Ok, the most entertaining thing I’ve read in a long time was the recent New York Times Op-Ed “The Billionaires Bankrolling The TEA Party”, by Mr. Frank Rich.  It shows that the New York Times has learned an amazing lesson.  With the success of the National Enquirer and the Jon Edwards story, something which used to be the sort of stuff you might expect to hear first from such a prestigious organization as the Times,  the Times has learned and decided to emulate the National Enquirer!

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
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NY POST – Tiger Woods is now prowling the Big Apple.

Just days after finalizing his divorce, Woods moved into a downtown Manhattan apartment during the weekend, when he also was playing in a tournament just across the Hudson River in Paramus, NJ.

It seems that Tiger Woods is better fit to be single. Last weekend at Barclay’s, in his first appearance since his official divorce, Tiger Woods shot a 65, his best round of the year. He finished in 12^th, his best finish since June. [Read more →]

Tags: advice, sports by Robert O'Hara
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Before I hand out my weekly dose of celebrity advice, I’d like to thank the great people of New York for realizing that, as always, I was right and for choosing to view Manhattan over Serendipity at the Central Park Film Festival last week. I was worried but you pulled through for me. You’re a good bunch, NYC. Even you, Staten Island! Now, let’s talk about someone whom I am very proud to say is not a New Yorker: Paris Hilton. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, Meg gives advice to famous people by Meg Boyle
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Recently I’ve been reading Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas. Yousef is a Christian convert who worked for years for the Israeli Shin Bet, feeding them information about planned terrorist attacks and so preventing countless deaths. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
4 Comments »

Naturally I am concerned about overweight people. I am concerned because I have a big heart. Not an enlarged, unhealthy heart, like thickset people, but rather I am full of concerned feeling for them. I want them to be healthy. Even if they don’t want to be healthy themselves. I want this for them because I am healthy myself. I run almost every day. I eat healthy foods. And I feel great! Except for all this concern that I have for people who don’t run, and don’t eat healthy foods.

When I think of those butterballs, I feel sad.

But then I feel happy again when I think of the people who are actually doing something about our country’s obesity epidemic. People like me, who make enlightened food choices, and who exercise regularly. I am a lean and healthy 154 pounds, and at 6’1″, I am an appealing ideal to which others can aspire.

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Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
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At virtually any point during my childhood, if you had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have told you I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I was okay as a player…nothing special. I got to pitch in little league, but that was mostly because my father was the coach. I never had any illusions that being paid to play was in my future, but it certainly would have been my choice if all it took was wanting to do it. In this desire, I was certainly not alone. If you watch professional athletes, though, it is clear that it is not all one big party. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. For in-flight meals, the main course is whatever birds fly into the engines.

9. Pay toilets and a five-drink minimum.

8. During cold and flu season, all afflicted passengers are entitled to one suck off the communal lozenge.

7. Standing room only.

6. In-flight entertainment consists of three gay flight attendants doing their version of Streetcar.

5. Salted peanuts: Free. Bottled water: $10 a bottle.

4. Oxygen mask compartments replaced with overpriced vending machine snacks.

3. All meals: BYOB.

2. Copilots considered “optional.”

1. Seatbelt rentals.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, travel & foreign lands by Bob Sullivan
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Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer today, our Frank Wilson takes on Philly’s blogging tax — a business license fee being charged to bloggers who have ads on their sites, even if the ads only make them $5 a year.

Tags: announcements, books & writing by Coliseum
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Remember when Morgan Freeman fixed racism in Mississippi schools (at least the issue of segregated proms)? Well, turns out that even the President from Deep Impact can’t get the Deep South to at least try to pretend like they know it’s the year 2010.

[Read more →]

Tags: race & culture by Dan Sterlace
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A passing of note for me — and for all fans of anime, really. Satoshi Kon, a highly acclaimed Japanese anime director, died suddenly of cancer on Monday evening. He was 47.

Kon was not an early pioneer of the genre … nor was he its most prolific artist. But he had a special significance, a special impact, nonetheless. [Read more →]

Tags: movies, television by Jeff McDonald
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I thought the election of Barack Obama would have made a difference by now. I thought that a biracial presidency would have helped improve historically distorted attitudes and perceptions of reality. I thought that white American conservatives might learn to respect black leadership. I thought that white American liberals might finally reconcile the fabricated social guilt that they walk around with. I thought that American blacks might desensitize a little. I thought that all Americans, Hispanics and Asians included, might be able to better reconcile common racial and ethnic distortions. I was naive. [Read more →]

Tags: race & culture by Robert O'Hara
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This summer, during an all-too-brief stop in Philadelphia, I hiked down to the riverfront to visit, once again, the U.S.S. Olympia … at the time, I didn’t know that it may have been a farewell visit.

