Brian Gongol

Reports suggest that Kim Jong-Il is in dire straits with bad health, and that his youngest son might soon be in charge of the Stalinist holdout, making for the third generation of family control over the country. Communism never did away with privilege -- it just institutionalized it with the political class. Say what you will about capitalism, but markets tend to be very good at enforcing shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

But the problem isn't going away anytime soon

(Video) If nothing else, the band has assuredly figured out how to build a franchise off their unusual music videos in a post-MTV era.