Horror is a genre of the unnatural: things that shouldn’t exist but somehow do; things that do things they shouldn’t; anything and everything that defies the law of physics, biology, and offends the human sensibility. Zombies are an easy example: they aren’t dead when they should be and they do a lot thing dead bodies don’t normally do like walking around and attacking the living. While zombies don’t unnerve me (not even the new fast running crazy zombies) there are some shows and films that do. [Read more →]

Tags: fan boy says, movies by Steve Mazzeo
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Last week I promised you five non-sucky, non-budget-breaking holiday gift ideas, but I can tell you’ve had a long week, so you’re getting six. Two ideas for your girly-type recipients, two for the less overtly effeminate, one for a household or couple of any orientation, and one for kids.

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Tags: advice, money by Ruby Mac
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It rarely, if ever, gets talked about, but it is possible to find a good horror movie. To qualify, a good horror movie is a good movie with an element of the unnatural that is scary or at least creepy. These movies are generally easy to spot because you’re shocked at the director’s ability to tell a story. I blame the industry. If there weren’t so many terrible and incoherent horror movies the following titles wouldn’t be so stunning.

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Tags: fan boy says, movies by Steve Mazzeo
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Last year was the centenary of Ian Fleming (1908-1964). It was a very good year for the creator of Bond, James Bond.

To celebrate his life and work, a good number of events took place in the United Kingdom, the U.S. and around the world.

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Tags: books & writing, on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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The reality show Survivor has a great little tag line, “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.” The person who is able to accomplish all three of these things at the end of the show wins a million dollars. Pretty awesome, right? My three-year-old daughter would kick ass in that game. They’d never see her coming. I imagine it would go a little something like this:

“Ohhh look at that gorgeous little girl with the blond hair and big eyes. What a sweet smile you have. Aren’t you just the cutest little thing?! Hey wait a minute, how the hell did I end up on the floor — hogtied, with you standing on my back pumping your fists in victory? What just happened?!”

I’ll tell ya how. She just outwitted, outplayed and outlasted your ass. Welcome to my world. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
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Last week I made a rare visit to the cinema, and was immediately reminded precisely why my trips are so few and far between. Although I had successfully evaded the Regal ‘First Look’ at sundry pieces of cinematic ordure sliding down the pipeline, no sooner was I sitting comfortably than I was subjected to one of the vilest obscenities I have ever beheld. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, movies by Daniel Kalder
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As a writer for a mix of magazines, I receive a fair amount of invites for press tours. I usually accept or decline based on one strict journalistic principle: is this something I like? For instance, when I received an offer to go on a trip to Bavaria with Sam Adams’ representatives, I signed on because:

1. I like Sam Adams beer.

2. I like German beer.

3. I like beer in general. [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands by Sean Cunningham
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June 18, 2009
I dream I am in the bathroom ready to leave for a trip to a nearby amusement park/carnival. In the bathroom, with a great deal of self-importance, I recite some of the final lines from Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie: “These days, the world is lit by lightning.” I repeat the line several times with increasing gravity. When I go out to the car, I notice that a neighbor who had been half buried in dirt pulls himself out, dazed. He is fully clothed but his penis is hanging out of his pants.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness is one of the great features of the comic book world: zany crossovers with no repercussions. The closest film has ever gotten is most likely Freddie vs. Jason, where two unrelated characters faced off just for shits and giggles. In all cases crossovers tend to foster an air of stupid but fun as explanations are rarely given and fan demand plots or actions generally occur.

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Tags: books & writing, just fantastic by Steve Mazzeo
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The filmmakers involved in New York, I Love You were given three constraints: They had to shoot their segments in 24 hours, they had a week to edit and they needed to give the sense of a particular neighborhood.  Some of the short segments are funny, some are dark, some have a twist and some are stronger than others. They also seem intertwined with New York, and as a whole, New York, I Love You is as enjoyable as a whirlwind weekend in New York. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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I know what you’re thinking, “there’s no way making homemade gnocchi is an easy weeknight dinner”, but you’re wrong! If you have a food processor (and I realize not everyone does….but they’re on sale at Lowes this week so maybe you could look into it), then making these light and delicious gnocchi will take you about 20 minutes. And if you don’t have a processor, then save this recipe for a rainy weekend afternoon when you have an hour to kill and make them by hand.