A grand old ship that stayed the course in the face of the Spanish Navy more than a hundred years ago, the Olympia has been ravaged by time, the relentless barrage of the elements and — admittedly — an inadequate maintenance program. She’s the oldest steel warship still afloat, and the last of her kind in all the world. But, barring a dramatic change in her fortune, she may soon go to the bottom forever.

[Read more →]

Tags: trusted media & news by Jeff McDonald
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Welcome back to the Internet’s premier den of rectitude, “Audio Files.” Last week’s column generated about $15,000 in Google Ad revenue, and this week I’m shooting for $20K. Parachute down the rabbit hole with me once again, won’t you?

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Tags: Michael Cade's audio files by Michael Cade
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This book really took me back to my heavy metal roots. I was a fan in high-school and college, saw a lot of head-banging bands play live, and still have the hard rock/alternative stations programmed in the car radio. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is a look behind the scenes at how a scrawny kid from La Mesa, California became a rock and roll god. It’s full of great backstage stories and plenty of gritty truth about how Dave Mustaine got to where he is today. It’s a must-read for heavy metals fans. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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Hi, folks. This video “Fred’s Dreams” is in two parts.  First, a dream is read and interpreted….

…and second, Dr. Spiegelvogel and I have a discussion about it. [Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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America’s strength comes from its adaptability; its ability to remain dynamic and search for innovative ways to solve the problems that face us as a people. Whether it’s finding solutions to the dangers of terrorism on our airplanes, or finding ways to ensure affordable healthcare for all, our country is taking the initiative and making important decisions that will make us all safer and healthier.

Of course, there is still more we can do. That’s another part of our strength — our ability to recognize that we should always do more. There will never come a time when we shouldn’t be doing more.

We’re seeing this in Washington. Even the sweeping healthcare bill that was just passed is being made even more sweeping, because our leaders understand that laws, even existing laws, need to be dynamic, to change with the times. And times are changing. We’re not the same country we were when the health care bill was passed five months ago. We’ve grown. We’ve changed. Our laws need to change with us.

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Tags: politics & government, travel & foreign lands by Ricky Sprague
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There was a flash one day, and another a few days later and the war was over. Millions of Americans and Japanese that had just had their date with death cancelled turned around and went home. In Europe the fighting had stopped with Hitler dead, but the squabbling had begun already. Germany had been reduced to ashes in some precincts and barely touched in others. The Soviets were digging in and laying the chaulklines for the Iron Curtain which of course split Germany just as Berlin herself was split into a sector for each of the Allies. British, American and French sectors were Free Berlin. The Soviet sector, less so. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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I have mixed feelings about Todd Solondz. I loved Welcome to the Dollhouse, liked parts of Happiness and disliked other parts and Palindromes stayed with me, but in an uncomfortable way. As for Life During Wartime, some of the scenes are interesting and funny in a dark way. I like the parts, but the whole left me cold.  But maybe that was Solondz’s goal. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Greek Salad is a classic way to make the most of end-of-the-summer produce….and a great way to highlight these beautiful heirloom tomatoes! I add whole wheat pasta to a traditional Greek Salad to make a more satisfying meal, without adding too many calories.

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Tags: recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
2 Comments »

By now, my faithful readership (all three of you) knows what this column is all about. Celebrities are crazy, and need good advice. I am awesome, and give good advice. Everybody wins. Today, though, I feel compelled to share my wisdom with a different type of celebrity: The people of New York City. Individually, we may not be much. Collectively, we possess the star power of Elvis in his heyday and Bono on any day combined. This week, we New Yorkers have the power to harness that brilliance and put it to good use. I am speaking, of course, about the biggest decision facing our city today, the importance of which is even greater than our inevitable future decision whether to re-elect King Bloomberg for a 15th term: The choice of whether to screen Woody Allen’s Manhattan or John Cusack’s Serendipity at the upcoming Viewer’s Choice Night of the Central Park Film Festival. New York, you need to choose Manhattan. [Read more →]

Tags: Meg gives advice to famous people, movies by Meg Boyle
6 Comments »

A team of U.S. Navy SEALs huddles around a coffee urn at their firebase in Afghanistan after an exhausting firefight with the Taliban.

“How can you account for people doing something so … savage?” asks the team’s shocked and appalled medic.

“Easy,” replies the more jaded SEAL team leader. “They’re savages.”

Don Winslow’s crime thriller Savages (Simon and Schuster) opens with two words:

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Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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Our very own Fred Siegel will be performing at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. His first show is September 3rd. Get ticket information and a full schedule here. Fred has started a blog to promote his Fringe Festival participation: Man of Mystery. Please check it out.

Tags: announcements, art & entertainment by Coliseum
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Maverick Philosopher Bill Vallicella concludes a blog post titled “On Hitchens and Death”,  by suggesting that “if materialism is true, then I think Nietzsche is right: truth is not a value; life-enhancing illusions are to be preferred. If truth is out of all relation to human flourishing, why should we value it?” [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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We recently took a summer family vacation to Canada. Did you know it’s a different country? It is! You even need passports. We had a great time in Toronto and Niagara Falls, so I’m giving our readers the full itinerary with brief comments about each item. That should make planning your next summer vacation easier (unless you don’t want to go to Canada, in which case it might make your planning more difficult).

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Tags: travel & foreign lands by Scott Stein
4 Comments »

It seems to this American that the people blabbering on about how Obama is a Muslim foreigner miss out on something far more threatening to our nation’s future: we haven’t seen Joe Biden’s birth certificate either. Not even a photocopy. Nor have we seen any birth announcements or baby photos, preferably of him dressed as a cowboy. From this we can draw one logical conclusion: our Vice President is a robot. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

My lead story of the week could be categorized as both Good Sports and Bad Sports. Kyle Busch became the first NASCAR driver to ever sweep all three events at the same track on the same weekend when he won the truck race, the Nationwide race, and the Sprint Cup race at Bristol this week. Busch is a very talented driver, and he put it all together at Bristol, where he has always been strong. The media have grabbed onto this story, extolling the abilities and endurance of Busch and taking the public to task for its constant booing of him. I have a different take on all of that, though. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. Instead of freakishly large floppy shoes, the funniest shoes the clowns can afford are size 15

9. The ‘fire eater’ is just some guy chomping on extra spicy chili peppers

8. Their ‘clown’ is a transvestite Lady Gaga impersonator

7. The trapeze artiste has a seatbelt

6. The ‘bearded lady’ has a suspicious bulge in the groinal area

5. The supposed ‘baby elephant’ looks suspiciously like a bulldog that’s been ‘altered’

4. The cotton candy is guaranteed 100% cotton

3. Twenty clowns don’t pile out of a teeny weeny car, just one really fat clown

2. When you look closely at the tamer’s lion, there’s a zipper

1. Instead of popcorn, they sell trail mix made from tent sweepings
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: art & entertainment, Bob Sullivan's top ten everything by Bob Sullivan
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The events that occurred on September 11th, 2001, were horrible, tragic, disgusting — just the worst. Very bad events. I was a 14-year-old freshman in high school at that time (how old do YOU feel right now) and I was in math class when they announced what had happened over the loudspeaker. The rest of the day pretty much went along as it normally would have because the teachers weren’t allowed to turn on the TVs, which was a great call. Good job, everyone involved in that decision. I’m glad my learning about Latin conjugations was not interrupted by my learning about THE BIGGEST EVENT IN MY LIFETIME AS IT WAS HAPPENING, YOU JERKS. [Read more →]

Tags: Kelly Conaboy saves the world, terror & war by Kelly Conaboy
3 Comments »

Regarding John le Carre’s recent critical remarks  about fellow thriller writer Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, the author of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold  and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy  is right about one thing.

Le Carre is correct in stating that the Bond films have overtaken the books. Its true that the general public’s image of the fictional secret agent is that of the often silly, superman-like film character, rather than the darker, more complex and more realistic Bond character in the novels.

Le Carre is wrong about everything else.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
18 Comments »

When I was 29, and single, dating went like this: See a guy at a party, make eye contact, if he walks up chat a bit, find out some stuff (who his favorite band is, if he likes the Coen Brother’s films, if he had ever bothered to finish undergrad), make out, start dating. Just like that. I didn’t care about getting married, so I didn’t care if we got serious. Nobody I met had kids (or rarely had), no one had relaxed into a job they once hated. We just wanted to be hot for each other and have some things in common. Bonus if we liked each other’s friends.

Sigh… doesn’t that sound nice? Now at 39, and single, dating goes like this: [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, square one by Van McCourt, technology by Van McCourt
4 Comments »