Back when I was a naive suburban-dwelling teenager, I worked as a barista with a woman from Sandwich, Illinois. Having been nowhere and knowing nothing, I thought it must be the most whimsical place on Earth. Was every restaurant a sandwich shop? Did they have a town-wide sandwich holiday? Its Main Street has the requisite …
When Gene Roddenberry imagined Star Trek, it was a future in which scientists and explorers could jet across the world as warp speeds. In just moments, they could fly from one side of a solar system to another. But even in a future where traveling 2,000 times the speed of light is commonplace, the universe …
If you’re of a certain age, you can remember a time before reality TV. When writers, not producers, determined the course of events in a program. But when the Writers Guild of America went on strike, first in 1988 and again in 2007, networks discovered they didn’t even need writers to create content viewers would …
Are you getting ready for the second-wave double whammy of coronavirus and the flu this fall? Maybe you’re starting to feel a little disquieted in your urban center? Or, you’re just ready for a change of scenery and zip code? Maybe it’s time to head to a small town. If there’s one thing Netflix romcoms …
Do we love Tom Cruise or hate him? On the one hand, Top Gun, Mission Impossible, and Jack Reacher. But also, Scientology. His exes are like refugees emerging from a cult post-divorce. And his winning smile takes on a twinge of hysteria on talk shows. In a #MeToo world, everyone’s asking if it’s still possible …
Now five months into quarantine and social distancing in America, and we’re all a little starved for social interaction. At this point, I think we’re all sick of Zoom happy hours, Zoom first dates, Zoom classes–just Zoom. It’s been months since we could strike up a conversation with someone new. It’s awkward trying to maintain …
The original Star Wars trilogy started sci-fi movies on the path of mind-blowing special effects and grand stories told by A-l ist celebrities. After a 16-year hiatus, George Lucas returned to dole out the prequels from 1999 to 2005, whether or not anyone wanted them. (We did not). As the credits rolled on Revenge of …
The chasm between the childless and the child-rearing grew during the quarantine. Those without kids dealt with boredom, financial stress, and a general sense of impending doom. Those with kids coped with the above while homeschooling and helping their kids adjust to living through a pandemic. It’s a lot. There’s not a parent out there …
It’s time for anyone who’s not the 1% to disabuse themselves of the notion that they will get more money or more free time soon. Jeff Bezos just added $13 billion to his net worth in 24-hours–a record for rich people. So we’re on our own out here, and we’d better live like it. To …
Online shopping is a little different for those of us who were around pre-Amazon. Or pre-current Amazon, when it was just an online bookstore and not the fuel-source for the Demon of Greed. We witnessed the birth of not only the internet but also Web 2.0. We cut our teeth on eBay and Craigslist, the …