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Tags: easy weeknight dinners, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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On any given Sunday, have you ever wished that you knew a little more about football?  You’re watching with friends, everyone is yelling about the lousy blocking or the zone defense and you wish you knew what they were talking about?  Or maybe you wish your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse could get as excited about the pass coverage as you are?  This may be just the book you need.  A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football will teach new fans and old a little more about the game so many of us love.  The author, Mark Oristano, spent thirty years working for/with the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers.  Along the way, he picked up a lot of helpful information:

When you’ve finished, you won’t be able to immediately spot “Cover Two” or know which receiver broke his route off too soon or whether the ref made the right call when he signalled intentional grounding.  But you will understand, for example, why first-down plays are the most important play of any offensive drive. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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My bedtime reading last night consisted of a few pages of John Cowper Powys’s The Art of Growing Old. Since I am only two years shy of the Biblical age, I figure it’s high time to get some pointers on how to deal with my impending dotage. [Read more →]

Tags: that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Recently, some women have worked themselves into a tizzy over President Obama and his good old boys club. Apparently, the ladies are feeling slighted as a result of the current White House testosterone-laden culture of ESPN, basketball games, and fist bumps. A major faux pas occurred when Obama sent out invitations to a White House basketball game with nary a woman on the list. Similarly, despite Obama’s many weekend golf games, only last weekend did a woman finally make it out to the links. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, politics & government by Nancy DeGregorio
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I am so far behind on TV it’s not even funny. Between my vacation (holla to my fellow PV Zoo Party-goers), the baseball playoffs, and my day job, I’m a good 2 weeks behind. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I desperately need some rerun weeks in order for me to catch up. So that being said, this week I can’t tell you highlights, lowlights, and what to watch next week (except for Yankee baseball, of course). So what do I talk about today? [Read more →]

Tags: Lauren Likes TV, music, television by Lauren LaBumbard
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Manny Ramirez is everything that is bad about sports. I could substitute his name for “Bad sports” in the title of my column, and people would still know what I meant.

There have been a lot of bad people in sports during my lifetime. Some are criminals. Some are drug addicts. Many are spoiled babies. Manny Ramirez is in a special class, though. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. You have to wheel an IV drip bag on a stand along with you.

9. Instead of candy, you ask for prunes.

8. Your “trick” involves taking out your dentures and then biting your own ear.

7. You’ve gone as Larry King, and you don’t need any makeup.

6. You’re the only SpongeBob on the block with a walker.

5. You can suck the chocolate off the Goobers, but you can’t then chew the peanuts.

4. Your grandkids tell you the best houses to hit.

3. Instead of candy corn, you keep hoping for corn pads.

2. When people open the door, instead of saying “Trick or treat,” you look confused, then start singing Christmas carols.

1. You keep seeing someone dressed up as the Grim Reaper – but you’re the only one who can see him.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd by Bob Sullivan
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Is it just me, or has 2009 been exceptionally rich in the deaths of legendary figures?  In August, Ted Kennedy was finally reunited in heaven with Mary Jo Kopechne. In July a much more interesting man, Harry Patch, the last veteran of World War I, died aged 111. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, travel & foreign lands by Daniel Kalder
4 Comments »

I love Halloween. In fact, I think I may have more fun getting dressed up than my kids. And since Halloween is on a Saturday this year we’ve decided to head down from New York to the suburbs of Philadelphia, so my kids can trick-or-treat with their 7-year-old cousin. My daughter is going as a rock star, my son is going as a T-Rex, my nephew is going as a ninja, and I thought I would go as a New York Yankee. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, sports by Amy Boshnack
6 Comments »

You know you’re already thinking about it, especially if you’re one of the 7,000 Americans whose unemployment benefits are running out, or if you live in, say, Michigan. In these darkest of before-the-dawn days, maybe it’s a good time to reexamine the holiday gift-giving ritual and all its evil, consumer-driven overtones.

Or maybe, you know, not. Not this year. This year some of you would like a little normalcy, a little dignity, a little tradition, just with fewer finance charges and bank overdraft fees sprinkled on top.

