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-Patrick McKelvey | Friday, January 17, 2020
In 2016, the Chicago Cubs traded top prospect Gleyber Torres for a half-season rental of New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. It was a difficult decision for some — Torres was poised to be one of the greatest infielders in the game, and he was just 19 years old. While Chapman was indeed baseball’s best
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Every year around this time, movie fans around the world resume one of the most contentious and longest-lasting debates in film: is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie? The 1988 action (and maybe holiday) film directed by John McTierian and starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and Bonnie Bedelia tells the story of John McClane (Willis), an
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Famous for his roles in “East of Eden” and “Rebel Without a Cause,” James Dean is one of the most celebrated actors of all time. His illustrious career, however, was cut short when he was killed in a car accident in 1955 at the age of 24. It was a tragic loss for his family,
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, November 6, 2019
We definitely landed on the moon. Lee Harvey Oswald killed former President John F. Kennedy. Area 51 has nothing to do with aliens — and they had nothing to do with building the pyramids. Most conspiracy theories, especially most of the famous ones, are false. They have been thoroughly discredited by science, history or just
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, October 16, 2019
For many months now, hundreds of thousands of protestors have lined the streets of Hong Kong to denounce the erosion of their personal liberties at the hands of China. The city and China have a complex relationship, operating under a “one country, two systems” structure that allows (or is supposed to allow) Hong Kong to remain
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, October 2, 2019
On Sept. 23, Swedish climate activist and 16-year-old Greta Thunberg spoke at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Her speech did not mince words: she accused, quite directly, the assembled leaders of ignoring science for their own personal political and monetary benefit, at the expense of people’s happiness and lives. “I shouldn’t be standing here,”
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, September 18, 2019
We may be over a year away from the 2020 Presidential Election, but the race for the Democratic nomination is in full swing. The field consists of 20 Democrats and, as of last Thursday, they have participated in three nationally televised debates. The intention of these programs, of course, is to allow the candidates to
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, September 4, 2019
If you’re anything like me and spend way too much time thinking about comic book movies, you’ve probably heard the latest news. Spider-Man, who finally joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” and who was poised to lead the next slate of films in the franchise, will no longer be
Patrick McKelvey | Tuesday, April 30, 2019
For 11 years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has dominated the movie industry. It started in 2008 with “Iron Man,” an independently-produced feature about a lesser-known superhero that took countless pitch meetings and multiple rounds of financing to get off the ground. Few probably predicted how successful the film would be, spawning 21 entries into
Patrick McKelvey | Tuesday, April 16, 2019
I recently read an opinion piece by former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal. He begins it with a criticism of the identity politics that has become associated with modern American liberalism. Pushing back against this ideology, Jindal reminded us of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at the 1963 March on Washington — in which he dreamed his