I predict that in a couple of years it’ll become a fairly standard line of conspiracy theory thought that Michael Jackson is alive.  Despite, well, you know, the fact that he’s dead.   The crazier among us will suspect aliens, while the saner-yet-still-kinda-crazy will deci… Read full post »

It starts off innocently enough: you're born into this world with a head of thick, curly hair, which your mother and grandmothers and aunts and checkout-counter ladies all seem to adore.  You like the attention. It's a blessing, at first.

 third grade mini-fro

As you get olde… Read full post »

This morning as I was walking in to work I saw a dog wearing a pirate costume.  Halloween is still a little ways off, but even if it was Halloween I'm not a big fan of dressing up your pets for the occasion. When I got in and told my coworker… 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 »

Dear Guys in the Locker Room at my Gym:

Look, I’m just going to come out and say it: what is with all this nudity?  Seriously, guys.  Is this really necessary?  Come on now.  Can’t you wrap a towel around your waist or something?  We don’t need to… Read full post »

Disclaimer: This is a mixed bag of guys.  I can't explain why one person turns me on and another that looks almost the same doesn't.  I also have a lot of older guys in my list (obviously).  It's a mystery though I can say that a sense of humor, an accent, or… Read full post »

I was originally going to post a old Coronet Instructional video about economics today, but this morning the fever is running strong. 

Baseball fever. 

It's been in remission all winter, but flared up mid-February and is now at a full rolling boil.  Even this damp and rainy Cambridge… Read full post »

These two films--Molly Grows Up (1953) and As Boys Grow (1957)--were both produced and distributed by Medical Arts Productions.   Normally I'd have the girls go off into one room to watch Molly Grows Up and send the boys down to the gym to watch As Boys Grow, but we're all adults… 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 »

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 »

 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 »

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 »

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 »

Hey!!  Glad you could make it!  Did you park around the block, like I said? Good.  You didn't tell Steve, right?  Great.  It's a surprise.  Now, you know the drill: we all find a good hiding spot, and when Steve gets here we all jump out and shout,

"Surprise!!… 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 »

One of the keys on my computer is broken.  The key has been sticking for some time, but as of this morning it no longer registers when I press it.  It is the fourth letter of the alphabet, which, unfortunately, is also the first letter of my first name, as well/… Read full post »

Like any good community citizen, I try to avoid the big corporate chains when there is a locally owned alternative available.  I frequent the local hardware stores, buy from local pizza joints, buy produce at the farmer's market, and keep big boys like WalMart at arm's length (and I have really… 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 »

Unleashing My Inner 1950s Tightass
or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Rock and Roll

I’m going to let you in on a guilty little secret of mine: sometimes, while listening to old rock and roll from the 1950s, I like to pretend I’m an uptight middle-aged parent hearing… Read full post »

With the haunting specter of socialism threatening to rear it's head into the American sphere once again (Obama? Wall Street? You decide), I thought we could all do with a little refresher on what it means to be a TRUE American.  For that, I'll defer to "noted young historian" Professor Clifton… Read full post »