opinion
My Best Blog Post Ever!
Last week, Emotional Traffic by Tim McGraw debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart. It is McGraw’s best album ever. How do I know that? There was a sticker proclaiming as much right on the album cover. And what was the source of this high praise? That venerable publication Rolling Stone? Perhaps AllMusic.com? Could it […]
I Joined the SOPA Strike. Sort of.
Did you miss me yesterday? You didn’t? But I wasn’t on Facebook, or Twitter, or Salt in Wound. I didn’t “like” your posts. (And I do like your posts. I like them a lot!) I didn’t post any photos of crazy signs I saw. (Don’t worry, I didn’t see any crazy signs yesterday. I mostly […]
The Lonely Get Lonelier
It’s Valentine’s Day, so obviously my thoughts turn to the physical-fitness industry and the encroachment of technology on human interactions. Oh yeah, and also about solitude. There was a recent New York Times article about fitness—no, not the one about how lonely rats’ brains don’t work as well after exercise as real sociable rats’ brains […]
I Want to Replace Regis!
This morning, Regis Philbin announced that he’d be retiring from Live With Regis and Kelly at some point this year. For 28 years, he’s hosted a New York-based morning show, so this is truly the end of an era. I’m particularly saddened by the news. I watched in the very beginning, when Cyndy Garvey (ex-wife […]
Societal Training
I readily admit that I get a little too hopeful about women in train stations, on trains, and on other modes of transport. Some might label it delusional. Others might deem my actions a tad on the creepy side. But to paraphrase a favorite public-service announcement, “I learned it from watching YOU, America!” As evidence, […]
Bye-Bye, Barnes and Noble
At the end of the month, my local Barnes & Noble is shutting down. Blame the exorbitant main-street rents in this town. Blame the economy. Blame the iPad. Blame it on the rain and the bossa nova. Use any tired descriptive phrases you like: “closing the book,” “the final chapter,” (Chapter 11?). It doesn’t change […]
I Was Willing To Give Mel Gibson Another Chance
Really, I was. Sure, there had been the anti-semitism and sexism, the homophobia, The Passion of the Christ, that Apocalypto piece of crap, and that crazy beard. I haven’t seen a Mel Gibson movie since Signs in 2002, and I only remember that it was awful, and there were glasses of water all over the […]
The Least Surprising Sentence in Today’s New York Times
“The exhibit will open with the new film, narrated by the actor Morgan Freeman.“
Sea Salt in Wound
I’ve become rather adept at viewing TV shows that I’ve recorded on the DVR. I’ll zip through commercials at the two-little-triangles speed, or if I’m in a big hurry, three little triangles. So it’s all the more impressive when an advertisement catches my eye, forcing me to be kind (to sponsors), rewind, and watch at […]
Salt Not in Wounds
We’ve had a bit of snow and ice here in the Northeast of late, so there’s a container of rock salt inside my apartment building. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the manufacturer was the Morton company. What with their association with salt and all. I looked at the label and thought, “Oh, […]
Jack Silbert, curator