Conservative radio host Michael Medved says what I’ve been thinking for a long time:

I think we may err, and I would include myself in this as I say “we,” in being a little bit too eager to promote some of those rare projects on the Right. It was very hard for me because I love “Atlas Shrugged” the book. “Atlas Shrugged,” the movie… I couldn’t believe that so many on our team contrived to like it. Because it was not a successful film, it wasn’t good. So I think to that extent, partially, the Right-wing stuff is very often very ad hoc and it’s a one-off. Which is why it’s so remarkable when something comes outside… way outside the system of extraordinary high craft-quality, let alone artistic quality. Like “The Passion of the Christ” or even “Fireproof.” “Fireproof” was not a masterpiece, it’s not an Oscar-worthy film. But it was emotionally, I think, an interesting film and sound and reasonably well-crafted.

He cites as two examples of movies he really loves Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, particularly noting the latter’s focus on the immigrant experience. I’d really love it if the latter in particular could be remade or updated and embraced by conservatives and liberals alike, though I suspect there’d be less conservative sympathy for the immigrants if they were Latino rather than European and undocumented rather than products of Ellis Island. And Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is really more an anti-corruption movie than a Democratic or a Republican one.

While these two movies might not be fantastic proof, it is true that conservative ideas and decently-crafted filmmaking aren’t inherently incompatible. I thought there were a lot of things that didn’t work about Act of Valor, but the movie did really reinforce for me that if we’re going to send people away from their families to do extremely dangerous things on our behalf, they may have to live by an alternate set of values than my own to get through it. You can sell forceful projection of American military force through action movies, or fiscal responsibility through family comedies. There are a lot of options for pairing ideas with genres, and a lot of people you can hire to make dialogue sing rather than thud. You don’t have to make a movie bad to make it authentically conservative.

Guys, I know I am a huge dork, but the fact that The Avengers is going to be about organizational politics makes me very happy, even if it’s a movie where the equivalent of Jack Donaghy and the Six Sigmas appears to be Scarlett Johansson and sexiness (I love how she has a teensy, lady-like gun):

I’m joking, mostly. Because seriously, this looks pretty fantastic. Making the Hulk look plausible at long last? Check. Providing a genuinely charismatic villain who poses a plausible threat that the heroes might not be able to fully defeat in a single movie*? Check. Giving us a sense of an ongoing invasion rather than a one-city mop-up operation that mysteriously makes the bad guys retreat? Check. I’m-so-excited-I’m-so-scared-level monster things? CHECK.

*And given that this is, after all, a Joss Whedon movie, the possibility that it’ll end in genuine pathos and a compromised victory seems high.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin and her camp may be raking in media hits by complaining about the portrayal of Palin in HBO’s upcoming movie about the 2008 presidential election, an adaptation of Game Change. But Hollywood seems to be giving more than it’s taking away from the Palin family lately: Bristol Palin’s just inked a deal with Lifetime to do a new reality series, following in her mother’s footsteps. The show promises “never-before-granted access to Bristol’s real-life experiences growing into womanhood, Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp will reveal how she adjusts to her life in Alaska, where daily she faces the many pressures of raising her toddler son Tripp alone and maintains the close relationship she holds with her parents.”

For all the Palins complain about their treatment by Hollywood, this deal is actually a sign of the industry’s generosity to the family. Sarah Palin’s Alaska started out with strong ratings for TLC, but they declined, particularly in episodes where Palin was hunting or fishing, and TLC declined to order a second season of the program. Her special on Fox News, one of the things the network hoped would make her a star on the network, didn’t exactly sparkle in the ratings either.

And Palin, more than any other member of her family, ought to have been the draw: she was the one who was rocketed to national prominence and national controversy. If she didn’t exactly turn into a television star, even when she was given a couple of chances in a couple of different formats, it’s hard to see why there’d be a strong market for a show about a second-tier member of the family whose main prior accomplishment in the entertainment industry is a stint on Dancing With the Stars and a novelty appearance on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. For all the Palins complain about the way Hollywood treats them, the industry certainly seems generous about continuing to cut them paychecks.

After the revelation that newspapers owned by the Murdoch family’s News International division had hacked the phones of everyone from members of the British royal family to the victims of the bombings of London’s subways on July 7, 2005 in pursuit of stories, it was inevitable that the company—and the family—would suffer consequences. News of the World, the paper most deeply embroiled in the scandal, closed last summer after it became clear that advertisers wouldn’t continue to support the publication. And now, James Murdoch, News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch’s son, has resigned from his position of executive chairman of News International. He’s transferred to New York where, as Rupert Murdoch explained, “James will continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focus on important pay TV businesses and broader international operations.”

In other words, it sounds like James Murdoch will do penance for the hacking scandal by going to work on Fox News. While both channels have clear conservative slants, neither has committed journalistic sins as grave as the phone hacking scandal. But that doesn’t mean they’ve been free of ethical slips. In 2008, Fox and Friends ran clearly doctors pictures of New York Times reporters in what seemed to be retaliation for the Times writing an unflattering piece about the network’s ratings. And in 2009, the network twice aired misleading reports about the size of crowds at a rally organized by Rep. Michele Bachmann and a book signing by former Gov. Sarah Palin. In both cases, the network suggested the choices of footage were errors rather than an intentional attempt to mislead audiences about the success of those events. The culture may be conservative, but it’s not one of rampant law-breaking and privacy violations.

