My first journalism job was at the small-town weekly newspaper my cousin operated. It was a place where the definition of "news" was about as elastic as you could possibly get, and it often included, say, photos of children lined up to show off being on the honor
There's been a lot of discussion in recent years about proper behavior on Twitter, which once seemed to me the very best social network out there and increasingly seems to me like the online equivalent of the film Warriors, roamed by seemingly endless series of angry gangs, who
Thanksgiving is the best TV holiday. I should make a caveat to that point. It's not the holiday with the best TV specials (that would still be Christmas). It's just the best holiday around which to center an episode of an ongoing TV show. Precisely the
Rather than prepare you an Episodes on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (as I had been planning), I somehow got distracted by thoughts of Walter Lord's terrific book, A Night to Remember, which led to me reading lots of things about the sinking of the
Recently, I hooked up a new printer. "New" is a bit of a misnomer. I've had it in a box for a few years, since my parents got it for me as a gift, and in all that time, I've had maybe four occasions
Everywhere you walk in Philadelphia, the floor creaks a little bit. This was true of the ancient, renovated row house I stayed in for the weekend I was there. It was true of the many little stores I stopped into. And it was true of the old university building where
(We're talking about scary stuff this week, all right?) In late November 1987, the city of Chicago was briefly seized by a crime that became terrifying precisely because it was so pointless. A man in a Max Headroom mask hijacked the signal of first WGN (famous for Cubs
(We're talking about scary movies and TV shows this week. It's a good week for it, don't you think?) I mentioned yesterday that I love horror perhaps above all other genres (though romance and sci-fi give it a run for its money), and if
(Hey, we're talking about scary TV this week, why not?) My mother would never say this, but I think when she first moved to the farm I grew up on, she thought it was haunted. The way our farm was laid out was like this. You had the
(For the next four days, I'm going to look at some scary TV episodes, ideally ones I haven't seen, though I will inevitably have to write about at least one I'm familiar with.) Horror TV has always understood one thing by virtue of simple
(Don't worry. I still plan on doing some Halloween type stuff this week. Just promised some people I'd get this one out sooner, rather than later.) As part of my ongoing quest to redefine the terms via which we discuss television in the most self-aggrandizing manner
Let's just admit it: Summer is hugely overrated. Spring is just fine. I can enjoy a nice, crisp winter. But summer? Summer is gulping down liquids because you can't stop sweating. Summer is sitting as still as you possibly can in hopes the sun won'