The artistry of memory
I have been blessed with an uncommonly good memory. I can not take credit for this, of course, no more than I can for the color of my eyes or hair. It’s just one of the good things that happened to come my way. [Read more →]
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Marty Digs: Chick-fil-A
I made the tragic error yesterday that I have made many times before this — I foolishly tried to go to Chick-fil-A on a Sunday. As you may or may not know (and if you don’t know, please remove yourself from under that rock and brush the dirt and ignorance off), Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays. [Read more →]
Bad sports, good sports: Family sues bat maker for child’s injury
The parents of an eleven-year-old boy who was hit in the head with a line-drive while pitching in a Little League game near Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the company that manufactures the bat that hit the ball. Apparently, the boy’s parents feel that Easton-Bell Sports makes their bats too hard, allowing injuries like this to occur. Jake Schutter now has brain damage from the incident. [Read more →]
Top ten ways the world would be different if the numbers 1 through 9 never existed
10. Sarah Palin would be the tenth worst choice to elect President of the United States
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Maddening prosecutorial abuse
LA Weekly has a story about a Special Ed student, Jeremy Marks, who appears to be being railroaded by the legal system in the City of Angels. Jeremy Marks appears to be facing a seven year prison sentence for little more than being a witness to an incident between a high school campus police officer and a student. Either through what appears to be mistaken identity caused by the chaos of the situation or willful malice, Marks has been held for seven months in county jail. If, after reading the above you’re as horrified as I am, Katherine Russ (the writer of the article) informs me that the Congress of Racial Equality of California (Core-CA) is accepting donations for legal defense and/or bail.
Patriotism doesn’t pay
Courage can be expressed in different ways. Some demonstrate courage by, on the day terrorists struck their greatest blow against America, finding it in themselves to resist the very human instinct to flee somewhere far away and safe, but instead stay nearby and try to help their fellow man, and then continue to stick around in subsequent days and weeks and months and years as it becomes clear that while Al Qaeda won’t be attacking again any time soon their attack has left behind a toxic legacy. Others demonstrate courage by denying these people health benefits. The Republican Party is in the latter camp. [Read more →]
Groundhog day at Panera Bread
I’m thinking about buying myself a coffee pot. I’ve been resisting doing so, not because of the expense but because I think of coffee drinking as a social event. I live alone, and the idea of getting up in the morning and pouring myself a cup of coffee just has no appeal. To my mind, drinking your AM coffee alone in the kitchen is the first step towards drinking your evening scotch alone in front of a TV. [Read more →]
Lisa reads: Writing Out the Notes by Bob Hallett
I picked up Writing Out The Notes: Life in Great Big Sea
Broadway Fred: Sugar Babies
I regret that I am not old enough to have seen a proper burlesque show, although I have done my homework on the subject. I have studied the writings of the late Ralph Allen, who did for old burlesque sketches what the Brothers Grimm did for folk tales. I’ve read accounts by burlesque habitués and sons of habitués. I have decided that my seventh grade math teacher, a nutty old man who frequently used the exclamation “cheese and crackers!” probably learned that term from Billy “Cheese and Crackers” Hagen, a top banana who frequently appeared at the Troc, Philadelphia’s last burlesque house. The Troc is still there but with bands, not bananas.
The city and the country
I lived in Prague for a while in the 90s, back when it was a favorite spot for American college grads dreaming of Bohemian greatness. Once or twice I even attended their open mic nights, at which Henry Miller wannabes would read aloud rancid poetry to similarly minded aesthetes bankrolled by daddy. Years later I still remember my pain, if not the content of what I heard- except for the first line of one mediocre song: [Read more →]
Gail sees a movie: Love and Other Drugs
Perhaps the reason Love and Other Drugs seems like three different movies is that the film credits three screenwriters (Charles Randolph, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz ) for the screenplay based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy. This may be the reason why Love and Other Drugs seems much less than the sum of its parts. But the film has a few laughs, a few tears and very attractive naked people. [Read more →]
Meg’s back…and she’s pissed.