It’s not necessarily clear what James, whose career has been marked by a mixed record and persistent charges of nepotism, will bring to News Corporation’s American pay television business. But given that he started out in business by backing Rawkus Records, a hip-hop label that helped launch Mos Def and Talib Kweli (it was later acquired by News Corporation), maybe James can help the network get over its paranoid fear of rap music. Whether Fox Nation is referring to Obama’s birthday party as a “hip-hop BBQ,” or suggesting that the sight of Colin Powell with hip-hop stars mean he’s on the verge of endorsing Obama, Fox loves pulling out references to hip-hop to suggest that Obama is unacceptably black. It’s the least of Fox News’ problems, but it’s one way James Murdoch could make a substantive contribution to the company—unless his father wants to send him back to running record labels News Corporation can use to subsidize their other businesses.

In an interview with the Daily Beast’s Jace Lacob, Yvette Nicole Brown, who plays Shirley on NBC’s Community explains what she and her fellow black female actor friends do when someone asks them to play “sassy”:

As a black actor, it’s refreshing that I’m not playing the “sassy black woman.” It’s something that Dan Harmon was cognizant of from the beginning. It is something that I’m always cognizant of. Every woman on the planet has sass and smart-ass qualities in them, but it seems sometimes only black women are defined by it. Shirley is a fully formed woman that had a sassy moment. Her natural set point, if anything, is rage. That’s her natural set point, suppressed rage, which comes out as kindness and trying to keep everything tight…Female friends that are in my tribe, black girls, we all have stories about that. We find interesting ways to make [directors] tell us to be sassy because they know that it’s racist. I say, “Can you show me how to do that?” They don’t want to do a black version of sassy, so then they move on.

I can’t even imagine how much pressure there must be to go along to get along when you’re trying to get a job or keep one, so the folks who are pushing back at all get kudos. And I think, just rhetorically, there’s something smart about playing uninformed in this sort of situation. It lets the person giving awful instructions know that what they want isn’t just an accepted default for everyone. And it forces them to acknowledge they’re asking folks to do something they’d find embarrassing and artificial to carry out themselves—if they’ve got a whit of shame or smarts.

I also think Brown’s discussion of Shirley’s anger is really important—and it’s what’s the key to what made Octavia Spencer’s Oscar-winning performance as Minnie Jackson so good in The Help. Minny is full of justifiable rage, whether it’s at the husband who abuses her and their children, the employer who treats her dreadfully, or even sometimes at the white lady who thinks she has the presumption to tell Minny’s story honestly. The pursed lips and sarcastic remarks that make the character funny aren’t really for anyone else’s gratification. They’re an escape valve for the anger it would be so dangerous for Minny to express directly.

The bridge is yours.

-Carmen Sandiego, Latina role model.

-In a Don Henley v. Frank Ocean fight, I know which side I’m on.

-Warners v. Hotfile and takedown notices.

-This HBO series about war photographers sounds pretty great.

-I really hope Lindsay Lohan is okay. I miss her:

It’s been a depressing start to the year for those of us who care about women’s access to contraception and abortion, be it the fight over the Obama administration’s contraception coverage rule or Virginia’s attempts to require women to have transvaginal ultrasounds before they obtain abortions. And whether it’s CNN’s Dana Loesch tweeting that women have already consented to be penetrated or Rush Limbaugh declaring “what would you expect from a woman driver?” when Danica Patrick said she supported Obama’s decision, it’s been even more discouraging to see how that debate’s been amplified in the media. So if you need encouragement, here are ten pieces of pop culture that will make you laugh, think, and keep you in the fight for women’s rights at a time when the war on women makes America seem more like The Handmaid’s Tale than a modern country:

1. A stirring defense of middle-aged men’s right to comment at length about women’s health: Also, a chance to hear Nick Offerman say the word “vagina” and explain to us that: “Oral contraception is bad, plain and simple. Why? Because I don’t understand how it works and science scares me.”

2. Martha Plimpton on Personhood in Slate: She’s already the star of the best working-class sitcom currently on television, Raising Hope. She’s an awesome progressive Tweeter. And now, she’s dropping knowledge about the Affordable Care Act.

3. Annalee Newitz’s complete guide to science fiction and reproductive rights: The book that gets namechecked every time conservatives start proposing draconian measures to control women’s health is Margaret Atwood’s masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale. While that book, a portrait of an America taken over by religious fundamentalists in the wake of a nuclear attack, is absolutely required reading, Annalee’s guide points out books that get at male anxieties at having their fertility controlled as well. Now if only we could strike a deal where we promise not to steal men’s sperm if they promise not to colonize our ovaries.

