Archive for the ‘Pop Culture’ Category
December 24, 2016
No, the Season is not just about Christmas: early America disliked it so much that they outlawed it: here in Massachusetts, stores and public offices remained open to staunch the flow of paganism—which is what they deemed Catholicism. More on that later. Truth be told, there are over two dozen religions, old and […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Uncategorized |
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May 12, 2014
Travel is no longer much fun, and trips long and short induce this summary of experiences: First the usual mysteries of the road: people who don’t know the town they live in, and those hired to be at your service but are ignorant of their job descriptions. Inquire at a gas pump, […]
Posted in Pop Culture |
Tags: air travel, auto travel, Cell phones, Garmans, GPS, liquor salespersons, loud voices, smartphones
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March 8, 2014
The annual gush over hunks and chicks strolling a Red Carpet (why not the Yellow Brick Road?) is because they are our royalty. We’ve never gotten over losing that when we broke up with the Brits. Now we pick from a cast (pun intended) of hundreds at once, very much alive and mugging […]
Posted in Pop Culture |
Tags: Bob Hope, Ellen, Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Leo DeCaprio, Lupita Nyong'o, Matthew Mconaughey, Meryls Streep, Oscars, Royalty, Sandra Bullock, Scorsese
1 Comment »
November 25, 2013
Thanksgiving traditionally is a time to eat like there’s no tomorrow. And there are some big fat ideas about the day that ain’t necessarily so. Of course times have changed and so has Turkey Day, an occasion that such fowl surely would anticipate with dread, except that they don’t have powers of anticipation till […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Race in America |
Tags: Camel cigarettes, Immigration of Whites, Life Magazine, Nicene Creed, Pilgrims, Swift & Co., Thanksgiving, Turkeys, Wampanoag people
1 Comment »
September 20, 2011
I am cynical to the max regarding the world of celebrity, and TV’s Emmys take no edge from my sarcasm. It is my missionary duty to convince others that it will rot mind and soul. Emmys night is the time to see all the TV actors and shows you didn’t know existed. Or […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues, Women and Society |
Tags: Emmy Award, Fareed Zakaria, Glee, Jane Lynch, Jon Hamm, Julie Bowen, Kate Winslet, Mad Men, Medal of Honor, Melissa McCarthy, Ricky Gervais, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Buscemi, Steve Carrel, The Good Wife, the Red Carpet, Ty Burrell, Zooey Deschanel
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May 27, 2011
People die every day, and there is a scramble to give meaning to their lives. When the young die in war there are dignified rituals to acclaim that they were brave, courageous and sacrificed themselves for us all. Drums roll, guns roar and loved ones clasp folded flags as proof of the family’s […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues |
Tags: Auto safety, Bullying, Family, Memorial Day, Roadside memorials, Substance abuse, Teachers, Wartime deaths, Young deaths
1 Comment »
May 5, 2011
We know there’s a god, or the death of Osama bin Laden would have come the day before the royal wedding. Imagine then the shrieking and screaming from all who still believe in fairy princes and princesses, were the best news about the world’s worst terrorist allowed to infringe on Happy Times in Britain’s […]
Posted in Pop Culture, Social Issues |
Tags: Charles and Diana, CNN, Fox News Channel, