We’ve moved on, right? We’re not still lying in bed at night trying to figure out ways to get in with the cool kids, right? Peer pressure is just an unpleasant memory from the past. Now, we can teach our kids to avoid the riptides under popular currents and to do their own thing. Right? If this is all true, then can someone please tell me what a “guilty pleasure” is? [Read more →]
Under the Poppy is a story of workplace romance and intrigue — that is, if your workplace happens to be a Belgian brothel in the 1870s and your coworkers are whores, mutes and puppets. It’s a complicated arrangement: Decca and Rupert own a brothel. Decca is in love with Rupert. Rupert is in love with Decca’s brother, Istvan, a traveling performer with a chest full of very naughty puppets. There is a lot of back-story amongst the three of them, everyone has secrets, and no one is telling the whole truth. In the end, it may be up to the puppets, the mecs, to tell the story. [Read more →]
Frank Wilson has an intriguing piece on prayer and belief in God. Check it out. After reading it I devised a little parable for believers and non-believers to chew on.
There were two Catholic school boys in New England. One hated studying theology, not only because it was boring, but because he saw no evidence of God. The other boy was skeptical too, but he made a decision to respect theology. The cynical boy took his test and failed. After finding out his grade he cursed God. The boy with faith prayed for an A and received one.
Hello, all. After well over two years of posting my dreams I have decided to take a break. Starting next week at this time, I’ll start “Broadway Fred,” a memory column about my experiences as a spectator in Broadway theaters. In the meantime, enjoy two military dreams. And many thanks to Dr. Spiegelvogel, who has helped me over the past few months and has now returned to Vienna.
That’s right! It happened. And I didn’t do it! James Jones boarded his daughter’s school bus in an attempt to put an end to the bullying his daughter suffered at the hands of some snot nose punks. Check out the video, it’s crazy. Now listen, we all know this isn’t appropriate behavior but let’s be honest — we’ve all wanted to do it. My daughter is only 4 and I’ve already experienced this feeling. This poor guy’s daughter is fifteen and has cerebral palsy. These little douche bag bullies put an open condom on her head, smacked her in the back of the head, twisted her ears and shouted rude comments at her, multiple times. All I’d be thinking is, “those kids are fucking dead!” But see that’s the difference. I’d be thinking it. James Jones went out and did something about it. Dude’s got brass ones. [Read more →]
Despite interesting characters and strong performances, Never Let Me Go is disappointing. Aside from the unoriginal and implausible plot points, this film fails to examine the issues it raises. Despite some early promise in the first half of the film, the characters (and the audience) never really take that emotional journey necessary for a satisfying film. [Read more →]
A nasty cold kept me from my advice-giving duties last week and wow, did my immune system choose one hell of a week to crash and burn like the Hindenburg. Those crazy celebrities are just running wild out there like this is Lord of the Flies! There are simply too many wayward celebs who need my guidance this week and so I give you…Meg Gives Advice to Famous People: The Lightning Round. And…go!! [Read more →]
I’ve been a fan of spy fiction since I was a teenager in the 1960s. The 1960s was a time of spy mania in novels, films and on TV.
I read Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, Eric Ambler, Graham Greene, John le Carre and many other spy thriller writers. I went to the movies and saw the Sean Connery-James Bond films, and I watched Patrick McGoohan on TV in Secret Agent and The Prisoner. I also liked the early Mission Impossible TV show and I loved the TV spy satire Get Smart.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column arguing that the only truth worth acknowledging was the truth that one arrived at on one’s own.
Michael Cade, a fellow contributor to WFTC , posted a comment in which he said, among other things, that “even though I’m a crusty-atheistic-material plane-kind of guy, I recognize that prayer, for example, has quantifiable benefits. And I’ve started to wonder about the ‘placebo effect’ of prayer, and ‘placebo theism’ and if I could access all of that without actually submitting to religion, or God.”
