Whereas “Lighthouse” was all about our enlightenment, “Sundown” explored our dark side — temptation. “I can see her lying back in her satin dress in a room where you do what you don’t confess,” sang Gordon Lightfoot in his 1974 hit “Sundown.” The song is all about succumbing to temptation, hence once again revealing the double entendre that the Lost writers are so fond of using in their episode titles. When the sun goes down, man gets tempted by the dark. Why a “satin” dress? Sounds like Satan, don’t it? [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
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As you’re sitting in your office/cubicle right now, I am in Orlando, Florida — traipsing around Disney World trying to find Ariel in her stupid Grotto. What the hell is a Grotto, anyway? I had to google that shit so when I actually arrived on the “Disney Campus,” I sounded like I knew what I was talking about when I asked where to find that red-headed bimbo. I actually Wikipedia’d that shit so a bunch of wanna-be actors in costumes with over-sized craniums wouldn’t think that I  was an idiot. So sad.

[Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental, travel & foreign lands by Jaclyn Roth
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Jake Adlestein, an American reporter working the police beat for a Japanese newspaper, begins his true crime story with a meeting he took with two members of the yakuza, Japan’s organized crime group.

“Either erase the story, or we will erase you. And maybe your family. But we’ll do them first, so you learn your lesson before you die,” one of the yakuza members said to Adelstein.  

Adelstein writes that this seemed like a straightforward proposition. [Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
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Three months ago, I wrote about some of the problems with the global warming debate, not the least of which is that we were only being exposed to one side of the debate, namely, the doom-and-gloom types of arguments. I questioned a couple of assertions being made by the anthropogenic global warming crowd, and concluded the piece with the observation that we never hear about any of the possible benefits of the Earth heating up.

Thanks to the implosion of the Green-as-the-new-Red movement, due to the Climategate scandal, my point is finally being considered by the mainstream!

[Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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It is a noble thing to dedicate your life to educating the young, even if our society doesn’t value teachers the way it should. And yet at the same time, teaching can also provide a shelter for all manner of time-servers, frauds, phoneys, creeps and even perverts. [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
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February 20, 2010
I dream I am a youngish version of myself attending a summer theater program at NYU. We have our belongings arranged for inspection in an orientation room and it is clear people brought too much stuff. The head of the program has us pack up and head towards the dorms. I walk with one other student and we run into the head of the program who is chatting with Meryl Streep. Meryl seems interested in me, which feels wonderful and bizarre. I ask the head of the program where we go to pick up our room keys. He gives me a funny look. Suddenly, someone picks me up from behind and holds me aloft while another man pours a very cold beverage onto my crotch.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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Dramatis Personae
Barack Obama, President of the United States
Joe Biden, Vice-President of the United States

OBAMA: I have one small concern about our health care proposal.

BIDEN: What’s that, boss?

OBAMA: Don’t call me “boss.”

BIDEN: I’m sorry — I thought that was the lingo. You know, jive talk. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Colin Cohen
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Jeff Bridges gives a brilliant and captivating performance as Bad Blake, and makes us really care about this washed up country musician. The story is not new, but Bridges makes it feel fresh. The concert scenes are exciting, the story is engaging and the milieu feels authentic. It is not a great film, but it sure is good.  [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Shocking news from Russia: a man claiming to be a member of the Romanov dynasty recently tracked down and beat to death an 82 year old ex-KGB officer for his part in the murder of Tsar Nikolai II and his family. [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
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“[D]o not linger over your own ruins.”

Lesser minds examining Vladimir Nabokov’s posthumously published The Original of Laura (Dying is Fun), A Novel in Fragments will be tempted to begin by quoting index card D2, page 133, in which the great Enchanter writes, “Now comes the mental image. In preparing for my own experiments — a long fumble which these notes shall help novices to avoid — I toyed with the ides of drawing a fairly detailed, fairly recognizable portrait of myself on my private blackboard.” This is a trap of course, neatly set by that great player of literary games, that the present reviewer shall neatly sidestep by instead noting that when the great Nabokov passed away in 1977 (as harrowingly related by a character purporting to be Nabokov’s son, Dmitri, in T.O.O.L.‘s introduction), I was four years old, and had only just recently discovered his works. I was halfway through my second re-reading of Pale Fire — I hadn’t yet found all the clues as to the butterfly/Hazel Shade connection – and I was devastated in that way that only the near-infant fan of a great author can be when he learns his favorite author has shuffled off this mortal coil.

[Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, books & writing by Ricky Sprague
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I have occasionally described books as “a wild ride.”  Books are like trips we take — some are pleasant Sunday drives, some are fast and bumpy.  John Dies @ the End is like a ride on a twisting, speeding, swooping roller coaster.  On acid.  With no seat belt. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, Lisa Reads by Lisa Hura
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I have been reading the Journal of Jules Renard, as translated and edited by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget. Originally published in 1964, it was reprinted a couple of years ago by Tin House Books. The complete journal runs to more than 1,200 pages. The Tin House edition, at 304 pages, provides a representative sampling. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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“To Texas . . .
Joyous and sparkling,
Evergreen when it rains, enduring in drought,
Timeless, endless in boundaries, exciting,
Home to the adventurous of yesterday and today,
With shrines from the past, and space
and spirit for the future.
To Texas …
Everlasting in the hearts of your people!”

It was about fifteen years ago when, as editor of the Fort Stockton Pioneer (a Thursday morning weekly serving a West Texas community of about 10,000), I was handed a letter from one of our readers, for publication in the next issue … a letter admonishing our paper for not devoting adequate space to Texas Independence Day. She may have been DRT (I honestly don’t remember for certain), but she was certainly something of a Lone Star zealot … a perception of mine that was reinforced by her comment as she handed me the letter …

[Read more →]

Tags: ends & odd by Jeff McDonald
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The next big war may not involve missiles, bombs or gunfire. 

The next war may simply involve a cyber attack that shuts down our national power grids, leaving us with no electricity. no Internet, no clean water, no food supply and no central government.

[Read more →]

Tags: terror & war by Paul Davis
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Tilikum the killer whale, I think, has put his employers in an awkward position.  I mean, a killer whale is not an employee that you can fire, or take away his quarterly bonus.  And there is, of course, the awkward press conference where you explain, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world, that “in July 1999, security guards found a naked dead man draped across the orca’s back one morning.”  Sure, the guy sneaked past SeaWorld security and apparently died of hypothermia, but it’s awkward when one of your employees was found wearing a naked dead man as a hat.

[Read more →]

Tags: animals, environment & nature by Dooley Womack
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In a fortnight I move to an undistinguished town in the middle of Germany, to bring enlightenment and English to the uncouth. I’ve been looking at accommodation websites, sifting through the weirdness for acceptable digs. The real difficulty isn’t the flat, it’s the people. Terrible flatmates are an affliction and a curse. I particularly detest slobs. [Read more →]

Tags: advice, diatribes, terror & war by Walter Aske
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Brothers & Sisters (Sunday, ABC, 10PM) — I consistently neglect one of my favorite shows week after week and it’s simply because I’m 32 years old and like to be in bed by 10 on a school night, especially on Sunday. With Brothers & Sisters airing on Sunday at 10PM, I never watch it live… and considering this column posts on Monday at 2:00, I don’t get to write about it. So this week I’ve decided to honor B&S, stay up late, watch it and discuss. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, Lauren Likes TV, television by Lauren LaBumbard
1 Comment »

If you would like to learn more about the strange little man who, according to the FBI, frightened a nation with deadly mailings of anthrax, thesmokinggun.com has published the FBI’s first batch of released documents .

[Read more →]

Tags: terror & war by Paul Davis
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One look at the House and Senate health care bills shows who Congress’ favorite constituencies are. It must be sheer joy to be on that list. If you or your group are there, it means Big Brother loves you and will address your every whim. Of course this largesse comes at the expense of others, but you’re not worried about that. You’re more important, more deserving, a little more equal than the rest.

What’s more interesting than who is on the dole, is who isn’t. For example, there’s not much in there for doctors. The bills are loaded with rules and regulations, those type of sentences that contain the words “shall” and “must.” Somehow, Congress left the goodies out. No scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, no guaranteed minimums, no cushy boards to create steady streams of government cash into the pool of physician pockets. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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The Olympics are over. To me, that is Good Sports at its best. Not the games…the fact that they are over. I’ll admit it. I don’t like the Olympics. There was a time, back when I was in college, that I liked the Winter Olympics, I suppose, but that was a long time ago. I just don’t enjoy the whole thing. I have reported on good and bad sports involving the Olympics over the past few weeks, as the sports world certainly includes these games, and I figure it is my job to talk about them. I just don’t enjoy them. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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