Criticism. Essay. Fiction. Science. Weather.
week:
1"Mark it 8, Dude." Get it?
Plus, fake facts are for sissies. 2The reality of the unreal
and the art of chewing. 3Getting interrogative with the Dark Continent
and ants are the Internet's idol. 4The author displays his clothes in piles on his bedroom floor. And 1,000,000 Rhode Islanders can't be wrong. 5One size counterfeits all, plus there's a run on limes and the movies don't talk good no more. 6The sweet and no-so-sweet of time travel
and the rigors of uncancellation. 7Personal Parties and Friend Finders considered 8Gamers of the world unite too much
and the new Star Wars scores. 9This week: one guaranteed way
to make yourself more famous. 10Awkward and tacky journalism in celebration of journalism. Plus, individuality now more expensive. 11There are balls in your head
and buds in your heart. 12The upsides of federal incorporation.
The downsides of shoddy adevertising. 13The first 90ways Quaterly Review begins!
1, 2, 3 pieces of Criticism! 14Not being able to look away from
bad grammar and junk material but still LMFAO. 15Spam can be fun if you don't
mind the corporate pimping. 16Some movies go Direct-To-Video.
We feel their pain. 17What the American media doesn't
want you to know about the Tour. 18Dumbing down The Honeymooners for
the preschool set; plus, pain as upper. 19It's 2005. Do you know what your
building's ecological ethic is? 20That building is whispering
ethical nothings in your ear. 21These movies will never know the
warm embrace of a projector lamp. Direct-to-video reviews return! 22The English language is growing & 90ways is on the case.
Neologisms Spoken Here. 23The American frontier is back and ugly as ever:
Here comes Sheriff Privatization. 24When making a British book into a British movie, it's all about the British, no matter what galaxy you're in. 25Condi bites the big one, Apple bites Condi, or Apple just bites. Plus, all the news that's packaged poorly. 26The Second Quarterly Review cometh... 27The rap album based on [adult swim]
has already been leaked. 28The road to Blockbuster is paved with good intentions: Direct-to-Video reviews are back! 29The preschool set belongs inside the lines
and the rain belongs in It. 30They're what everyone's talking with:
Neologisms Spoken Here. 31What time is it?
It's Standard Candy Time. 32Transportation is overrated.
And underrated. 3390ways' investigators go into the field.
And are vaguely saddened. 34See it again, whether you want to or not.
Picture this, in spite of yourself. 35Old comedians don't die,
they just get taken seriously. 36Pro: It's a 90ways debate.
Con: Both sides are just so salient. 37As long as Brokeback Mountain is sold out, we'll keep giving you Direct-to-DVD Reviews... 38At least we can all agree those people who say "Happy Christmas" are insane. 39The Third Quarterly Review
is ringing out the old year! 40New words for the new year. 41False starts and happy endings.
There's value in dead-ends. 4290ways has a confession to make.
We made up our history, too. 43Bringing you the latest from the world of dissembling: 90ways inaugurates the Hoax Report. 44It ain't about the facts, ma'am.
It's about the truth. 45Oscar nominations have been handed out. Direct-to-DVD movies snubbed again. 46What are the 90 points of it all? 47Spring: new growth, redemption,
Spring Traning. 48Technological advances notwithstanding, there's a whole new kind of static over the 6 o'clock news. 49O'Reilly's on the warpath.
The Chinese are not. 50The Hoax Report returns. And Canada beats Team USA. (That last part's actually true.) 51There's a lot packed into that intro and we feel no need to approach it in an organized manner. 52It's a surprise;
that's why you should have seen it coming. 53It's our party and we'll cry if we want to. 54Now that big, gothic banner looks positively antique. Plus, who cares about which cares about baseball. 55Being proud of Junior and bored in June. 56Every time I hear that song, I see a Cornell alum hitting a home run. 57What do heroin and Christian prayer have in common? They both star in the Direct-to-DVD finale! 58The cutting room floor in the desert.
The recording studio at first base. 59Tinted contact lenses and poorly delivered jokes. Foolproof. 60If you can't make a real quick 70 mill, how else do you justify a $125 million budget? 61Landmark case of 2006:
Orchestra v. Organ. 6290ways is interested in the words here, too. 63Everything in Criticism today is not quite right. 64Sports Utility Vehicles. Sort Of.
Sports. Golf, anyway.
65It's our Second Annual First Quarterly Review! 66Behold: The return of new word reviews. 67Bringing global warming in from the cold,
one dollar at a time. 68Don't believe the zinc industry's hype. 69It's crazy on the street.
It's best-selling on the teevee.
70Still crabbing about lost CD revenue?
Time to learn to shake your new moneymaker. 71Thrown into a plane.
With snakes. 72Space and Worlds and
snakes on planes. 73One giant vehicle is for war,
the other is for one day sales. 74It's all laid out for you.
From the numbing consumerism to the noble freedom. 75Sure the natural majesty was great,
but how about that Motel 8? 76One of life's great mysteries:
An Arby's in Mountain Time. 77Fall teevee is upon us.
