In the Private Papers of Eastern Jewel, Maureen Lindley looks at the life of a notorious Chinese princess from a forgiving angle.  Eastern Jewel, also known as Yoshiko Kawashima, was considered quite scandalous in her day: a Chinese princess raised in Japan, a promiscuous young woman who wore men’s clothes, she drank and smoked opium, she spied for the Japanese and was eventually executed as a traitor.  Lindley suspects that she was not inherently evil, but a product of her very peculiar upbringing and headstrong temperment.  She paints a very compelling story. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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Dear Jon Stewart:

This letter is more a written confession than typical correspondence for I have done you wrong. I have questioned your supreme leadership of Comedy Central news satire.

Let me explain. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, television by Tyler Samien
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Glee (Wednesday, FOX, 9PM) — Since the pilot in the spring, Glee has been on my mind. This was the show I couldn’t wait for this fall and it was certainly worth the wait. We were left with the New Directions version of ‘Don’t Stop Believin” in our heads all summer and I was ready for a change. During a commercial break Rosanna Scotto (FOX 5 NY news anchor) mentioned an interview with Salt-N-Pepa following that nights episode of Glee. [Read more →]

Tags: Lauren Likes TV, television by Lauren LaBumbard
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Serena Williams lost her U.S. Open semifinal match on Saturday after being penalized for a vicious tirade directed at a line judge after being called for a foot fault. Williams wasn’t playing terribly well, and had already been penalized once in the first set for throwing her racket. The venom she spewed at the line judge went far over the line, though, including threats of physical violence. Her behavior really jumps out as bizarre because tennis generally seems to be a pretty civilized sport. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. That travel agent you went to drunk turned out to be an Army recruiter.

9. The only summer job you could find was as a deer tick tweezerer.

8. Your boss wouldn’t even give you time off for good behavior.

7. Your summer highlight: watching reruns of “The Iron Chef.”

6. First name “Bernard.” Last name “Madoff.”

5. The only nice meal you’ve had out all summer included a two-hour presentation on timeshares.

4. Your sunburn is so bad, drivers stop at you and wait for you to change.

3. The B&B you stayed at has nothing but lumpy Bs and tasteless Bs.

2. The only action you got at the beach was some kelp in your trunks.

1. Due to hard-of-hearing travel agent, instead of Cancun you’ve wound up in Camden.
 

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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The biggest story this week was not Joe Wilson raising funds by running naked in the aisle on national television (while President Obama spoke to save the collective ass or at least the availability of an affordable colonoscopy for said single-paying, non-optional body part); it wasn’t even a long, tedious, low-scoring opening night of the NFL season.

In fact, the larger story was the culmination of the summer’s drama; Allen Iverson signed a contract to play professional basketball for the Memphis Grizzlies. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Alex Kudera
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This is my first foray with Christopher Moore, unless you count repeatedly grabbing Lamb in bookstores reading two or three pages and then putting it down.  My issue with him has always been a matter of substance mixed with comedy. When I saw Fool and realized it was about Lear I compromised and bought the audio book. It was an excellent experience, and I’ll definitely listen to it a second time in a few years.

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, fan boy says by Steve Mazzeo
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Dear Ruby,
I am in my 50s and the kids have moved out. The wife and I were thinking it would be fun to smoke a joint. I’m all for it, but she says that pot nowadays is like ten times stronger than it was when we were kids and we’ll freak out or overdose or something. But I think she still wants to do it.

Do you think this is a good idea or should we just stick to beer and Captain Morgan?

2nd Adolescence

[Read more →]

Tags: advice, drugs & alcohol by Ruby Mac
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From Vladimir Lenin to Adolph Hitler, from Enver Hoxha to Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, many a tyrant has picked up the pen to share his thoughts with us, resulting in a peculiar category of books which for brevity’s sake I shall call Dic Lit. Of course just as all tyrants are individuals, so these tomes vary wildly in their content. Some are theoretical works, others spiritual manifestos, while still others are memoirs. Kim Jong Il of North Korea has even tried his hand at opera criticism.

