Lemurian Congress

The New Yorker film reviewer of 1930 ("J.C.M."), after pooh-pooing the trend toward larger-format films (so-called "three-dim...

As best as I can glean from the pages of The New Yorker, 1930 was the year of: Backgammon. All the department stores were selling deluxe set...

Andy Prieboy has put a "musical sketchbook" online entitled " Don't Tell That Guy Anything ," consisting of six reje...

I love talking to taxi drivers, and I think they sense this because whenever I get into a taxi they take note of where I've been and the...

Many things have prevented me from blogging recently, not least my own laziness and ennui. My computer's hard drive totally died after m...

I had extremely low expectations of " Survivors ," mainly because it was created by Terry Nation. I associate Nation with some of ...

When I say repeatedly that the early New Yorker magazine didn't usually tackle serious subjects, I was obviously lying, because here is ...

It should not surprise you that, when I accidentally touched the grease of a Hollywood Scriptwriter's typewriter, I began to transform i...

The New Yorker panned this book, but it sounded so interesting that I couldn't resist finding a copy: "God's Country: A Short H...

In March, 1930, after ten years of expensive prohibition "enforcement" that did little except make bootleggers rich, Americans lou...

Too often when I review a book I say "It wouldn't qualify for the Oprah Book Club!" Besides making a backhanded swipe at Oprah...

I am now firmly mired in the "Patriotism and War" section of "The Young People's Library of Entertainment and Amusement....

I thought that Torchwood season one was generally bad , and that season two was downright terrible , but I've stuck with the series bec...

Some days, to pass the time, I read back issues of '80s computer magazines. It's a nerdy pursuit but sometimes I run across somethin...

From the "Talk of the Town" section of the July 6, 1929 issue of The New Yorker, regarding "Fifty thousand dollars [being spe...

It's Easter, and the National Organization for Marriage is rolling out a hilarious anti-gay scary-boo advertisement. While getting ready...

... watching Jim Cramer get PUMMELED on the Daily Show is simply too painful. Like, I can't finish. Once his voice starts shaking I get...

I'm loving the way a bunch of right-wing pundits have been threatening lately to "Go Galt." At first I was worried that they ...

I have to admit I'm getting a real kick out of Canada's sudden "coalition crisis." It's not just that I'm hoping t...

We've gotten so used to instant-gratification that, when following a news story, we often expect a New Explosive Revelation at every cli...