I have a terrible feeling that one of my favorite TV shows has jumped the shark. That can happen when characters that people really like turn out to be jackasses who annoy you, instead of make you laugh. Tonight’s episode of “Modern Family” tipped right over into sharkville, when both […]
In last weeks’ WSJ, a story was illustrated with people who had fallen down drunk on the road, and was about a statistic that bodes badly for the future of the United Kingdom. Despite years of the rate of drunkenness falling in other European countries and in the US, in […]
Erik Felton wrote a column a few days ago that stuck with me. It was about two men, and how vastly different they are– differences that have as much to do with the cultures of today and of yesterday as the men themselves. Leonard Slatkin was recently driven out of […]
I’m sitting in my favorite window of my favorite cafe, thinking about what it will be like after May 3 when I will no longer own this place. I tell friends and acquaintances who ask me that it will be great; that just being a customer will be much more […]
On most Thursday nights, I keep the channel on NBC so I won’t miss ‘The Office’ at nine pm. While that’s the main attraction, I must mention with admiration a very cleverly written mockumentary that preceded my regular fav, called Parks and Recreation. The show stars Amy Poehler as the […]
The very astute Jeffrey Zaslow writes in today’s WSJ about men’s friendships. The ‘nut graf’ as we journalists like to say, was a perfect summation of the column. The quote in italics comes from a wife, reacting to her husband’s answer to what five long-time men friends talked about during a […]
As we settle into a very summer-like day here in Deerfield, I am somewhat relieved. That’s because my planned trip to Thailand has been postponed, due to the army of Red Shirts who are protesting against the government and making things difficult for travel around Bangkok. Today’s news is that […]
I picked up a copy of yesterday’s NY Sunday Times and found a portrait of a gaunt yet attractive woman. She was Norman Mailer’s last wife…and she’s endured a whole lot of tough times besides being cheated on by the famous philanderer. Her name is Norris Church Mailer, and she […]
Last night we joined our friends Lorna and Mark at a trendy restaurant and sat for a long time talking about places we’ve been. The couple has traveled extensively around the world and they’ve been to some places I haven’t. I listened intently to their stories about what it is […]
I met a man outside of our cafe in South Deerfield named Rapid T. He was unshaven and carrying a box of crushed Miller Lite cans. He had a bicycle with a pair of boots dangling over the handlebars. He told me that he was called a Rail Fan, and […]
I enjoy having lunch with an old friend every week. We meet at the cafe, and always have some great stories to share. When he was a young man, fresh out of high school, his dad wanted to help him out. He wanted a job, and dad was able to […]
In last night’s WSJ, Warren Kozak wrote about a story that tells much about how things work in China. Beginning with a topic of Google’s defiance of the government over censorship of results, he tells a story from his days in the mid ’80s when he lived there with a […]