4. Sons of Anachy, Season 3, “Lochan Mor”: If you need a reminder that ever-so-occasionally, television’s capable of treating abortion like the medical procedure—and sometimes even bring a dose of humor to the occasion, watch this episode of television in which Lyla, Opie’s girlfriend, visits an abortion clinic. And watch out for the name she uses to make her appointment.

5. Sometimes, you encounter an issue that just requires a good old-fashioned flabbergast-off: Also, Amy Poehler pretty much killed me with this line: “I’ve got so many miles on Transvaginal that I always get upgraded to Ladybusiness.” Please, please let Parks & Recreation stay on the air long enough for Ron and Leslie to have some version of this conversation.

If you need any more proof that conservatives don’t just want to protect their own kids from material they find objectionable, they don’t want anyone to have any access to it, ever, check out the One Million Moms freakout over Archie Comics at Toys ‘R’ Us. They’re writing to the chain:

As a mother and a member of OneMillionMoms.com, I am extremely disappointed to learn that select Toys ‘R’ Us stores are now selling ‘Archie’ comic books with a same-sex wedding displayed on the front cover. I am referring to the ones where the front cover reads “Just Married” with two men marrying, one wearing a service uniform. I am aware that Toys ‘R’ Us employees do not actually set up the displays; they leave this up to the vendor. Your company should be aware of the merchandise being sold in your stores nonetheless. These comic books are displayed at the front checkout counters so they are highly visible to employees, managers, customers and children.

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in your toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, which is becoming extremely common and unnecessary. A trip to the toy store turns into a premature discussion on sexual orientation and is completely uncalled for. Toys ‘R’ Us should be more responsible in the products they carry.

If your children are too young for a discussion about the fact that sometimes two men or two women love each other the way Mommy and Daddy do, they are also probably far too young to see any other comic books or tabloids that are displayed routinely at checkouts, or to any of the violent or sexual toys or games that are regularly peddled at large toy chains. There’s always the option of shopping for toys while your children are at school or with another parent. And if your children are old enough to read, but you don’t want them reading the cover of this one comic book, hand them a new or favorite book while they’re at the checkout line.

I do sympathize with parents who want to expose their children to age-appropriate content, but I draw the line at those who think they have a right to a world where they don’t have to be exposed to anything that contradicts their worldview, and who are prepared to demand that, rather than to try to find reasonable workarounds. And if you want your kids to share your views even in a world that doesn’t, you’re probably going to have to raise them to believe strongly enough even when they’re exposed to new things. Keeping Archie comics out of Toys ‘R’ Us won’t keep gay couples invisible in the world the One Million Moms’ kids will grow up in.

This post contains spoilers through the February 28 episode of Justified.

First, the question of whether Arlo was faking memory loss with Raylan last week, or whether it’s real appears to have been answered. In a beautifully-shot moonlit sequence, we—and Limehouse’s lackeys—”Got some old white fool down the road shouting for Mr. Limehouse.” It turns out Arlo’s charged Noble’s Holler because he believes his wife’s gone missing and “I’m not leaving ’til you send one of those lap dogs up in the maze and bring back my Frances.” But his wife is dead, and Arlo ends up with a splitting headache in the care of Boyd Crowder, with his son telling the outlaw who’s caring for his old man that “It just sounds like he’s off his meds, and I wish you luck with that.” There’s a real sadness to the tale of old hoods in their twilight years, their bodies unable to stand up for the interests of their fading minds.

Raylan isn’t doing too well himself, it turns out. After Winona’s abrupt departure, he’s living above a bar where, in exchange for mild bouncing duties, he gets free DirecTV, the first drink of the night on the house, and regular encounters with girls who say things like “We’ve seen you in here the last couple nights, and we want to know if you were born before disco or after.” Quarles, who attempts to bribe Raylan on the mistaken assumption that his choice of residence is due to Boyd underpaying him rather than Raylan’s essential self-loathing and love for $3 martinis. It’s that assumption that annoys Raylan the most, even more than the fact that Quarles thought “That I was working for you. Taking orders. Doing your bidding. And on the cheap no less.” And having given offense, Raylan’s desire to crush Quarles has become a rather more serious matter.

I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about Quarles. Setting him up a serial abuser of rentboys and resenter of his boss’s son by blood gives him a personality detail other than Joker-like cheerfulness. And it’s kind of fun to see Sammy as a sort of weak-chinned second-generation dilution of a mob dynasty who buys two horses for his daughter rather than one, who answers Raylan’s “What is that, gabardine?” with “Sharkskin. $3,000,” not getting that he’s the butt of a joke. But something about Quarles as sexual psychopath doesn’t quite sit right with me: it’s a rather flip treatment of the serious issue of domestic abuse within the gay community, and we haven’t seen any great brilliance in Quarles yet that would lead the Detroit mob to keep him around in spite of the rather considerable baggage he carries with him.

That said, his attempt to bribe the Harlan sheriff, telling him, “Make a couple of bandaid repairs on those mountaintops everyone’s always bitching about, courtesy of the sheriff’s office,” has set up a great clash. I love the idea of him running one candidate and Boyd another. Quarles may talk a good game about the low prospects of Detroit ending up with “a shitkicker rebellion on our hands.” But one is coming for him anyway.