As grim as the news has been of late, give this to Fortuna: At least she has a dark wit. Why, were it not for the gallows humor that is the GOP, The Daily Show would have perished already. Please, Comedy Central, consider a host (like Larry Whitmore) who has the snarky cynicism of a political insider, not …
Every year, international corporations vie mightily for the semi-regular HB Commercial of the Month Award (celebrating its first anniversary…some day). Particularly on Super Bowl Sunday. But before we announce the HBCMA winner (sorry for the nerve-wracking tension), a note on the Super Bowl itself. It sorta sucked a little. But still interesting, because the …
You know you’re in trouble when Hollywood starts talking about you. Just look at Steve Jobs. His death gave birth to six biopics in two years (it will be interesting if history renders a verdict of Jobs as a Henry Ford or P.T. Barnum). Similarly, NFL Commission Roger Goodell, Tinseltown has you in their sites. Hollywood has done …
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAFAEL! To my dear dear nephew, You are delightfully too young to realize it, but one day you will be delightfully old enough to remember the Olden Days. One day, when you are ancient like me, a boy who is new like you will ask when you were born. And you’ll say “2010.” And his …
I really should learn Spanish. About all I know is hola, adios and Lo siento por los perros (Sorry about the dogs.). I could have used a Spanish lesson today, at Ralph‘s. Mom has taught me to appreciate the affordable things in life, and I’ve found a wine so cheap I’d hesitate to call it low brow, …
I can’t decide whether I’m thrilled or mortified by the Sean Penn interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman for Rolling Stone. On the one hand, the piece is testimony to the power of the press, like Edward Snowden’s revelatory interviews with The Guardian, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Good journalism challenges the powers that be, whether it’s …
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Wierd and Gilly, And The Spiders from Mars. He played it left hand, but made it too far, Became the special man, Then we were Ziggy’s Band. Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo Like some cat from Japan, he could lick ’em by smiling He …
A buddy noted with some surprise recently that I use emoticons, and I’ll admit: I’m a fan of the fad. But see, here’s the thing. Emoticons aren’t a fad, or even anything new. Journalists have been using them for decades. Of course, we had fewer to employ back then, when language was a more delicate …
I had a nostalgic moment with a vagrant this weekend. That’s not particularly surprising or new. As a former cop reporter, I’ve always been fascinated with the homeless, America’s last indigenous population, and their sprawling, coast-to-coast reservation: the city. There was the homeless woman who developed a crush on Michael when he was living at …
Teddy, I swear to god, sometimes that dog… So he’s always eaten weird things at the house. He once took two TV remote controls while I was out of town, chewed on them a bit, and left them under a sprinkler for two days (somehow, they still work). Another time, when he learned he …
