I need to address something I know is sacrosanct for many—Shark Week. I ask your forgiveness in advance. I have to hand it to the Discovery Channel. They took something very random and turned it into something of a cultural phenomenon and they’ve managed to sustain the public’s interest for a shockingly long time. When people talk about Shark Week, there’s a certain thrill in their voices, a frenzied shine in their eyes because sharks=blood, gore, death, awesome. Shark Week has become a national televisual holiday and the best part …

What is with the celebrity obsession with promiscuously flashing the peace sign? From the A List to the Z List, celebrities have a bizarre fetish for spreading their forefingers and middle fingers in the universal peace sign any time a camera is present. It often seems like a tic, an uncontrollable urge. I am a nonviolent person but when I see a celebrity flashing a peace sign, I want to break their fingers. They’re famous, which most of the time means they’re creatively inclined. Why can they not use their …

Do you know who Fred is? As in, “Fred the Internet phenomenon”? I do, sort of, in the sense that I’ve stumbled upon one or two of his YouTube videos and watched about seven seconds of each, just enough to decide that kids these days are idiots and have no idea what’s good for them. Yes, I am old, and I realize there comes a time in every old person’s life when youth culture becomes strange and possibly even scary. But that moment is going to be Fred? Really?

This was meant to be a relatively simple blog post. I was going to say a little something about how power pop is a great summer-time genre, lament a little because they just don’t make ‘em like they used to, then call it a day. That was the plan, anyhow.

Last week, we teamed up with Rose Metal Press and Open Books in Chicago for a poetry/flash fiction reading that knocked my socks off. Here’s the photographic evidence.

Jeopardy is by far my favorite game show. It’s a show that celebrates not only intelligence but nerdery and trivia. You don’t have to be charming, attractive or witty. You only need to know how to press the button before the two people next to you press their buttons to answer a series of questions you probably know the answers to. The hard part was the test to get on the show. Once you’re on, you just have to buzz and answer. It’s simple, really.
It has long been my fondest …

The road narrative is, of course, the most American story –- possibly the only American story –- and so it’s fitting that Season 2 of Jersey Shore, the most important documentary about modern America, starts with one.

When I first heard there was going to be a Titanic II, I assumed it was a joke. But the movie is real, apparently. It even has a trailer!

There has been, as of late, a cultural obsession with cupcakes.  I sort of get it–cupcakes can be cute and interesting and charming because they are tiny little cakes covered in frosting and frosting is delicious. There are all kinds of cupcake variations out there–different flavors, frosting, decorations, and so on. I’ve seen stuffed cupcakes and designer cupcakes and deconstructed cupcakes. I am charmed by monster cupcakes and Obama cupcakes and princess cupcakes and the like. I am intrigued by but skeptical about fancy cupcakes with nontraditional flavors like Almond …