Wes Phillips

I read Slate primarily to catch my colleague Fred Kaplan's "War Stories" column, but whenever I read Fred, I also go to Garry Trudeau's "The Sandbox," a milblog that allows military personnel stationed in Iraq and Afganistan to "vent, rhapsodize, and [inform] the folks on the home front . . . what is going on from their point of view."

Nice animated short that's one part Green Lantern, one part The Monkey's Paw, and one part Brazil—that is, if you also watch the director's cut ending.

Credit where credit is due: Here's the man himself, Lars Engstrom, standing with theLARS.

I'm sure we're #51. This year.