Ricky Sprague's Blog, page 15

Poodle Bitch is saddened by the story of Nick Santino and Rocco

Ever since she first read about the story of Nick Santino and Rocco, Poodle Bitch has felt a mixture of sadness mingled with anger. Mr Santino was a sometime soap opera actor who took his own life shortly after euthanizing his companion Rocco, apparently after intolerable harassment from imperious neighbors.[I]n 2010, his building at 1 Lincoln Plaza announced strict new dog regulations, including

Kim Kardashian decided to get a divorce after a session with "psychic" John Edward

Kim Kardashian, who should know better, sunk to brand new depths when she invited psychic pscumbag John Edward to appear on one of her ten (?) television programs. Apparently, he helped her realize that the phoneybaloney marriage she concocted for publicity purposes was breaking her heart. Apparently, I was irritated enough to draw a cartoon about it.

The great Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close whitewash conspiracy

I have written extensively about the plague of the ampersand. In general, its presence in a title is a big squiggly warning that the work in question is not worth your time.

In the case of the new film Extremely Loud Ampersand Incredibly Close, this is doubly true. This might very well be the worst film ever made. It is a precious, cloying slog through treacle, designed by cynics to appeal to

It's not "Liberalism" that's hurting comic book sales -- it's lack of imagination

Over at Bleeding Cool, someone called Darin Wagner thinks he has hit upon the primary reason that comic book sales have been steadily declining. And as it turns out, he has actually hit upon the primary reason that comic book sales have been steadily declining, and he stumbles into it in the second paragraph of his essay:
You pick up a superhero comic book featuring a childhood favorite of yours,

PCMR Hero of the Month for January 2012: Sydney Spies

Sydney Spies is a high school senior from Colorado who is fighting a campaign to express herself through the use of her senior picture. She is being thwarted in this by a group of mewling, timid, bluenosing quislings who "edit" said yearbook.
Durango High School senior who had her yearbook photo yanked has her peers and not the administration to blame, the yearbook's student editors said Thursday

The best movie of 2011: "Attack the Block"

Over at the Thrill Fiction blog, A.Jaye already wrote a very good article about why this movie works so well. Here is a small sample:

In August a police death squad shot and killed Mark Douglas12. Two days later rioting began and spread throughout England. The media response was more savage than the prior student protests13.
12 Since 1969 British police have killed an average one black person

Explaining the enduring popularity of those "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" books and movies

Although it is impossible to ruin that which is already AWESOME, this post does contain information about the plots to the three Swedish "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" films. So if you don't want to know what happens in those films, don't read this.

This past weekend at the American box office, the number one and number two films each featured stars of the famous Swedish "The Girl with the

Briefly Noted with Poodle Bitch: Should Poodle Bitch start listening to P!nk?; the power of Craigslist; Newt Gingrich's magnanimity; infernal cats

Poodle Bitch was deeply touched to read of the generosity displayed by the musical performer P!nk, who paid $5,000 to provide surgery and other medical care to a shockingly mistreated canine.Sources tell TMZ ... P!nk was surfing the Internet recently, when she stumbled upon a story about a puppy that had been thrown off an L.A. overpass ... and suffered 3 broken legs when it landed in the L.A.

Poodle Bitch presents her new Christmas poem: The Merry Caniche de Noël

The Merry Caniche de NoëlShe travels for peace and goodwill's sake,Leaving chicken breast and tomato slices in her wake.All good boys and girls know so wellThat beloved and sweet Caniche de Noël.One Christmas Eve night I filled up with eggnog,And attained a warm glowing feeling, my senses agog.I stumbled out of the pub and into the snow,With no care for direction, for I'd nowhere to go.There met

The politics of Bane's unintelligible dialogue in the upcoming Batman film

A new trailer for the upcoming Christopher Nolan-directed Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises," has just been released to much fanfare and excitement. You thought that was just anticipation over the "holiday season," that you were feeling, but no-- it was the trailer hitting the web on Monday:



That's a bunch of stuff happening in there. Including, apparently, some political stuff. According to