I’m back, dear readers. I hope you’ll forgive my little gentleman’s intermission of the past few weeks–let’s just say that I do not recommend moving in the middle of Thanksgiving. And let’s just say that I’m a little underwhelmed with the traffic of celebrity gossip this month. No celebrities hot-footing it to rehab, no nasty divorces (except Eva Longoria, to whom I have to say: Really? You’re divorcing him because of text messages?). I’m like a man without a country; a nun without a calling. Luckily, when Hollywood lets me down, there will always be an even more dysfunctional town in this country that needs me. My advice this week goes out to you, Washington, specifically to two former foes who are dancing on my last two nerves. [Read more →]
Toy Story 3: Too much of a good thing
I’m late on this. I admit it. But after having seen Toy Story 3 with my kids the other night, I need to weigh in. If you are even more behind than I am, I must warn you — some semi-spoilers are coming . . .
I’m not a movie critic, but I do write fiction. From that perspective, I think that films for kids might be losing their way — that is, if they follow the Toy Story 3 model. The people at Pixar are brilliant. I’ve been a fan for a long time and I very much liked Toy Story 3, but I don’t think the movie is quite right, in terms of its storytelling, for kids — definitely not for my kids, who I’m hoping are not completely different from everyone else’s children. [Read more →]
The WikiLeaks thing allows me the chance to show off my patriotism
I never miss an opportunity to display the true patriotism that beats within my heart. You can tell a true patriot, like me, because we are in favor of everything that helps America achieve its goals of being good and doing great things for everyone, all over the world. The problem is that there are too many people who aren’t patriotic. The WikiLeaks story has shown that most Americans refuse to let their “American flag” fly.
In case you haven’t heard, WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization that is run by a terrorist who hates America, and is helping terrorists. It helps terrorists by revealing secret government documents that undermine the goals of the politicians and bureaucrats that we elect to run our government. Our government, if you remember, is comprised of our employees (they work for us, because it’s a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” as no less an authority than the Constitution states). If someone is doing something that harms your employees, don’t you think that person should be put in prison? Don’t you think that’s the patriotic thing to do?
How ironic is it, then, that the most patriotic person in the world is a person in Sweden, where they have finally issued an arrest warrant for the WikiLeaks terrorist leader, Julian Assange (or, as I prefer to call him, Julian ASSange, because he is an ass and also an ange [actually, he is more of an “ass ange”]). [Read more →]
Marty Digs: Christmas edition
Last night I went by one of my best friend’s parent’s house and saw that his dad decorated the house. The decorations have been roughly the same my entire life, and always instantly put me in the Christmas spirit. So I thought I would devote this week’s entry to the things I love about Christmas since I am brimming with holiday cheer! [Read more →]
Bad sports, good sports: Jayson Werth’s deal shows what’s wrong with baseball
I love baseball, but baseball has problems. As a Phillies fan, it has been easier, in recent years, to overlook the fact that the league has no salary cap, as the Phillies have one of the league’s highest payrolls. Still, I am able to look past that and see how difficult it must be to be a fan of one of the have-nots, going into each season knowing that only a tremendous amount of luck will get your favorite team to the playoffs. I have long thought that if those low-payroll teams were forced to spend a league-specified minimum amount on their players, it would be a step in the right direction. What I was forgetting, of course, was that those bottom-feeder teams might not spend their money in the wisest way if they were to actually spend it. The Washington Nationals demonstrated this very possibility on Sunday, signing outfielder Jayson Werth to a seven-year, $126 million contract. [Read more →]
Sarah Palin’s top ten made-up words
10. refudiate
9. handinotes
8. hypocriticizer
7. evoludiculous
6. governoresigner
5. tea-parfection
4. mamagrizzly-fication
3. abstinonsense
2. Obomination
1. youbetcha-rific
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
The song might not have been: Zeppelin in the age of helicopter parents
So a month ago my wife, in one of those heroic moves toward permanent marital stability, bought us tickets to the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience. The show tapped directly into my untouchable love of Zeppelin. I was awed not just by the talent of Bonham and his band but the emotion driving this tribute. Meandering home afterward, thinking about the grainy videos of Jason as a child that were part of the show, I wondered what if Zeppelin had tried to launch today, in the age of helicopter parents. [Read more →]