I waited a bit before posting a reply, quite simply because I found Michael’s comments did not admit of a quick and easy response. In fact, I have continued to think about what he said because I was far from entirely satisfied with my reply. [Read more →]
For the past couple of days, Christine O’Donnell has been under serious attack from the liberal media for describing one of her first dates, way back when she was a teenager, on Bill Maher’s “show” back in the late 1990s. It has really annoyed me, so much so that I wrote about it two days ago.
But what is really happening in this situation?
Easy. The liberal media is attacking Christine O’Donnell because they can’t defend Mr. Chris Coons, an open, self proclaimed Marxist, nor his policy positions. Let’s have a look…
I concluded probably the best summer concert series of my life seeing Pavement this past Friday night at the Mann Center in Philadelphia. I have gushed about the Mann before — I couldn’t be more excited that they had a string of great shows there. It’s a wonderful venue — a great tailgate area (you park in Fairmount Park), a unique building with fantastic sound, and not to mention they sell Yards Philly Pale Ale inside for a rather reasonable amount. [Read more →]
There is a fine line between cheating and gamesmanship. We expect athletes to do everything they can do to win, and will often excuse our favorites when they do things that might be a little bit against the rules. At the same time, we scream indignantly when someone on an opposing team does the same thing. [Read more →]
10. Origami
9. House Sitting
8. Forensic Musicology
7. Spitballing
6. Betamax Repair
5. Competitive Eating
4. Congressional Ethics
3. Sculpting with Tarballs
2. Latin
1. Bong Maintenance
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson goes into previews September 20 and when it does I can proudly say I contributed to a Broadway musical. Others made bigger contributions to the show (already hailed as the best of the season by the New York Times and Rolling Stone). Alex Timbers wrote and directed it. Michael Friedman created the score. Anne Davison made countless editorial and production advisements over a period of six years. Also, there are producers who raised the millions to finance it, assorted designers who collaborated on the staging, and actors who actually perform it (notably lead Ben Walker, who is the rare man to turn down a role in the X-Men series and get engaged to a daughter of Meryl Streep before the age of 30). It features my input nonetheless and you’ll know you’ve reached it when you hear absolutely nothing. [Read more →]
I’ve always said that I’d trust fifty names randomly drawn from the pages of my phone book to run the country more effectively and efficiently than the idiots we typically send to DC as elected representatives. It seems as though Christine O’Donnell is giving me a chance to stand by that statement.
But more importantly, she is illustrating the hypocrisy of the left these days.
Sometimes someone is obvious. You take one look at them, and you know just who they are, what they will be to you, how you will handle them. That’s pretty rare, I think. Mostly we misjudge. Or, we are hopeful, so we lean toward an opinion. We make the call on how we respond based on the outcome we want, not really what we expect. And, sometimes, we just don’t get what we expect at all.
Time and again I have met a guy, thought he was amazing, and then discovered through a kiss that there was no real substantial attraction. Conversely, I have met lots of guys that I wasn’t so sure about, and then have been blown away when they just kiss me into oblivion. This is making me sound like I have done a lot of kissing, which I think maybe I have. But, I also think there is a real lesson here. One that I started learning early on, to which I probably should have paid better attention.
If you’re anything like my mother, you’ve been reading a lot about this impending Bed Bug “pandemic.” Heck, it’s even on TV. There doesn’t seem to be any getting around it.
“We are all going to die.” — Anderson Cooper
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu is all about isolation and communication. Li Jing is a Chinese businessman with a beautiful wife and son, a successful investment company, family and friends. But in one tragic instant, he finds himself cut off from everything. A gas leak, an explosion, and a flying sheet of glass change his world forever. [Read more →]
Dr. Spiegelvogel has interpreted two more of my dreams. As always, I’d be interested in your interpretations.
And here’s the second: [Read more →]
George Clooney shines in the moody thriller/character study The American. I would have liked more background, or any background on the characters, but this film eschews those explanations. The American is quiet and intense, although some may find the pace a tad slow. But this film kept me guessing at times and jumping at other times. [Read more →]
