the decade in film: 2003-06

The end of a decade brings out the End Of Decade lists. I have little qualification to talk about the Best Movies of the Decade. Better critics than I have already put their lists together; I could only re-arrange the order. So the following list does not contain the Best Films of the Decade. But [...]

the decade in film: 2000-03

On vacation this week. This post was scheduled long ago. The end of a decade brings out the End Of Decade lists. I have little qualification to talk about the Best Movies of the Decade. Better critics than I have already put their lists together (see Leonard Pierce’s 20 best of the decade, for instance); [...]

there were three of us this morning; I’m the only one this evening

Against all sense and evidence I walked from Copley Square to Park Street on Monday night, in teens-degree weather against prevailing wind, to get a drink with Hawver and Fraley at Silvertone. I needed to get in touch with my city again. I love Boston in the fall and winter, lit up at night during [...]

will I see you tonight, on a downtown train?

While Boston didn’t get it as bad as the rest of the East Coast, nine inches of snow fell on us from late Saturday night into early Sunday afternoon. This wouldn’t have been enough to dissuade us from jiu-jitsu (grr! we’re tough!), but since Watertown declared a snow emergency, we couldn’t have parked on the [...]

50 books: 2009

Best Science Fiction / Fantasy Nominees: To Say Nothing of the Dog, The Stress of Her Regard, Accelerando, Earth Abides, Perdido Street Station, The Dispossessed Winner: The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin’s strength has always been to illustrate the odd quirks of human society by depicting them through the eyes of aliens. In [...]

you gonna save me or not?

Last week, I wrote about discovering sushi, something I avoided for a while (in part) because I feared it was pretentious. I copied this post to LiveJournal, where rival asked, “You mention that you had been writing sushi off as a pretentious/inaccessible food. I have heard this sentiment from other people. Where does it come [...]

my face woulda been beet red

On Monday night, I stayed out way too late at the ImprovBoston Fun(d)raiser at the Estate in downtown Boston. Rather than narrate a party you didn’t attend in droning detail, I’ll call out some of the local and rising comics who performed. Keep an eye out for these names. MC Mr Napkins, a/k/a Zach Sherwin: [...]

different strokes for different folks

If you’re curious about what I do for a living, or about internet marketing, you might find the following post interesting. Companies love internet marketing – search engine ads, banner ads, e-mail newsletters, etc – because they can track it with greater clarity than any other form of advertising. Advertisers like Nielsen and ClearChannel may [...]

if you’re lonely, you can talk to me

Media blow: Talk To Me: Uneven biopic. Don Cheadle plays Ralph “Petey” Greene, a fast-talking ex-convict who becomes a DJ in the D.C. area in the Sixties. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Dewey Hughes, the radio producer who takes a chance on the street-smart jiver who talks to The People! And so forth. While the details of [...]

I’m giving you a haircut, walking to the sushi bar

Good news, everyone: I’ve discovered I like sushi. My first hint that I might enjoy a food I’d written off as pretentious, weird or just inaccessible for so many years came at Hawver’s wedding. He served raw tuna steak, which tasted delicious. This planted a seed in the back of my mind: the idea that [...]