If you’ve read my writings about Lost, you probably know that I believe it’s more than just a show: Lost contains hidden messages about how the world really works. That’s right, I sincerely believe that a TV series is giving us clues that can help us understand the mysteries of life. Well, if that were true, shouldn’t Lost include this little tidbit within its own mythology? Shouldn’t it demonstrate how the media can provide answers to our own life challenges so that we’ll know to look there to find them? Yes, I believe it should, and to be honest, I’ve been wondering if it was ever going to do so.  In “Some Like It Hoth,” I finally received my answer. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
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Two reviews of the much-ballyhooed YouTube Orchestra performance at Carnegie Hall last week were an instructive contrast in how symphony orchestra concerts are viewed these days. Washington Post critic Anne Midgette saw the event as a misguided attempt to present classical music in a democratic fashion at the expense of artistic quality. The New York Times‘ Anthony Tommasini caught the real spirit of the event and understood it for what it was, an attempt to bring musicians from all over the world together to make music in the context of a larger community. (Quite rightly, he downplays the underlying public relations motivation of the sponsor.) For him, and for me, it was all about the event, and not about the perfection of performance. [Read more →]

Tags: music by Christopher Guerin
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Let me start by saying I am not reviewing artists and albums. I am sharing. This is my music cookie jar, open to the public. Who doesn’t like cookies? I will be very surprised at myself if I ever post anything that I don’t just love. And I will be more surprised if you don’t love what I share. I am, after all, from Peoria, and my people have long been the litmus test for what everybody will enjoy.

So, my first group of artists is a band called Geri X, fronted by a singer-songwriter who is, in fact, named Geri. [Read more →]

Tags: music by Van McO
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The recession has likely affected you in one of two ways. You’re either in Prey mode, hunkered down at your work station hoping, like a frozen rabbit, that no one sees you. Or, you’re hunkered down at home, living off your unemployment, and fairly certain that no one sees you. This may not work, but it’s not a bad plan.

Or, you’re in Proactive mode, absorbing the responsibilities of 4 laid-off colleagues and trying to figure out a thousand other ways to make yourself indispensable. If you’re home and laid off, you’re doing a similar thing with your multiple resume drafts, trying to jam eight great employees into one human.

Stop it.

[Read more →]

Tags: advice by Ruby Mac
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I am a little disappointed that the Michael Jackson auction is off. Only a little. But I was really curious how much money it was going to rake in. In this poor economy I wondered if a little sequined glove would command the same amount of money some of us pay for our homes? [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment by Amy Boshnack
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USAtoday.com posted a great chart representing the fate of 21 shows (major networks only and yes, they included The CW) for the fall lineup. They are either in danger of being cancelled, renewed (or about to be), or completely dunzo. I think they got it right. Click here to check it out.

Tags: television by Lauren LaBumbard
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Dominic Fortino was forced to serve out many after school detentions in the school’s small library.

Fortino was ordered to detention again on this particular day due to his attempt to push Mr. Pidot’s desk out of a second story classroom window.

[Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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Two years ago, on April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech was the scene of a heinous shooting rampage. Soon after, I wrote the below essay, which was published as the cover story in Liberty magazine in July 2007. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, education by Scott Stein
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Quentin Tarantino is:

a) old

b) portly

c) in need of a new hair style

d) who gives a shit, just get him off the American Idol stage and back behind a camera where he belongs [Read more →]

Tags: television by Jaclyn Roth
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March 14, 2009
I dream I am in an oblong kitchen in a strange apartment building with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. He shows a stunt oven. First he turns it up as high as it will go, then he gets in. He withstands the heat for several minutes. He emerges unscathed and triumphant. There is a reception for him afterwards and Drew Barrymore and I walk in the snow. I am very clingy. [Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Perhaps no other contemporary poet is known more for his writing about poetry than William Logan. As a critic, Logan has been nothing if not divisive. His scathing reviews of almost every volume of verse subjected to his critical acuity have garnered him the sort of notoriety and name recognition that few poets could ever imagine. In fact, in 2002, an article in Slate reiterated the claim that Logan is the “most hated man in American poetry” — in the subtitle!

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, living poetry by Les Kay
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Do not be fooled by the coming attractions or the television commercials, or by the fact that the writer/director Greg Mottola directed Superbad. I incorrectly assumed that Adventureland belonged in a category with the spate of recent funny, but trivial comedies. While Adventureland has some funny moments, this look at a 1987 college graduate’s summer job at an amusement park is understated and smart. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Lindsay Lohan teamed up with the guys at Funny or Die and made a mock eHarmony profile video. It is too funny to miss. Love her or hate her, this took balls.

Tags: art & entertainment by Jaclyn Roth
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My husband is not a big fan of sandwiches. He will do turkey and cheese but not too much else. Several years ago I was trying to find another one that he would enjoy…this is what we came up with and it is now a serious family staple, especially during the busy work-week. I usually make some homemade steak fries and/or a green salad to go with it.

[Read more →]

Tags: recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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Dancing With The Stars is a stupid show. It’s clear that the producers pick one to three contestants each season that are decent dancers, and with training can become relatively good when compared to their professional counterparts. The rest suck. We get it. [Read more →]

Tags: television by Jaclyn Roth
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If you’re going to write great cop fiction, you need two things: great cops and great villains. Richard Montanari has both in his Philadelphia police series and his latest installment, Badlands, delivers an exceptionally creepy villain. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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“In memory of Nicholas Serafine. Pray for him.” These words are inscribed on a brass plate attached to a small rack of votive candles in the rear of St. Paul’s Church in South Philadelphia. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Last Week’s Roundup

The Hills (Monday, MTV, 10PM) — “Fun question”… who loathes The Hills? I know we were all on the edge of our seats to watch the Lauren and Heidi reconciliation. Psych. But Brody and Spencer did! I bet Brody really regrets Bromance now. [Read more →]

Tags: television by Lauren LaBumbard
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Most of us have read or been obliged to read, by a high school English teacher or college professor, James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Many have read the indelible story collection Dubliners. Hardly any of us have got past the first few chapters of Ulysses, let alone the entire book (even if it was crowned No. 1 in Modern Library’s list of the 100 Best Novels back in 2003). But who among us has the intellectual fortitude (or masochistic compulsion) to get through all 628 pages of Joyce’s nearly impenetrable, nay, opaque final work, Finnegans Wake? [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, now read this! by Christopher Guerin
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It happens so often, you would almost think we would get used to it. But how can you get used to it? Nick Adenhart, a 22-year-old rookie pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, was killed, along with two others, when their car was hit by a drunk driver in Anaheim on Thursday. The driver, Andrew Gallo, had a previous drunk driving conviction, and was driving with a suspended license, in addition to a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit of .08. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Alan Spoll
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