Years ago, during talk show television’s Golden Age, I sat down with my father to watch his appearance that week on the Jerry Springer Show. Invariably in these programs, the circus surrounding the subject matter–e.g. miracle cures, mass hysteria, people who can’t throw away newspapers–is summoned to earth by a dour expert, like a doctor, [...]
Phone Surveyor: Thank you for agreeing to take our consumer survey. I will ask you a series of brief questions concerning your grocery shopping habits, and then I will send you a free $50 Shoppers Food Warehouse voucher…. Okay. Hold on. Let me just get this stuff all ready…. Here we are. First question, “On [...]
Upon hearing that The Faces—the legendary, roots-rock band that lost musicians to the Who, the Rolling Stones and to the unfortunate worldwide phenomenon known as Rod Stewart—would be re-uniting this fall for a series of concerts with Simply Red singer Mike Hucknall replacing Rod Stewart, a question suddenly occurred to me. Why? Read the full [...]
Hilarious Outtakes by B. Brandon Barker “A Beautiful Mind” [Russell Crowe sits at his desk reading the newspaper. Jennifer Connelly brings him a glass of water. She drops two pink pills on the newspaper.] Jennifer Connelly: I’m going to bed. Russell Crowe: Goodnight. [Unable to keep a straight face, he snorts loudly.] Jennifer Connelly: [Starts [...]
Here’s my friend Douglas E. Winter–author of the incomparable novel RUN–discussing the dangers of rampant, unfiltered, senseless Facebooking: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/social-networking-safety-tips-030110
fantasy_or_football!:_(part_4) Yeremiah Bell: Strong Safety for the Miami Dolphins or martyred infant of Serena Butler, Priestess of the Jihad? William Rentmeeser: Tackle for the San Francisco 49ers or Interplanetary Finance Minister? When Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ appeared in 1965, little did the world know that it would become the best-selling Sci-fi novel of all time; nor [...]
I’ve checked out most of Paul Weller’s albums–all good–but none of them come close to Wild Wood (1993). The only thing that comes close to it–in the sense that it can’t be stopped after it’s started–is Who’s Next or Astral Weeks. The Deluxe Edition, like most in this series (see Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On), [...]
