A hundred years or so ago, most Americans did not live in cities. A majority of Americans spent their entire lives living in one place, many of them never traveling more than 50 miles from where they were born. Even if they did move somewhere else when they came of age, they were usually able …
Editor’s note: This was originally published 15 years ago and has appeared several times in various forms. It will be included later this year in “Humor and Heart,” an anthology of my 40-plus years as a columnist in various venues. I thought this was particularly appropriate for Memorial Day. Georgeanne Fletcher says Jon Rumble was …
Remember when you were 16? Remember what it felt like to fall in love for the first time … and then to have your heart broken? Most of the kids who came of age in the ’60s, at least in this country, may have loved and appreciated the Beatles. But for most of us, the …
Reworked from 2009: “People are smarter and more aware of what’s going on than at any other time in human history. The average 19-year old today knows ten times as much as a 19-year old did forty years ago. Look at the technology and information that is routinely mastered.” — AARON, commenting on earlier post …
“What good is a book? Not much in the hands of people who do not think, and to be honest, most Americans do not even know how to think. Just consume.” — JOE BAGEANT If you’ve been following this blog and its earlier incarnations, you know how much I admire the late Joe Bageant, the …
Let me start by saying I have nothing against ’60s music. It was the soundtrack of my life from ages 10-20 and there were so many wonderful performers — individuals and groups — that had their heyday in that decade. Yeah, there was terrific music. But we really ought to understand that not everything was …
I was watching an English movie on my Zone 2 DVD player when something crossed my mind. The movie was “Not Only But Always,” a semi-biographical film about the comic partnership of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. It got me to thinking about the peak of their career together, the period from 1964-68 that included …
COOK AND MOORE REACHED COMEDIC GREATNESS TOGETHER Read More »
Every once in a while, an old guy just has to be an old guy. There are two ways to complain. One is complaining that things aren’t the way they once were, and the other is whining about the way things have become now. They actually aren’t all that different except in subtle ways. I …
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” If there is one of the Ten Commandments that has a certain level of ambiguity to it, it’s good old No. 3. The first two are fairly obvious. No other gods before me. No graven images. Those are easy, although you have …
Not all the shows I wind up enjoying end up flopping. “West Wing” and “Buffy” both lasted seven seasons and “Madam Secretary” six. “Smallville” gave me 10 full seasons of enjoyment. Then again, “Bay City Blues” broke my heart in 1983 when it was cancelled after just four episodes. “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” …
