Michael Davis World

Bitch Do What I Say Or I’ll Kill You, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #269 | @MDWorld

May.18, 2012 in Straight No Chaser 4 Comments

That’s not just a jazzy title that’s what my stepfather said before he hit my mother in the head with my Christmas gift.

My Christmas gift that year was a Tonka truck. This was back in the day when Tonka’s were made out of METAL.

“I’ll put a bullet in you.”

That’s what my sister’s ex-boyfriend said when he yanked her out of our apartment and put a gun to her head. Then he took her to the stairwell and beat her senseless.

“I’ll come and visit you in L.A.”

That’s what my beloved cousin Dee Dee said to me when we saw each other at my great grandmother’s funereal October 9, 1996.

She never made the trip and I’m sure I’ll never know why. She returned to her home after the funeral and has not been seen since.

My grandmother, killed.

My sister, killed.

I’ve got 5 more similar stories like the ones above but I’m crying like a 6 -year old girl while I’m writing this and frankly I just want to get to the end so I can find a fucking bottle of tequila and drink until I pass out.
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Game of Thrones…, by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture | @MDWorld

May.16, 2012 in Un Pop Culture 7 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an MBA, and lost interest in G.O.T. when Sean Bean got killed off.

It is a realm where the long winter could be brought on by unwise stewardship by the Hand of the King…and the King doesn’t exist. It is yet to be seen whether the game-changing dragons – rejecting Austerity, taxing the wealthy, and championing Keynesian economics – will heat things up or merely burn things to the ground. It is a land where one of the most inflammatory titles leveled at a new leader isn’t a ‘wilding’, but a ‘wild strawberry’ (fraise des bôis).

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Whatever The Weather, by David Quinn – In Walked Quinn #12 | @MDWorld

May.15, 2012 in In Walked Quinn Leave a Comment

To make the writing life work, you simply focus on the work in front of you – in any weather. You get all the business lined up… for the pleasure and privilege of the writing itself.

This week began with the weekend’s MoCCA Fest, a lively international alt-comics show in NYC. Besides seeing and working with my diverse, talented collaborators in this arena, I was also pleased that That Respected Editor (AKA TRE, name withheld for his own good) stopped by the Not for Children Children’s Books table.
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The Point Radio, by Mike Raub | @MDWorld

May.15, 2012 in The Point Leave a Comment

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The successful GHOST HUNTERS franchise is winding up its season on SyFy, but the loss of a major cast member spells big changes for the future. We talk to investigators Amy Bruni and Adam Berry on what is really bumping in the night. Plus Tim Burton explains why DARK SHADOWS was set in 1972, and NBC kicks COMMUNITY to Friday night.

Paper Chase-ing, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #180 | @MDWorld

May.15, 2012 in Pop Art 4 Comments

Dear Art,

I have had a hell of a week. It came out that my firm lost $2 billion in trading this year. This was a stunning turn of events but, more importantly it seems to have caused quite a stir in the media. There are renewed calls for more stringent banking regulations coming from both major political figures and prominent economists. Why can’t these people just understand what capitalism is and the volatility in the market? Something like this was bound to happen to someone eventually. Why’s everyone coming after me and mine?

-Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan Chase

Jamie,

You’re surprised people are coming after you? You lost $2 billion! Way more if you count the market capitalization your company lost when the announcement sent Chase’s stock tumbling downward. If I lost $200 dollars I would be beside myself. Hell, if I lost $20 I’d probably be pissed for a few minutes. I suppose that’s what’s separates high-powered executive types like you from guys like me, an ability to roll with stuff like this, but holy shit dude fake it for the cameras or something.

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Your Marriage Is Ruined! Ha-Ha!, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #274 | @MDWorld

May.14, 2012 in Brainiac On Banjo 36 Comments

Our President came out in favor of same-sex marriage, and the very next day the nation’s largest bank discovered they lost two billion dollars.

Coincidence?

Some people think there is no such thing as coincidence. Those people are called “Fox News Viewers.” It’s that type of wacky thinking that has been the standard response to the same-sex issue from the gay haters.

Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it right now, again, more emphatically: if the availability of same-sex marriage undermines your marriage in any way, no matter how slight, then your marriage wasn’t worth shit in the first place and at least one of you is probably at least bi-curious, and you can’t handle that. Ha-Ha!
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Tell Me Something Good, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

May.12, 2012 in Brilliant Disguise 22 Comments

On Wednesday, when we learned of President Obama’s personal support of marriage equality, most civilized people rejoiced. Some of us saw this as a step forward in the continuing struggle for human equality in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

And some found it an assault on “religious freedom.” Some found it an assault on marriage itself.
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Voting Rights Act, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #268 | @MDWorld

May.11, 2012 in Straight No Chaser 3 Comments

I was going to write about this but my blood pressure is way to high already.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/john-lewis-paul-broun-voting-rights_n_1507300.html?ref=topbar

Thumbing its Nose at Diversity, by Chris Derrick – Sympathy for the Devil #17 | @MDWorld

