I grew up in a house where TV was a non-issue. If we wanted to watch TV, we watched. If we wanted to go outside and try to light ants on fire with a magnifying glass, then we did that instead. [Read more →]
Lorraine Heath’s latest novel Surrender to the Devil is book number three in her Scoundrels of St. James series. If you have not read the first two books, they are worth it. Heath has woven the backstory of five previous orphans (Luke, Jack, Frannie, Jim and Bill) who had banded together to work under a kidsman named Feagan. If you are familiar with Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the names and characterizations of both major and minor characters from the band of five and their acquaintances from the underworld might be familiar, and it plays wonderfully into their backstory. However, unlike Oliver and his friends, it is discovered that one of the boys (Luke) is the lost grandson of the Earl of Claybourne, and the Earl takes in Luke and his band of orphaned friends and their status in the world greatly improves.
I’m six chapters into this book and can’t go on. Supposedly, the plot picks up later, something about the Pygmy terrorist kid trying to win the science fair so he can take down Washington with his explosive project. I don’t care. I won’t read any further. [Read more →]
Did you read where that guy in New Jersey who stole $1,200 worth of lobster tails from a casino kitchen in Atlantic City pleaded guilty and made a deal with the prosecutor. He was sentenced to four years in prison. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Vince Fumo is sentenced to 55 months (with good behavior, less than four years) in prison after being convicted unanimously in a jury trial of every stinking charge in the 137-count indictment against him in a trial that seemed to go on for 55 months.
What could possibly bind these two men in crime? A taste for lobster, perhaps. [Read more →]
Author’s note: For 10 months I traveled to work in New York City from my home in southeastern Connecticut. Notice I used the word “traveled” and not “commuted.” The difference, to me, is mileage and duration. My daily “commute” was three hours each way, including a 45-minute drive, an hour-and-40-minute train ride, and subway rides across and uptown. Occasionally, I took notes on the people sitting around me on the train. What follows is the seventh of several stream-of-consciousness entries I made in an untitled journal.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Lumbering they came onto the train. They are turned on, fully awake, already well into their routines. Rodent automatons. And here they come again, sweating from the burden of their girth. They sit but are not still, rooting through bags for their computers to get plugged in, Velcro straps tearing away from one another, logging on, at the office here until they get there. [Read more →]
Pro wrestling isn’t real, but the athletes doing it are; anyone who watched Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler knows the human body wasn’t meant to withstand attacks with chairs and staple guns, no matter how carefully they’re choreographed. Brock Lesnar is the ultimate example of this. [Read more →]
March 10, 2009
I dream I must go to Home Depot to purchase a planter for my wife, Gail. Gail is delighted with the planter, and insists that we bring it when we go to a spook house at a seashore amusement pier. I don’t want to be scared, but Gail insists that we go. Somehow, I wind up at the comedy show of my friend, Dave, who is performing with my sister-in-law, Helaine. Their act seems to be falling flat. Afterwards, when Dave asks me how it went, I explain that a) it’s not much of an act and b) he should have teamed up with me.
My apologies for being a bit behind on this week’s The Bachelorette and Big Brother, but I spent 10 hours in the ER on Monday. I have to say, a day in the ER is not nearly as exciting as a day in the Seattle Grace ER. While my ER could’ve used a little Miranda Bailey ass-kickin’, I have to give a shout out to New York-Presbyterian. Though they diagnosed my stomach pains with absolutely nothing, they did try their hardest and were very pleasant and accommodating. Thanks, Docs! Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, some fabulous news came in this morning for next season… Martha Plimpton has been cast in a multi-episode storyline! “Oh come on come on where are you? You are in the clouds and we are in a basement!” Goonies never say die, Martha, and we’re glad to have you.
The advertisements for Humpday may suggest a comedy about gay porn, but do not let that influence your decision to see this film. Writer/director Lynne Shelton will tell you that the “sexy hook” is a red herring, and that the film is about many other things. Humpday is screamingly funny in places, and it made me squirm with discomfort and laugh at the same time. Part of the funny comes from the serious emotions these likable characters feel. Unlike the immature stock characters in The Hangover, I know people like these guys; their complaints are uncomfortably familiar. Humpday is a small film. It may not change your life, but it is funny, original and real. [Read more →]
Even though I am a parent, I try to avoid parenting advice. When I was pregnant, reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting made me too nervous, so I stopped before I got to the third month. After that, I found parenting information in books and magazines to be overwhelming, so I made it a policy not to read them, and stuck to studying more informative publications like Us Weekly. Given my dislike for all parenting rules, I’ve uncharacteristically taken to reading the New York Times blog called “Motherlode“. Surprisingly, it sparks some good conversation among readers about motherhood. [Read more →]
When purchasing Lemon Sole (a type of flounder), make sure it is wild and Domestic- it is widely available throughout the U.S. and Canada. You can broil it, bake it, saute it, steam it,….and the naturally sweet flavor means minimal spices are needed if you’re in a rush. Simply season the fillets with salt, pepper, and olive oil and put them under a broiler for a few minutes. If you have a little more time, try my recipe for an easy, healthy, weeknight meal; Stuffed Lemon Sole with Pineapple Couscous.
Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian who left his country as a young man before the war tore his country apart. In Chicago, he learned his craft as a writer, in English, and now sees his stories regularly printed in the New Yorker magazine. His fine second volume of short stories, Love and Obstacles, contains eight linked meditations on sex, love, war, writing, and dispossession. [Read more →]
On Sunday, I went to Philadelphia Park for a friend’s birthday. We spent the day out in the picnic grove, watching and betting on the horse races while celebrating. Our group included several kids under the age of ten. Looking around, I saw quite a number of kids enjoying the place with their families. I am not sure why this surprised me, but I really had not pictured the track as a family place. [Read more →]
10. Harry admits he learned all his tricks from the Amazing Kreskin.
9. Harry’s latest supernatural power: levitating his pants.
8. Harry enters the 21st Century by trading in his broom for a vacuum cleaner.
7. Lord Voldemort is revealed to be Dick Cheney.
6. Harry is stripped of all his Quidditch medals when he tests positive for steroids.
5. Harry uses his cloak of invisibility to sneak into the girls’ locker room.
4. Harry is dating Susan Boyle.
3. Like in Star Wars, it turns out Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are brother and sister.
2. Alone, late at night, Harry likes to play with his magic wand.
1. It turns out Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are brother and sister.
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
I’ve been broke most of my life, and occasionally poor. Being poor means you’re in danger of being evicted, you ‘fast’ because you’ve run out of food money, you walk 5 miles through a crack ghetto to save bus fare, you sell cherished books for pennies, you help yourself to left-over food in cafes; you end up sleeping on someone’s sofa and eating out of bins. Being broke just means you can’t afford anything nice; or you can have one thing but not another — so you can go to the cinema but then you can’t buy a new CD. Pleasures tend to be strictly metered. [Read more →]
This review maybe a little late, but my girlfriend isn’t — life is good.
I’ve been a Dillinger fan since Professor Don Riggs of Drexel University explained the “Dillinger Relic” in Science Fiction Literature class, and the publication which shared its name, DR. This interest was backed up in several interviews with Kurt Vonnegut where he discusses his adoration for the America bank robber. So, Public Enemies was pretty much a sure thing for me. While a violent action film, the movie carries a significant moral question that is present but not overwhelming.
Big Brother (CBS) heads back to high school for season 11 and I love it. Like every other reality TV show, it usually takes a while for the people to grow on me… but not this time. I am on board with this season already. Due to the disappointing seasons of So You Think You Can Dance and The Bachelorette, I’m pretty sure Big Bro is just what I need in my life. [Read more →]
I’ll state from the outset that I greatly admire Chuck Palahniuk for his inventive storytelling, muscular language, and his ability to talk about really nasty stuff in a funny way. So, my reading of his latest novel, PYGMY, is definitely colored by that bias.
I’d say this is a worthy addition to his canon. But like his other work, PYGMY isn’t without its challenges. It’s dark, visceral, and dripping with various bodily fluids. [Read more →]
PowerPoint is passé, in my world at least, but does it deserve to die? It has been faulted for taking away our creativity and inhibiting communication, but that is not the real problem with it. The presentation software has been blamed unjustly for the lack of creativity that, unfortunately, riddles our culture. PowerPoint will be used for a long time to come, especially in business, but gradually the Internet will nibble away at the domain of the well-entrenched presentation software, replacing it with more interesting, and interactive ways of conveying our thoughts.
If you work at a university, as I do, you see a lot of PowerPoint used badly: slides in all caps and no bulleted points, tables with a sea of numbers. Passing by the door, I look in and wonder that the students haven’t fallen out of their seats, dizzy from looking at the screen. [Read more →]
Here’s the gist: I have a potty mouth. No denying it. I drop F-bombs and A-bombs like they’re going out of style. Most of the time I manage to earmuff my daughter or at the very least, wait for her to leave the room. I’m an adult, I can say what I want. But I don’t want my daughter running around cursing or even worse, teaching her friends to curse. [Read more →]
