Easy weeknight dinners: Happy Cinco de Mayo!
There are a few holidays that chefs really like. Cinco de Mayo is one of them. Great Mexican food is so fun and easy to prepare, so go ahead and celebrate with my Shrimp and Avocado on Crispy Tortillas!
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Have a question about sex? Just text it
Did you know that North Carolina schools teach an abstinence-only curriculum? For those of us slow on the uptake… that means no contraception is discussed at all! So they teach you how to have sex, and about the consequences of sex (pregnancy, STD’s), but not how to protect yourself from those consequences. And, as might be expected, they have the ninth highest teen-pregnancy rate in the country. Hello people of North Carolina, your kids are having sex, deal with it! [Read more →]
Secularism: A free market for religion
Secularism is good for the prosperity of religion. The absence of a state-sanctioned faith has afforded opportunities for religious beliefs, congregations, and dogma to compete for the affirmations of citizens. Secularism creates, in a sense, a free socioreligious market. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane has plenty to recommend it: the Salem Witch Trials, crazy grad school mentors and a hot, agnostic steeplejack. Certainly sounds like a good start to a story, combining historical fiction, a bit of mystery and maybe something a little supernatural. It starts with a very interesting question about the Salem witch trials, one that is not normally addressed in the history books: What if some of these women really were witches? Katherine Howe might have an answer for that. Her ancestors include Elizabeth Howe, hanged as a witch in Salem in 1692 and Elizabeth Proctor, another accused witch, whose story is the basis of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. [Read more →]
Why Dr. McCoy was not a whiny bitch
As we wait breathlessly for the reboot of Star Trek this week, I want to raise an issue.
I always thought everyone was a little condescending to Bones whenever he got a bit whiny about using the transporter. Dr. McCoy had good, philosophical reasons for being freaked out by the device. [Read more →]
The mystery of memory is the mystery of ourselves
I have been reading Justine, the first volume of Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, which I had not looked at since college. It has been a happy reunion, conjuring much of the same magic as before, its cadences echoing in the mind like favorite tunes, causing one to feel as one had not for so very long.
Durrell, I gather, has fallen into neglect since his death in 1990. [Read more →]
Lauren likes TV: Private Practically scares the crap out of me
Private Practice (Thursday, ABC, 10PM) – I wasn’t able to watch TV this week. “What?!“, you scream? I have a good excuse. I was in Miami celebrating the upcoming nuptials of my bestie, Emma. I have a lot of catching up to do. However, between sun, cocktails, and late night boozing, I managed to watch the season finale of Private Practice on www.abc.com. And all I can say is, WTF?! [Read more →]
Now read this! Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent
It’s always puzzled me that, at least in some forums, Joseph Conrad is seen as an adventure story writer, as though he wrote for teenage boys. Admittedly, some of his long stories like Youth, Nigger of the Narcissus, and Typhoon have incredible scenes of high adventure and action, but even these are great works of literature. His The Secret Agent, too, with a title that suggests all the elements that go with the spy genre, will surprise, but hardly disappoint, anyone picking it up for an enjoyable read. [Read more →]
Bad sports, good sports: BCS go away
This week, hearings started in Congress about the need for a college football playoff. The threat is that the BCS will not be able to refer to their championship game as a “national championship” if a playoff is not involved. Now, from my review of online commentary and conversation with other college football fans, I would say that although it is very clear that a playoff is greatly preferred as the way to determine a champion, there is a faction out there that thinks that the government should spend its time on the economic issues facing the country, rather than worry about how a game picks its ultimate winner. Personally, I am thrilled at the government’s involvement. [Read more →]
Top ten excuses of Jason LeRoy Savage, recently found guilty of having sex with a carwash vacuum cleaner
10. Seriously, did you see that vacuum cleaner?!
9. Due to the bad economy, he was out of money for hookers.
8. She made the first move.
7. Just one in a series of girlfriends who sucked the life out of him.
6. He’s only human!
5. It was the anniversary of their first date.
4. Somebody had sudsed it up and it was looking particularly fine!
3. He was trying to make his home vacuum cleaner jealous.
2. It was purely physical; he didn’t want any attachments.
1. His wet vac was on the fritz.
The curious case of Simon Cameron Specter
Be prepared to be dazzled by names of important white men you’ve never heard of and distant dates from Pennsylvania’s past. Take 1848. . . Please! Try to remember the year 1848 because that’s the last time that Pennsylvania had a Democratic governor and two Democratic United States Senators. At a news conference last Tuesday Arlen Spector announced an unexpected Democratic Party Pennsylvania trifecta in a race no one saw running at post time. [Read more →]
Just fantastic: Wolverine’s origin stories
Wolverine Origin (graphic novel) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine don’t have much in common. They deal with different stories in different ways. The book is great and the movie is okay. [Read more →]
The Baltimore symphony orchestra gives back
In 30 years of watching the symphony orchestra business, I’ve never seen anything quite as remarkable as the recent story in the Washington Post describing a voluntary concession, nay “donation”, of wage and benefit reductions totaling $1 million offered by the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony. Orchestra management was actually taken by surprise by the news. [Read more →]
Cinema this week: Life-changing movies
If you check out the various lists touting the greatest movies of all time, you’ll notice that the top spot varies between two films, The Godfather and Citizen Kane. Which is the best? Well, for me, the answer is obvious, because one of those movies changed my life and the other did not, and that’s the measure of a movie’s greatness. Every time you see a movie, you are changed a little bit, but some movies, rare movies, can change your life. [Read more →]
Dude, English’s genderless pronoun
Dude, dude, DUDE, dood, duude…
It sounds ridiculous but the word “dude” is a significant part of my social identity. Dude defines me by generation, possibly social class, and almost certainly my suburban upbringing. [Read more →]
The good news? Sometimes no one barfs
Dear Ruby,
My girlfriend and I are planning our first road trip together with her 6 year old daughter. I like kids, but the only thing I know about them is based on me at that age. What do I do to keep her little girl occupied in the car all that time? I used to play with Matchbox cars and Legos, but from what I gather she’s not so into that stuff. I want to surprise and impress my girlfriend and keep us all happy without stopping in every town for a new Barbie.
Fun Uncle Paul
P.S. There’s going to be about 8-10 hours of driving each day for at least 2 days and we do have a portable DVD player. [Read more →]
