9:25am: I just arrived at work, so I'm still trying to figure out the details. I'll update with more pictures and information as the day goes on.

10:13am:  The word “occupy” has a special connotation for deans and administrators at Harvard. On April 9, 1969, more than… Read full post »

What with the economy showing faint signs of life while job growth remains stagnant, I thought it might be nice to share a little advice on how to hold onto a job.  "But Shaggy," you may be asking, "what the heck do you know about keeping a job?  Do you think… Read full post »

After much deliberation, procrastination, and outright avoidance, I decided at the 11^th hour to attend my ten-year high school reunion.  I sent my money in at the last possible moment and promptly stopped thinking about it.  I didn’t start thinking about it again until I pulled into t… Read full post »

The embroidery on your green polo shirt may proclaim otherwise, but you, sir, are no sandwich artist.

Trust me; I know a thing or two about sandwich artistry.  When I was in middle school, I embarked upon what would become a six-year quest to create the Perfect Tuna Sandwich. … Read full post »

Kids these days, with their sexting and their Axe body spray and their Lady Gaga, amirite?  I've long known that there's what the kids are into these days and there's what I am into these days and ne'er the twain shall meet, but this recruitment video, produced by the Yale admissions… Read full post »

Three of the Greatest Film Not Available on DVD (Now available on DVD)

Let’s not kid ourselves: injustices abound in our modern, imperfect democracy.  Some, like the corporate financial influence in our electoral system, are big.  Others, like my brother Greg always getting to ride s… Read full post »

Alright, up off yer lazy asses, you godless liberals! Our War on Christmas has been an unmitigated disaster this year, and don’t even try denying it. Our secular progressive agenda is in tatters, and we’ve only got three more days left! We need to shape up, and fast!… Read full post »

We bought tickets in advance.  We joked about it all week.  But then, Sunday afternoon, we realized that buying tickets meant we actually had to go.  And that's how I found myself seeing New Moon with a theaterful of tween, teens, Twi-moms, and the like. 

Just so t… Read full post »

In 1999 I donned a cap and gown and made a grand exit out of that cesspool of adolescent enterprise known as high school. 

(If the back of my mother's camera hadn't been accidentally opened by my younger brother, I'd have a picture to post here of me accepting my… Read full post »

Before Pete offered me that cigarette it had been almost two years since my last one, but it was like I had spent the last two years of my life dying for a smoke without even realizing it. Suddenly my fate is once again entangled with this little cardboard box of… Read full post »

Okay, let’s figure this shit out once and for all.

If my calendar is correct (and I have no reason to distrust it), in 133 days it will be 2010.  We’ll be leaving this decade behind us and entering the… Teens?  And we’ll be leaving… Read full post »

Attitudes and Health (1949)

According to this actor playing a doctor, nearly half the cases he sees could have been prevented if they had just had better attitudes.  So all you folks worrying yourself sick about not having health insurance: lighten up! You'll never make the basketball t/… Read full post »

Tomorrow is "Victor Martinez Bobble-Head Day" at Cleveland's Progressive Field!  What better way to celebrate the presence of a three-time All-Star on your team then to order 20,000 bobble-head dolls to distribute to fans?

...too bad the Indians just traded Martinez to the Boston Red So… Read full post »

I have always, always lied on my tax forms.  Every year they ask me how many dependants I have, and every year I say zero.  Liar!

Neither of my dependants actually count as deductions on my taxes, however.  For the past eight years I've been lugging around two beautiful golden… Read full post »

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May was National Bike Month, which we celebrated here in Massachusetts with the Bay State Bike Week from May 11^th to May 17^th.  We Bostonians were encouraged to ride our bikes to work during bike week, which, in my eyes, is a laughable proposition to anyone who values a long and… Read full post »

...but of mummifying the corpse.

So says Mr. P. G. Wodehouse, at any rate.

I imagine proposing has to be pretty tough.  First off, there's a fair bit of nervousness that I'm sure accompanies the act, but that's fairly obvious and I won't even bother talking about that.  If you've… Read full post »

Remember swine flu? (I know some of us are trying to forget!)  I was starting to suspect the whole thing was overblown and that the worst was over, and then I hear the largest public school in my city is shutting down for a week after 250+ students call in sick.… Read full post »

Comparing Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton is like comparing apples and oranges.  Hilarious apples and oranges, mind you, but wholly disparate fruit nonetheless.  Even so, countless silent film fans before me have voiced their preference for one or the other, and so, since I’m determ… Read full post »

I'll understand if you don’t believe me when I say this, but I swear it’s true: stealing home is difficult, risky, and rare.

Seriously. 

Yet here I am, posting about it yet again, because once again someone has stolen home.

Jayson Werth  steals home

… Read full post »

 Okay, I called it.  Except technically I didn't.

About a month ago, as my excitement for the coming baseball season was growing into a fevered pitch, I posted a video clip of what I called "arguably the most exciting… Read full post »

This, sadly, is 100% real.

Most of the mid-twentieth century “mental hygiene” videos I’ve posted here have been produced by either Coronet, Centron, or Encyclopedia Britannica. There was one other instructional film producer who rounded out the big four, though: Sid Davis. Davis took on the topics that the… Read full post »

Apparently Disney only made one film and has been tracing it ever since.  A friend sent this to me today, and it is really fun to watch. Read full post »