Living in DC, in the mid to late 90's was the period where I more or less retreated from any kind of new guitar music. It just seemed like the electric guitar as the central iconic Rockenroll instrument had ceased to be exciting for me—It had all been done before and better by someone else. All these White Rockist…

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
That thing, that thing, that thi-yi-yi-ying…

Hey Fidel, have you seen 'Country Man'? That's supposed to be pretty badass—I downloaded it but I haven't put it on yet.

Other Gay Bad Asses:

As an old Asian Studies geek whose main focus was Japanese history, I found 'The Last Samurai' nice to look at, and evocative of the era—but the storyline was all 'Dances with Wakazashi'.

Shaka Zulu

"rocks dreads"

Historical Badasses? I nominate Rasputin. And Meyer Lansky.

'Hell in the Pacific'—Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune.

Best Black Badass in real life? Yaphet Kotto, Crown Prince of Cameroon—and a Jew.

On the one hand, John Saxon never made a guy's head explode. On the other hand, Michael Ironside was in 'V'.

"Flaming vaginas are not scary"

Whenever there's a lull on my Netflix cue I get one of the 'Lone Wolf and Cub' movies, and I am never disappointed.

And yet, I think Queequeg's ass is the badder one.

Tom Reagan—he acts the part but he gets his decidedly unbad ass handed to him again and again in that movie, even once by a twist. No, he's a manipulator, and a cool customer, but guys like him aren't animals, they don't bump guys.

But his ass is not bad at all in 'Children of Men'—That's what makes that film work, half the time he's blundering around frightened in flip flops, and otherwise behaves the way a regular guy would under the circumstances.

I have such conflicted feelings about Mel Gibson—On the one hand, there's the 'Mad Max' trilogy, 'Gallipoli', and 'The Year of Living Dangerously', some of my favorite movies of all time. And on the other hand, everything else with his name on it (except maybe 75% of 'Apocalypto'). Given that ratio, I can't help but…

Ripley for sure—But I want to give a nod to two of the best female badasses I've seen in recent years.

'Seven Samurai' is rife with badassery—That bit with Kambei (Shimura) and the kidnapper? The way he pulls his bow in the climax. I think the only one who doesn't get to be a badass is the kid, Katsushiro (unless you consider nailing the farmer's daughter badass, which I don't particularly since she was the aggressor).…

I've been rewatching 'Cheers' on the WGN every evening lately, and it is still a really funny show. Woody Harrelson was brilliant in it too—I think he's a capable actor, and he's done some really noteworthy work over the years, but it is true that he will always be living down the impression he left with that first…