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, politics & government by Daniel Kalder
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November 10, 2008
I dream I am living with my father and my sister and it’s a school day. Seinfeld is on TV and it is a so-called “special episode” on which George’s mother dies of cancer. I am watching the last few minutes of the show on which Jerry and George are breaking the fourth wall and talking to the home viewers somewhat apologetically about having this kind of show. In the meantime, I want to get to school but my sister refuses to drive me. [Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Possibly Vertigo’s most popular title, Preacher, written by Garth Ennis, ran for five years (1995-2000), it had 75 issues in total and some of the highest acclaim from pop culture a comic could get. Volume 1 is almost all expositional. While interesting and exciting I found myself actively trying to get through it. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel because volume 2 is amazing.   [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, just fantastic by Steve Mazzeo
Comments Off on Just Fantastic: Preacher, vol. 1

If the idea of a close-up on Andy Griffith’s face while he has a loud and enthusiastic orgasm makes you wince, you should avoid Play the Game. In fact, unless you are aching to see Matlock/the Sheriff of Mayberry getting horizontal with Liz Sheridan (best known as Jerry’s mom on Seinfeld) followed by the big O, you should avoid Play the Game. I would be happy to see a more dignified look at romance between fine actors in their eighties. But Play the Game suffers from poor directing and even worse writing, and four excellent lead performances cannot save it. [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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It took a little convincing to get me to read this book.  I got an email about the book and they almost lost me with “as only a dog could tell it.”  A dog telling the story is almost always a recipe for disaster.  In this case, instead of disaster, there’s a pretty terrific story and a narrator with an interesting viewpoint (and one heck of a vocabulary for a terrier). [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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I suppose we all think we have a handle on reality. Of course, that itself may be a problem. Thinking may just possibly not be adequate to reality.

“Whatever is a reality today,” Luigi Pirandello wrote, “whatever you touch and believe in and that seems real for you today, is going to be — like the reality of yesterday — an illusion tomorrow.” This may seem a typical sentiment from the author of Right You Are (If You Think You Are), but there is, nonetheless, more than a little truth to it.

Is yesterday as real as today? [Read more →]

Tags: that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Shawne Merriman, of the San Diego Chargers, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly choking his girlfriend, Tila Tequila, of MTV fame. Merriman, who has been named to the Pro Bowl three times, was released after a few hours and charges are pending. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. The camp motto was: Parents must pay up front.

9. His archery instructor’s hero was William Tell.

8. “Movie Night” consisted of slides of the owner’s vacation in Detroit.

7. The cook’s dishes all began with the word ‘Blackened’ — and he isn’t Cajun.

6. Lacking proper wood, during Arts & Crafts the kids were encouraged to whittle on each other.

5. For some reason, instead of campfire songs, the only songs the counselors knew were show tunes.

4. He sent you a note that he was making a break for it, and to meet him at the north gate at midnight.

3. His cabin mate’s favorite pastime: Tying him to the bedpost and covering him with honey.

2. Inspired by Slumdog Millionaire, every other night the counselors drove the kids into town and made them beg for money.

1. Recreational activities included waterboarding.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, family & parenting, travel & foreign lands by Bob Sullivan
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Always alert to cutting-edge financial news, I stumble upon this gem on the front page of cnn.com: President Obama wants you to save!

Since so far he has done well to emulate our aging decade’s other President—who had such a knack for creating employment with a certain non-paying quality—I know that soon many people will voluntarily find jobs and turn Obama’s words into action. Yes, under his leadership, our homes have been declared safe and good savers we will all become. With our future in place, I felt a need to chime in on the proper mix of mutual funds, the asset allocation so dear to the finance industry, particularly if the half of American workers who have any retirement plan at all choose to invest in stocks and bonds. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Alex Kudera
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There was an interesting article on CNN.com the other day (“interesting” in the sense of discouraging, scary, and unintentionally funny) titled “The Future of Libraries, With or Without Books,” about how librarians, in the same spirit as a 54-year-old woman getting a nose piercing and tramp stamp to keep up with “the kids,” have wholeheartedly and uncritically embraced the digital revolution, and, in the process, are dumping the “shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books.”

Are you one of those dwindling band of benighted bibliophiles that labors under the naive misconception that “endless shelves of books” are what libraries are all about?  Shush.  Today’s library contains “hipster staffers who blog (and) chat on Twitter.”

Wow.  Blogging.  That’s some cool new technology that all the teens are doing, isn’t it?
[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, technology by Michael Antman
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I can feel it. Pro, college, and fantasy football is alive, the stench of the smoldering New York City streets is fading, and teachers have to actually go to work like the rest of us (suckas). That’s right, fall is just ’round the corner and you know what comes with that… fall TV, THE highlight of my favorite season.  We did it. We made it through another summer of ridiculous reality television and feelings of obligation to do something after work because it’s “summer.” I, for one, am done with all of that and am ready to plop my ass in front of the television, order a pizza and wait for all the television goodness to grace us with its presence. Here’s what’s on my schedule for week 1 of the TV season: [Read more →]

Tags: Lauren Likes TV, television by Lauren LaBumbard
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Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I like this poet.
And so should you. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, fan boy says by Steve Mazzeo
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