Free Republic

Everybody knows the modern world lacks enchantment. As a premise, that assertion is unprovable, but movies and TV shows have been saying it forever, so we just accept it as a trope, like, “The suburbs are shallow” and “When the railroads came, the Wild West became civilized.” Any program built around it is therefore better off not dwelling on it, and focusing its energies instead on other, more basic pleasures: characterization, plot, atmosphere. Two new network shows are built around fairy tales and the absence of magic in modern life — ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” which debuted Sunday at...

Welcome to Storybrooke, Maine where the townsfolk are fairy tale characters - but they don't know it. The fantasy series Once Upon a Time premiered last night on ABC. Who watched it? Read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. Watch the pilot online at ABC.com. Review at The Hollywood Reporter. Analysis at The Hollywood Reporter. IMDb

A girl with hair dyed cherry red wears goggles, a tight corset, a lacy Victorian dress and black military boots. Her friend, a gent, dons a top hat, an early 1900s gas mask, fingerless leather gloves and crimson canvas trousers. He holds a pistol that looks like a fusion between the Wild West and a 1950s sci-fi flick. All of this is not some new fashion trend. It's Steampunk, and it's been around for a while.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's decision not to run for president is predictable and offers the possibility of changing the dynamic of the Republican primary election. With Florida, South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire all moving up the dates of their primaries and caucuses, it simply became impossible and impractical to raise the money and organize campaigns in those states in the less than 100 days that remain. In the long term, the renewed speculation about Gov. Christie's candidacy can only raise his profile nationally as well as his stature in New Jersey where poll numbers have been steadily climbing...

Having been a fan of NASCAR for decades, I've noticed what some others may have realized about Sarah Palin, and the importance of timing in official entry into the race for the nomination. Sarah Palin's been in the race, whether anybody realized it or not, since November 5th, 2008. Her position as McCain's running mate and the very positive influence she had on the race meant that the party's base would look to her for leadership in that position unless she openly demurred. After stepping aside from her office in July 2009, Governor Palin began to carry the burgeoning...

FReepers, I need at least three new teams to sign up to play fantasy football. Last year in my first year I won the league. It was a blast too! So, Go to Yahoo Fantasy Football sign up page and use our League ID# 673974 and PW Blitz to join our custom by invitation only league. See you on the gridiron. Our drafts this weekened

Join up today, this seasons gonna be a blast. We are opening things up at bit to make ours a more realistic FF league. Please join us or let Obama isolate us and we all die'

More than 5,000 of you nominated. More than 60,000 of you voted. And now the results are in. The winners of NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey are an intriguing mix of classic and contemporary titles...

I have one league that's going strong into its 6th year and is full. I have, however, started a second league that's "experimental" in that it's designed to produce regular NFL type scores (i.e. 17-10, 24-20, 14-13) type stuff. It may or may not be renewed next year but thought I'd try it. If you'd like to join, FReepmail me for league ID and password. Note it's a LIVE ONLINE DRAFT on Yahoo! scheduled for the weekend before the regular season starts.

Dear Football Patriots, Below is the enrollment information you'll need to join up. Did you play with us last year? You need to give me your FR user name and real name for my records alone. All it takes is one disruptor from DU to ruin it for all of us. How long have you been posting on FR? What are your pet FF peeves? How can we make the game more exciting for you? What rules would you like to see altered/eliminated? Remember, we can change any rule we don't like. This is still America! Give me all your...

SO, Let's get ready for some FOOOTTBALLLLs, a nightime Party Let's face it, last year we had about a dozen lame, slow witted dolts who were not exceptional Americans. Let alone exceptional American football fans. These folks only joined FR, so they could play in a FF league. Not FReepers playing fantasy football, but posers who can't get invited into any other league. FReeper People, we can do so much better!

SO, Let's get ready for some FOOOTTBALLLLs, a nightime Party Let's face it, last year we had about a dozen lame, slow witted dolts who were not exceptional Americans. Let alone exceptional American football fans. These folks only joined FR, so they could play in a FF league. Not FReepers playing fantasy football, but posers who can't get invited into any other league. FReeper People, we can do so much better!

Joel Rosenberg, a Minneapolis gun rights advocate and author of several fantasy novels, has died. His wife, Felicia, posted a message on the “Free Joel Rosenberg” website, saying he died Thursday evening at Hennepin County Medical Center. “On Wednesday afternoon, June 1, 2011, Joel had a respiratory depression that caused a heart attack, anoxic brain damage and major organ failure. Despite the very best efforts of the paramedics and the team at Hennepin County Medical Center, Joel was pronounced brain dead at around 5:37 p.m. Thursday June 2nd, In accordance with his wishes, he shared the gift of life through...

As lefties gloat over the political implications of Osama bin Laden’s demise, and the media ramp up an “Obama bounce” meme, conservatives should politely but persistently shift the conversation from politics to policy. In my latest column for Townhall, I draw on a number of fascinating news accounts elucidating how the our military and intelligence community finally nailed bin Laden. US officials describe a “mosaic” of intelligence that ultimately led a team of Navy SEALs to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan — suggesting that it took many years and myriad sources to pinpoint bin Laden’s precise location. As we now...

We have confirmation that Joanna Russ, 74, died this morning peacefully around 7:15 a.m. in hospice care in Tucson AZ. She has been ill since suffering a stroke in February 2011. Russ was a critic and SF writer, best known for The Female Man (1975).

Like it did with Boardwalk Empire in September, HBO just renewed Game of Thrones moments after the ratings for the premiere episode were in. For Game of Thrones, those ratings were solid, not great. But, also like with Boardwalk Empire, HBO invested in elaborate sets and designs in re-creating the world from George R.R. Martin's books, so a second season was considered a sure thing. And while HBO brass pay attention to ratings, the numbers have never been the deciding factor in the network's renewal decisions as proven by the pickups of shows like Treme, Bored to Death and In...

So JRR Tolkien walks into the HBO meeting and pitches his great new fantasy idea: "It's set long ago, and there's this magic ring, and some hobbits – they're like organic dwarves – and there's this wizard with a long white beard, and, and …" Four hours later he gets to the end of his summary. "Not bad," says one executive, "but what about the second season?"

At first glance, the numbers released by the Census Bureau last week showing a precipitous drop in Detroit’s population — 25 percent over the last decade — seem to bear a silver lining: most of those leaving the city are blacks headed to the suburbs, once the refuge of mid-century white flight. But a closer analysis of the data suggests that the story of housing discrimination that has dominated American urban life since the early 20th century is far from over. Detroit is not the only American city to face persistent residential segregation, but it is among the worst: it...

Famous British writer Diana Wynne Jones has passed away on 26th March, 2011 after fighting a long battle with lung cancer. Among her famous books are Howl’s Moving Castle, Archers Goon, Dogs body and Fire & Hemlock. Diana Wynne Jones was one of the most renowned fantasy writers.

What to Make of SEIU Official's Supposed Socialist Fantasy PlanBy John Hudson Mar 22, 2011 A new tape posted on Glenn Beck's political website, The Blaze, purportedly shows a former Service Employees International Union official sharing plans to "destabilize the country." In the seven-minute video, a voice that sounds like Stephen Lerner, the former director of private equity at the SEIU pictured above, details plans to "bring down the stock market," bankrupt major U.S. banks and create an environment where a weakened financial sector cedes power to union organizers and the middle class in general. The talk purportedly happened at...