Maybe some of it won't suck. 7852 + 26 = 78.
One and a half years of Ways. 79The smell of pigskin is in the autumn air. 80Someone needs to speak up in the name of common sense. 81New words are all around us.
Neologisms Spoken Here. 82What Dallas is now to someone who never knew it before: The Nostalgia Watch. 83Oh. The Horror.
A special Halloween installment of The Hoax Report. 84It was awful.
WomenAndChildren awful. 85It's like Carrie, but even better.
And somehow that became a great movie. 86He's in the corner.
And he wants to help you sleep. 87Up in the air. It's a bird. It's a hot-air balloon.
It's the 90ways Hoax Report! 88Tearing through the sentimentality and the water-colored memories: It's the Nostalgia Watch. 89Of all the Anabaptists in all the world... 90It's the week we've all been waiting for. 91We're reviewing the quarter to ring in the new year. 92Ringing it in is a burden we all carry. 93Am I my brother's keeper? 94This is all true. 95Notes to Notes.
Sometimes ears taste better than pens. 96Neologisms Spoken Here.
New words created through misappropriation. 97The lies of the diamond dealers. 98Crime, punishment, and the bits in between. 99Same name.
Different albums. 100All the forensics in the world can't
turn up any evidence of character. 101What makes America great
and not so great. 102Fanboy hand-wringing. Shocking. 103Panic in the streets,
Monsignor style. 104It's our second anniversary.
Break out the cotton. 105He kills for all the right reasons. 106The World's Cheese Imagination is within our grasp... if only. 107It's never an easy choice. 108Just give me one thing I can play for.
Just 'Cause: Live! Suffer! Die!
M. C. Wood
How many times have you wondered about the sort of death you want to have? Do you want it to be a "worthwhile" death? A death after a good, long life? Or, instead, do you worry you're going to die for no good reason? Imagine, for example the parents of a kid that gets blown up by an I.E.D. in Iraq, and in their grief they despair over a "wasted" life -- wasted because the good kid didn't die for a good reason. Consider that "senseless" drunk driving death -- you know, the one where the drunk driver lives, and the young-bride-with-a-new-baby-on-the-way-and-recent-promotion-at-work in the other car dies. What about the "unbelievable" death of the guy-who-just-had-a-check-up-the-day-before-he-dropped-dead-of-a-heart-attack? And let's not forget the child who died of leukemia at age six, making all of us wonder just what sort of "God" this God-guy really is. The question burns inside each and every one of our precariously beating hearts: Will I die for no good reason, too? Well, at Just 'Cause, we've got the answer!
Hi, I'm Joe Santos, President and CEO. Here's the answer -- free -- me to you: No. You won't die for no good reason. Why? Because there is no good reason. You just die, just 'cause. Though there are countless ways a person can die -- the proximate and remote causes seem practically endless -- the one thing we can count on is that death's gonna happen to each and every one of us. And when it does, it's a pretty good bet we're not going to much care how it happened after the fact. It's a relief to know this, really, it's a load off. The guy who keels over from a massive coronary on the toilet might not have imagined this would be the way he'd croak, but you know what? He's probably not going to have the chance to worry about that too much. That's gonna be a job for Francine and the kids. And should they really spend their time agonizing over it, anyway?
You see, we here at Just 'Cause are committed to helping each and every one of you stop worrying about whether or not the reason you die is a good one. The idea we've hit upon is simple. It's called Death Equity. With few exceptions, not one of us will have the chance to choose when to die or, more importantly to some, how we die. Nevertheless, we all live under the delusion that some deaths are arbitrary, ignoble, or unreasonable -- as if the rest of them somehow transcend such indignities. Death Equity changes all that. No reason for dying is more or less good than any other. The reason someone dies is that their life ends. 'Nuff said. Suicide bomber? Doh! Agonizing bone cancer? So sorry! Accidental victim of a drive-by shooting? Too bad! Take away the "good" reasons for dying, and the whole death thing starts to lose its luster, don't it?
Now, we here at Just 'Cause know we've got a lot of minds to change, and it's not gonna be easy. But that's the beauty of Death Equity by Just 'Cause. We sift out purpose from mechanism so you don't have to.
Not convinced yet? I wasn't either, at first. But then I started to think about it. I started to think about the poor schmuck who's just trying to get through the day, you know what I mean? And this poor putz, not hurting nobody, walks in on a bank robbery. One of the robbers get jittery, and POP! Right between the eyes. No family left, no close friends. Not even a designated mourner to say, "Heck, what was all that about?" Then there's all those deaths nobody even knows about, those mass murders that are covered up by corrupt governments in far away lands? I mean, heck. If someone dies in a forest, and no one is there to witness it, is the death for a good reason or a bad one? You tell me.
So, Just 'Cause offers, for a low, low fee, Death Equity. Why not get in on the ground floor! Just 'Cause, your death equity specialists. Like our motto says, Live! Suffer! Die!