There's something intrinsically trippy about being a child; before graduating into the venal world and its cabinet of chemically-induced everythings, kids have to scrape by on their imaginations. And it's funny to think back on all the consciousness-altering games/activities I supported and engaged in as a kid, and how many of them featured consciousness-altering elements. These games all revolved around a breathtakingly simple and honest premise: "What if?" or also "Something looks like something else?!"... READ ON
Reality show ideas. You know you have them. They come to you in dreams or in traffic or during commercials. Some people ignore them, some people sue when others bring them to life, and some people head West with a treatment and a ticket to a pitch slam. Others broadcast their ideas online, hoping either to be praised, discovered, or ripped off. Here, in no particular order, are five shows you may--in some alternate universe or, hey, some slightly distant future--find yourself TiVoing. 1. THE SHOW: a game... READ ON
I was once a Girl Scout, so I felt the pain of the youth who recently solicited my doorstep, toting miserable little items some wholesaler had signed off on. The details of his pitch were lost in the miasma of pity I was projecting out to him. I begged off by taking one of his pamphlets, but what I didn't know at the time was that his presence was in fact illegal according to the U.S. Department of Labor. For-profit door-to-door sales by minors are handled thusly in CA: California (1994) - Prohibited for... READ ON
My father (of the high seas, the Great Lakes) sent me these two pictures from a Sturgeon Bay, WI dry dock he was visiting yesterday. He was gazing at the stern of a 640' freighter, as he is wont to do and as his job requires, when suddenly all the moisture in the air froze, causing momentary panic--"I thought I had something in both eyes"--until he realized what was going on. That's the beauty of -12º F. Within thirty seconds, the air was clear again, and the next shot is the same stern five minutes... READ ON
Even if you consider yourself immune to the charms of coyotes, the blog Daily Coyote might still win you over. It's run by Shreve Stockton, the writer behind Vespa Vagabond (notes on a cross-country trip on a Vespa) and Eating Gluten Free who now lives in Wyoming and is the recent recipient of an orphaned coyote named Charlie. His parents were shot after they were caught killing sheep, and he ended up on her doorstep. The pictures on the site are not recent--those are reserved for subscribers to the weekly... READ ON
You know when you want to back up that urban legend with something official like a press release? Well, after spending all weekend listening to Outkast covers, I remembered how Polaroid issued a press release admonishing all those who were suddenly quick to shake their Polaroid pictures, as "Hey Ya!" urges. Well I couldn't find that press release, but that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist (I'd just have to leave my Philip Marlowe hat on a little longer); however, I did cruise through the Polaroid... READ ON
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So I just finished The Long Good-Bye, by Raymond Chandler, which I loved for its priceless assessments: "She opened her mouth like a fire-bucket and laughed. That terminated my interest in her. I couldn't hear the laugh but the hole in her face when she unzippered her teeth was all I needed." And also because it helped me go a little easier on LA. Whenever I don't feel like I'm understanding or appreciating someone or thing in my life, it always helps to take a step back and re-enter through the eyes of... READ ON
Wow, I had no idea there was a Samantha Stevens--"Bewitched"--statue in Salem, MA. But there is, and she was part of a campaign TV Land launched in 2000, commemorating shows they planned on continuing in re-runs; other statues included Opie & Andy in Raleigh, NC, MTM's Mary Richards in Minneapolis, and Bob Newhart's Dr. Robert Hartley in Chicago. The 8-ft bronze Samantha was erected in June of '05, to the delight of some TV Land die-hards and the chagrin of some who didn't embrace the irony. Most recently,... READ ON
Today I met a man who intends to walk across the country, and I bought him some sardines, his top request. My, some of those sardine tins are pretty--I thought I was at Sephora! I have to admit I've never had sardines, nor have I been to Sardinia. But my new friend spoke so passionately about sardines (generally how they're addressed when they're young; grown, they're usually called pilchards, akin to herrings, and they're all part of the family Clupeidae), especially since they outdo milk in calcium... READ ON
5 Questions: Boys Behaving Badly
Lesser-Known Founding Fathers
The ZIP in ZIP Code stands for Zone Improvement Plan.
