Outside the Beltway

Almost a decade ago, Roger Ebert wondered if making mass murderers famous doesn’t provide a perverse incentive.

George Lucas has sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney, which has announced a new Star Wars movie for 2015.

There’s no doubt about it, our political culture is pretty horrible.

President Obama says he’s a huge Clint Eastwood fan and wasn’t offended by his performance at the RNC.

“Top Gun” director Tony Scott is dead, aged 68, after an apparent suicide.

The new Red Dawn promises to be even sillier than the first.

“Vertigo” has ended “the 50-year reign” of “Citizen Kane,” which has dropped to second place.

The novelist, playwright, and social critic Gore Vidal has died, aged 86.

Andrew Hacker argues that, while quantitative skills are “critical for informed citizenship and personal finance,” making kids master algebra to graduate high school has disastrous consequences.

Restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is facing criticism after its President’s comments on same-sex marriage.

A recent decision out of Massachusetts threatens to make business quite difficult for online service providers.

What hath a fury greater than a woman scorned? Hundreds of scorned women with Twitter accounts.

Thirty-Five years ago, an adventure began.

The outpouring from my Twitter stream yesterday on the news of the death of Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, surprised me.

The It Takes A Village People Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Roger Ebert and I don’t agree on much, from politics to movies. But share a fondness for Samuel L. Jackson and a contempt for George Zimmerman.

Movie theater snacks are expensive. This is not cause for a lawsuit.

Was Return Of The Jedi the best of all the Star Wars films? One writer thinks so.

Rick Santorum is at the front of a brigade that wants to re-fight the sexual revolution. They’ll lose.

Whitney Houston, once one of the biggest stars in American popular culture, has died.

The DC government’s incompetence knows no bounds.

Have Americans divided themselves into what are becoming increasingly different cultures?

One conservative contends that George Bailey is teaching America the wrong lessons.

The trailer for the next Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is out.

Big news from North Korea.

Andy Rooney, best known to recent generations as the cranky old man at the end of “60 Minutes,” has died at 92.

The decision to split Netflix into two companies makes no sense. Unless you look behind the scenes.

In a truly bizarre move, Netflix is spinning off the DVD-by-mail business that built them into an international brand and going stream-only. Those wishing to keep getting movies will have to sign on to something called Qwikster.

George Lucas is once again “enhancing” his epic films for the upcoming Blu-Ray release.

Tim Cook is succeeding Steve Jobs as head of the world’s biggest technology company. Does it matter that he’s gay?