I didn’t get Archie comics as a kid. By the time I discovered them, the story lines seemed superficial and tame. At the same time, I was completely unable to identify with a protagonist whose major problem in life was choosing between the two hottest girls in school.

I understand that other people like Archie, and so the characters are culturally significant. Not surprisingly, my favourite Archie theory is that Jughead is gay – a reading which makes the books less tame. I believe the theory was introduced in Chasing Amy. For lack of a clip, here’s the relevant part of the script:

INT BAR - NIGHT
Holden, Banky, Alyssa and Hooper sir around a table
drinking, talking, and smoking.
				BANKY
		Archie, alright!  Archie and the
		Riverdale gang were a pure and fun-
		lovin' bunch.  You can't find
		dysfunction in those comics, because
		they were just flat out wholesome.
				HOOPER
		Archie and Jughead were lovers.
			(sips his drink)
				BANKY
		Shut the fuck up.
				HOOPER
		It's true.  Archie was the bitch and
		Jughead was the butch - that's why
		Jughead wears that crown-looking hat
		all the time: he the king, of queen
		Archie's world.
				BANKY
		Man, I feel a hate-crime coming on
				HOLDEN
		He's got a point.  Archie never did
		settle on Betty or Veronica.
				BANKY
		Because he wanted them both at the
		same time, you assholes!  He never
		chose one because he was trying to get
		both of them into a three-way!
				HOOPER
			(pulls out a dollar and hands
			it to Banky)
		Here.  I want you to go down to the
		corner store and buy yourself a clue.
		Go on.
				BANKY
		Eat it.  Urkel.
				HOOPER
		I told you to watch it with that Urkel
		shit.  Face it, girl - Archie's a
		sister.
				BANKY
			(getting up; to Hooper)
		That's it.  You.
				HOOPER
		Moi?
				BANKY
		You are marching back across the
		street with me, and we're going to
		pick up a shit load of Archie books, I
		am going to prove to you - beyond the
		shadow of a doubt that Archie was all
		about pussy.  Come on.
				HOOPER
			(sliding out of booth)
		This boy is conflicted, I shall play
		mother-therapist for him.  You two sit
		tight.  We shall return promptly.
...
Two beats later, Hooper and Banky enter, holding an
'Everything's Archie' comic between them.

				BANKY
		You're insane.  Archie is not fucking
		Mister Weatherbee!
				HOOPER
		Deny, deny, deny.
			(to Holden)
		Where's Alyssa?
				HOLDEN
		Huh!  Oh.  She left.  She said she'd
		call you later.
				BANKY
			(off comic)
		He's just offering to help Archie with
		his homework!
				HOOPER
		Read between the lines.

So I know just enough to absolutely love this trailer my friend Hez posted. It was shot in Vancouver, apparently as a sort of pitch for a movie or what the CW network should produce now that Smallville is over.

The US military figured if journalists were embedded in combat units, their reporting would be more pro-war than if they just sat in a Kuwaiti briefing room. The plan was that reporting would get biased by a combination of esprit de corps and internal psyops. But they didn’t embed journalists with commanders who can see the big picture; they embedded them in combat units: theirs is not to question why.

The HBO miniseries Generation Kill is a perfect product of embedding: the war is misguided and all high-ranking officers are either insane or incompetent. The journalist is embedded as a grunt and, sure enough, he idolizes his father and grandfather figures: the Sergeant in charge of his team and the Lieutenant in charge of his platoon. These characters can do no wrong: bad things always happen because higher-ups screwed up. The journalist’s peers can do kooky things like shoot Iraqi kids, but they get redeemed in the end.

Generation Kill‘s simplistic morality and character arcs make it fun to watch in the same way most action and fantasy movies are fun to watch. The tone of the first half of the series is closest to Jarhead: war is about waiting. The second half mixes in some Black Hawk Down battles against video-game towelheads. If you enjoyed both those films, you’ll enjoy Generation Kill, only less so.

Via Apartment Therapy (which brings the drama): this art store (?) in New York is carrying tableware and chairs inspired by the TV show Dexter. The plates covered in blood are by far the most effective (and, in fact, probably more unnerving than the wannabe-edgy show).