I hear you. You want your brother-in-law to look over at you and say, “Nice,” and mean it. Impact, not indigence. Let’s get started — yes, pre-Halloween, so sue me – with 5 gifts to avoid giving. [Read more →]

Tags: advice, money by Ruby Mac
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If you would have asked me just a few months ago if the healthcare system in this country needed fixing, my immediate answer would have been, “hell yes.” Like most Americans, I hated high deductibles, costly procedures, tiresome claims, ambiguous benefits, dysfunctional emergency rooms, etc, etc. Unlike most Americans, I had a chronic condition, so for me the madness was amplified. But now there is a president and congress committed to helping. So why am I not excited? [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Robert O'Hara
10 Comments »

This year we will have 10 Best Picture nominations. 10. Off the top of my head, here are the films I can think of deserving them:

-The Hurt Locker

-Up (primarily for the montage; anyone who’s seen the movie knows what I’m talking about)

That is all. [Read more →]

Tags: movies by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

October 9, 2009
I dream Dan Rather is working on a report in which he evaluates coffee and bananas. There is a dog who rates bananas at the Fred Siegel Rest Stop, which is located in Bucks County, PA, about an hour outside of New York. This rest stop is dedicated to “The Psychiatrists,” and the dog evaluates four bananas and one banana soup. Rather explains that the dog is a connoisseur, and has extensive knowledge of bananas.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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The first image in A Serious Man is a quote from Rashi: “Accept with simplicity everything that happens to you.” At the end of the credits, among the usual boilerplate, we see that “No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture.” In between is one of the most riveting films I have seen this year. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
7 Comments »

Pico de gallo (or “Rooster’s Beak”) is a raw Mexican salsa of finely chopped tomato, onion, chile, lime, cilantro, and usually some type of fruit such as mango or papaya. I use it on everything and I always have some in my fridge. It will stay fresh in the fridge, in an airtight container, for several days.

Fried Catfish with Pico de gallo: Serves 4

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Tags: easy weeknight dinners, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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Green Eyes in the Amazon is a very timely book — almost too timely.  Fundamentalist religious groups are conspiring to control society and stifle scientific advances by any means necessary, including violence.  It is set in a hazy but not-too-distant future.  No more cellphones and SUVs, now we all have vidcoms and autopiloted cars.  Central America is a Dead Zone, university professors and students have to swear loyalty oaths and religion is on the rise.  In this contentious climate, a brilliant young biologist may have ushered in the next step in human evolution — but what will the religious zealots do to stop him? [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
1 Comment »

“Everything comes in time to those who can wait.” I thought this was a French proverb, but I have seen it attributed to Rabelais. Maybe it’s just a proverb Rabelais quoted. Like Cervantes, Rabelais knew his proverbs.

Whatever its origin, its purport is clear enough. It’s a pitch for patience, which is a virtue I doubt any of us is born with. If the behavior of babies is any evidence, our wish to have what we want when we want it comes naturally to us. [Read more →]

Tags: that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
2 Comments »

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford had a magical redshirt sophomore year. He led the Sooners to a 12-2 record, winning the Heisman Trophy in the process. The NFL scouts loved him, and he was projected by most to be a high pick in the draft, if not the first overall. Instead, he chose to return to school, hoping to lead the team to a National Championship. Instead, his junior year has turned into a nightmare for him. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. The jack-o-lantern is an orange balloon with a Magic Marker Happy Face.

9. The Wolfman is just a shirtless hairy guy.

8. The scariest movie they could find to show is Mariah Carey’s Glitter.

7. It’s February.

6. Sexiest Costume goes to an Ed Asner lookalike.

5. Bobbing for Apples segues into Hunting for Uncle Sid’s Contact Lens.

4. Most of the guests are dressed as their favorite Certified Public Accountants.

3. All the decorations say “HAPPY,” then “BIRTHDAY” is crossed out and “HALLOWEEN” is written above it.

2. Best Costume goes to a guy in a sheet.

1. Instead of candy: leftover meatloaf.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: art & entertainment, Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd by Bob Sullivan
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Vampires were scary at one point in time. I remember watching the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Legosi and feeling shiver go down my spine from time to time based on nothing more than solid acting. But let’s face it the vampire scene has changed and not in a good way. [Read more →]

Tags: fan boy says, movies by Steve Mazzeo
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