I turned 35 this year. That means as of last Sunday I am legally eligible to run for President of the United States of America. I have no plans ever to do this, but for whatever reason I’ve always measured birthdays this way. Some of them are obvious – 16 you can drive, 18 you…
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I’ll admit to not understanding the Taylor Swift thing in the least until very recently. Until that “Shake It Off” song stormed everyone’s consciousness earlier this year, I couldn’t even name you a single Taylor Swift song. In fact, outside of the aforementioned “Shake It Off,” and the song this essay is about, I still…
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If you’ve read me for a long time, you know every year around my birthday I create a new mix CD to mark the occasion. This tradition started accidentally, but evolved into something I spent way too much time thinking about. Sometime around November I’d start adding songs and begin to ruminate about in what…
Read MoreIt’s Monday as I write this. I’m at work, I’m getting nothing done, my email program has decided it no longer wants to cooperate, and I’m good and hungover. I’m a sentient Garfield cartoon. The good thing about a shit day like today – which has been one of those days where I felt fine…
Read MoreIf you haven’t watched Jimmy Fallon say goodbye to Late Night by singing “The Weight” with The Muppets, please do so. I’ve embedded it here for you. Go ahead, I’ll wait: In a review on NPR, Linda Holmes had this to say: “…I had forgotten over the course of five years that I didn’t know…
Read MoreMerry Eksmas, everyone! That photo is of me as a college radio DJ spinning tunes during the prime hours of Midnight – 2 am on Wednesday mornings. Quality real estate indeed, and totally reflective of my DJ prowess. I’m not noted for my Christmas cheer, but the ubiquity of the annual Red and Green Menace…
Read MoreI did not shop on Thanksgiving. One of the reasons was that I am in support of the retail employees who have to come in on what was once a sacrosanct (and scarce) day off, and do not appreciate the creep of commercialism into this once sacred day. The other (and larger) reason is that…
Read MoreHaving set this up earlier this week, let’s dive right into it. I used to call this feature “Songs to Close Out Your Summer” when I wrote it for Cru Jones Society, and I think I was probably a bit too optimistic regarding my ideas about its impact on the readership. “Oh hey, I’ve been…
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