[Ironically, I wrote this before my current problems began....] This is a "what have you done for me lately" world. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday, let alone 10 years ago. All people care about is what you are up to right this second and where you are going tomorrow. All they believe is what they see directly in front of them. Every once in a while you have to prove you've still got it. You've got to show you can do what you claim. You have to remind people you exist. ...

[This is going to be long, rambling, and hazy from lack of details. I apologize in advance. I don't even know why I'm writing it, other than to kick start my writing.] A couple hours drive south from where Gideon wrote his "Down And Out In America" series, I find myself sitting on the California/Nevada/Arizona border contemplating my own crisis. Perfect Timing The thing that sucks is, if this had happened just a couple of months later it wouldn't have been a crisis at all. My...

It appears Martin Luther will not be attending Pope John Paul II's funeral. I say good for him! They disagreed on so many things. Sure, they had some commonalities like being anti-abortion and finding a trip down the chocolate highway more abominable than a snowman, but so what? Obviously, Marty feels the old dude in the funny hat was just too wrong about too many other issues to pay his respects. And why should he pay his respects? World leader to world leader? Religious man to religio...

It hardly ever fails. Every year, sometime around my birthday, a crisis erupts that threatens life and home. Combine the crap that tends to happen to me around the end of year holidays with the annual birthday-time crises and you can see why I'm tense and watchful from December to May. This year's crisis hit last week, coming just days post-birthday. As a result, my presence around here will be greatly limited. I'm not even sure if I'll have Internet access beyond next week. (I almos...

Time and again I hear people talking about the Terri Schiavo case say about President Bush and Congress, "It's a private family matter. The government shouldn't get involved!" Perhaps one of you can help me -- I must have been on vacation and missed the news -- when did the judiciary stop being part of the government? I'd really like to read the succession papers. It must be nice for them, being rid of that whole pesky "checks and balances" thing.

The Office is NBC's second attempt -- and second failure -- in as many seasons to translate a popular British sitcom into a successful American franchise. While ostensibly being a documentarian's look at a dysfunctional regional office for a paper- and office-supply company, its main focus is the even more dysfunctional boss Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell. It's as if someone took Dilbert, stripped all the laughs out of it, then gave the pointy haired boss his own spin-off series...

As research for an upcoming article, I'm reading Leonard Wolf's The Annotated Dracula. It's a facsimile of the first edition of BramStoker's classic novel with copious sidebar notations. (Highlyrecommended, by the way.) I like to read the notes for the upcoming chapter, then go backand read the novel's text. I realized while doing so that this simulates having knowledge I lack. During everyday reading,when we come upon a reference or allusion, our brains fill in theknowledge, thereby adding...

In a recent article, Gideon MacLeish lamented not being able to hold onto ideas till he could get to the library computer to blog them. I recommended using legal pads in the interim. I've noticed most people seem to blog by typing into the form and pressing send. That's a dangerous practice; you're libel to run into technical problems that can make your article go bye-bye. I used to write all my articles in a WYSIWYG HTML processor, then cut-and-paste as "preformatted HTML." Lately...

Meanwhile, at an unidentified pub, somewhere in the world... I tell ya, we Irish are far more powerful than the Jews, we is. The Jews turned one river red, once. We Irish turn numerous rivers and millions of beers green every year. And, really, would ya drink a beer that had turned to blood, anyhow? Wait, I just got a good look at you. You might. Not only that, but we Irish are far more fun. Those Jews have a Wailing Wall. We have a Blarney Stone. So, when you ...

Meanwhile, at an unidentified pub, somewhere in the world... I tell ya, we Irish are far more powerful than the Jews, we is. The Jews turned one river red, once. We Irish turn numerous rivers and millions of beers green every year. And, really, would ya drink a beer that had turned to blood, anyhow? Wait, I just got a good look at you. You might. Not only that, but we Irish are far more fun. Those Jews have a Wailing Wall. We have a Blarney Stone. So, when you ...

This is what I've learned from watching Sylvester Stallone's new boxing "reality show" The Contender.    

This is what I've learned from watching Sylvester Stallone's new boxing "reality show" The Contender.    

Have you seen the new Hanes underwear ad? Alas, the Brunette Buttermilk Babes of Burger King have been displaced in my affection. I'm so fickle. This is officially my new favorite hear-the-music-and-run-to-stare-at-the-TV commercial. It's basically nothing but Marisa Tomei wandering around an apartment. But really, what more do you need in life? How can just looking at a pretty woman be so damned entertaining? (There's another version with a male actor, but I can't remember who he wa...

Welcome to Marrero, Louisiana, just across the Mississippi from New Orleans. What do you do when you move into an apartment owned by a cop? First, you lie to the sheriff deputy that only you, your daughter, and your three grandkids will live there, but crowd in 15 people. Then you have the electricity turned off while you transfer it into your name. Then you spread candles throughout the house to compensate for the lack of electricity. What would you do if all those candles caught a ma...

Mediaah! was an India based blog dedicated to casting a critical eye toward their mainstream media outlets (MSM). Unfortunately, when you look into the abyss the abyss also looks into you, and the abysmal Indian MSM didn't like what it saw. One of India's largest media conglomerates, The Times of India, sicked their legal team on Mediaah! 's owner, Pradyumnan Maheshwari, demanding he delete 19 postings they considered "defamatory." Instead he has decided to close the blog. "I wou...