Buffy

 Offensive or dumb? The New York Post publishes provocative banner headline.

 In the post-911 age, there are various ways to approach staying culturally relevant. There's the route of The Onion, which took on history -- and Terrorism, and America -- head-on. Then there's this week's Saturday Night Live, which I'm shocked completely hid in a hole (polar bear jokes? that's not levity, that's cowardice). Perhaps most interesting of all, though, there's Buffy. Josh Whedon, the show's creator, has a mind similar to X-Files provocateur, Chris Carter. They both see the value of nuance: subtle hints are more provoking than big statements. Last night's season (and network) premier nicely hinted at themes of death and rebirth with a collapsing structure -- the very structure from which Buffy killed and sacrificed herself last season, perhaps a twin tower of logical capitalism -- came crumbling down. In her cycle of death and rebirth through a public structure, she returns the world a little closer to reality.

 Tom Brokaw tells students that NBC should have aired images of people jumping from WTC. It would have illustrated the effects of the attacks, he argues. (Link via MediaNews.)

 StarTribune drops lawsuit.