By B.J. West Read by Leann Mabry “How long’s it been?” “Almost a year.” She dabbed her eyes on her sleeve. “Seems longer though. Gavin joined the Army just after we got married. They transferred him to Fort Hannah when things started heating up with the Indians.” Missy continued plucking clothespins. “My daddy was in the Army. I think I saw him two weeks out of every year, usually at Christmas time. My momma said that sometimes she felt like a widow.” Selena nodded again without looking up.

Poor Hayden, if she only followed Rachel Bilson’s example and paid the damn meter! ’Heroes’ being positioned for a strong return Panettiere, who made the rounds at the NBC party during the press tour, told me she’s thrilled with the way Season 3 is developing so far. "We’re getting back to more action and adventure and those wonderful cliffhangers," she said. "The storytelling is really heightened and it’s really fun, and a lot of the main characters are back working together again." As for

Herodotus, goddamn it. This New Yorker piece eventually gets it right for a long stretch. But it opens with the highbrow journalist's (or is it the New Yorker's?) condescension to "this ostensibly archaic epic" and closes with a barf-making moral equivalence passage -- America is the Persian Empire, see! Bush I is Darius! Bush II is Xerxes! Iraq is Greece! The mighty, evil empire loses and fails! Which I guess means bin Laden, al-Sadr, and the grubby beheaders of Baqouba are Leonidas and Call

“Make it… STINKY!” That is the mantra of “A Boy Who Learns What Fear Is,” the first episode of American McGee’s episodic adventure/platformer. Not necessarily in a bad way… American McGee’s breakout title Alice received great reviews in its time, due mostly to some fantastic graphics. Grimm has taken a very different tack, in more ways than one. Gameplay primarily consists of maneuvering the narrator, “Grimm,” through shiny happy scenery filled with sunshine and kitty cats that crap rainbows.

Ira Glass, host of This American Life on NPR, points out that most creative people start out trying to produce amazing things in a medium they love. They also start out with a high taste level. Their initial product does not live up to that high taste level, they know it's not good. Most people never get past the point of producing things that don't live up to their own judgement. How do you keep going until what you produce is actually good enough to please even you? You can watch the whole