Frank B.
tastes and preferences
Emptywheel is my favorite political blogger. Her name is Marcy Wheeler, she used to be a comp lit professor, and she specializes in close reading of text from trials, Congressional hearings, and redacted documents. I started reading her a few years ago, around the time Judy Miller emerged from jail, bony, girlish and incongruously triumphant. […]
Hill Street Blues versus Kung Fu
I’m honestly torn.
Lipstick Jungle versus Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues wins. I just want to show this isn’t completely rigged.
The Week in Fourth Grade
As I go through Isa’s fourth grade textbooks, I spot things that bother me. I understand the need for simplification, but at the expense of fact? Or am I being too picky?Here’s a lab to do at home from the science book: Cut up an apple and measure and record the mass of the fresh […]
Arrested Development: Season 1 vs. Season 3
Many have failed to pick up on the major qualitative distinctions between these seasons. In fairness, it was rarely clear when the show was even on, let alone what season it was. Michael Bluth: tenderhearted and ethical to a faultSeason 1: Bumbling courtship of Marta. Hilarious.Season 3: Finds out he is the father of Julia […]
Voting in Topanga Canyon
My old pot dealer’s wife checked me in. I said, “I’m John Levenstein, American.” She started laughing, then couldn’t stop laughing, and things bogged down for a while. The other woman running the polling place put a provisional ballot in the official ballot box by mistake, and then swore us all to secrecy.
Inverted commas
Twenty years ago, PC word processors struggled with apostrophes and quotation marks. Back then, I was forgiving, but the problem is still ubiquitous. Why? I spent the morning reviewing graduate school applications in which every apostrophe was converted to a question mark. And look at the atrocious quotation marks offered in the otherwise reasonable font […]
Super Bowl Halftime Show
In light of their past problems with the FCC, I was suprised to see the show start with a giant penis arrow making its way across the field to the heart shaped stage. The penis punctured the heart, Tom Petty came to life, and enthusiastic fans rushed the stage. Who were these young white people […]
Grimace, indeed
Keenan’s class will soon be going on a three-day field trip to Space Camp in Montreal. (I didn’t know the Canadians had a space program; then it occurred to me that this probably was the Canadian space program.) When told were told the trip would include a stop at the mega-McDonalds just on the US […]
Taxes
I discovered last night that I owe the IRS a hefty amount for 2007. My coworker suggested today I check my numbers on the free Turbotax online that her boyfriend had used. On the turbotax site I vaguely remembered that I had once created an account at least years ago. I clicked on the tab […]
Jack Silbert, curator