May.11, 2012 in Sympathy for the Devil 7 Comments

Ever since the latest HBO series “GIRLS” — conceived of, wrote, directed and starring erstwhile filmmaker Lena Dunham — premiered, there’s been an interesting backlash about the show’s near-offensive “whiteness.” While the show has been lauded with praise, “Lena Dunham just may be the future of television. If not, she comes thrillingly close” said David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle, and just as equally derided, “The central character is an unsympathetic victim of First World Problems who mumbles her way through a Brooklynite’s perdition of unpaid internships and missed orgasms. In its first three episodes, the comedy series establishes a new low for the premium cable network, even surpassing “John From Cincinnati” in its level of sheer unwatchability” excoriated Asawin Suebsaeng in Mother Jones.
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The Avengers: Best Superhero Movie Ever?, by Michael Stradford – The Tall Guy’s Gear Guide | @MDWorld

May.11, 2012 in The Tall Guy's Gear Guide 4 Comments

Not quite yet, but it’s in the running. Now a record breaking $200 million weekend may strongly suggest otherwise, but it’s not a title I’m ready to bestow on what is at the very least, a solid, entertaining movie. Highly enjoyable, great performances by all except Scarlett Johansson (who in fairness, did make more of an impression here than in Iron Man 2), humor and great action, but I’d be hard pressed to call it the best ever. I do give high props to director Joss Whedon for masterfully integrating seven main characters, giving each a fair amount of screen time while continually pushing the story forward.
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The Subject was Names…, By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture | @MDWorld

May.10, 2012 in Un Pop Culture 2 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an MBA, and got her maiden name back.

Soon after I arrived, Big John asked me, “Did you see the Dead Seals?”

I hadn’t, and scanned my memory about all the advancing on the bands that had been done in preparation for the night. Sometimes there was an unexpected addition, especially on punk shows. Punk rockers tend to be low maintenance and spontaneous, even the national acts. But I was concerned about how it would complicate the sound check for the production crew. I asked Big John if they had loaded in already.

“No, I mean the two dead seals that washed up on the beach,” he said. He had already told the police who come through regularly on their rounds. They also told him that they had found the body of a guy who had jumped off the pier a couple of weeks earlier for a fatal late-night swim with his girlfriend.
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Time to get Ill, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #179 | @MDWorld

May.08, 2012 in Pop Art 2 Comments

Dear Art,

This has been a terrible week for me. My close friend and bandmate Adam Yauch, better known as MCA, died after a long battle with cancer. The outpouring of support from our fans has been really touching. As a fan of our music I’m sure this must be a hard time for you as well. What are you doing to get through this hard time? Any advice you want to offer to other fans?

-Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz

Ad-Rock,

I am a huge fan. I listened to Hello Nasty in its entirety pretty much every day of my freshman year of high school. Licensed to Ill was always in the wallet I kept with my Discman. That is a sentence that will mean absolutely nothing to my children. The loss of MCA, and the accompanying realization that there will never be another Beastie Boys album, has been pretty devastating. All that aside, I’ll tell you the thing that bothers me the most through all of this: You guys still get played on alternative radio instead of on the hip hop stations.
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Media Mogul is a Rotten Job, by Mike Gold – Brainiac On Banjo #273 | @MDWorld

May.07, 2012 in Brainiac On Banjo 15 Comments

With great power comes great ego, and historically there has been no better ego-booster than the successful control of information. For today’s history lesson, we are going to look at a trio of contemporary media barons.

For Canadian-born mogul Lord Conrad Black, the good news is he’s finally out of prison. The now-former owner of the London Daily Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Catholic Herald and Canada’s National Post, among others, was convicted of defrauding his own company of $60 million, later adjusted by a sympathetic appellate court to one count of mail fraud and one count of “obstruction of justice” – the latter a made-up crime. That cost him a ton of money, most of his power and 42 months of his freedom.

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Beardo Volume 3, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

May.07, 2012 in Snarky Synopses Leave a Comment

Written and drawn by Dan Dougherty

I wanted so much to hate this book. Seriously. When I formed my independent publishing comic book company, Unshaven Comics, I thought I’d picked a truly unique concept. South-suburban Chicago kids making comic books, inspired by awe-inspiring facial hair. We arrived at our first convention, ready to dominate. And there, amongst the rows of indie creators stood Dan Dougherty. Adjacent to him, a sign declaring the title of his book, Beardo. A quick glance showed he hailed no further than 8 miles from our very doorstep. Thus, the hatred began. He had a cock-sure swagger about him. His beard, close to the chin, but dark and potent. Worst of all? His work was good, and people were flocking to his table. Damn him. Damn him I say! Over the course of a year, we ran into Dan again and again. To make matters worse? He was pleasant to talk to! Curse the heavens! Finally, after much personal turmoil, I decided I should take a plunge and buy a volume of his book… to sample the fruits of my arch nemesis. Like I said… I wanted so much to hate this book. But, credit must be paid… Beardo is beardariffic.
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Long Way Home, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

May.05, 2012 in Brilliant Disguise 6 Comments

It’s not easy, but I’m getting angry at my television again. Not as an appliance, but as a delivery system for the news.

This is remarkably less fun when the only other being to hear my outbursts is the cat. Instead of shouting back, either in agreement or as the beginning of an interesting debate/argument, she runs away. She is disturbingly apolitical.

Lucky for me, I didn’t find out about the big local story until after it happened.

The GOP has been angry that Obama is taking credit for being President when bin Laden was killed. They don’t like that he made an ad celebrating that fact, an ad that pointed out that he made actual executive decisions in order to accomplish the mission.
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