or drinking himself dumb. So I bring to you four... READ ON

"Jesse Helms is back! And this time he's black." Believe it or not, that's not some deranged Daily Kossian message board rant; it's a campaign slogan. And the candidate who embraced it -- Vernon Robinson, the Republican challenger in North Carolina's 13th District, has released a campaign ad so wildly reactionary that it's hard to believe a bona fide congressional candidate could release something like that and not be run out to the political wilderness and whacked. Anyway, Vern's foray into... READ ON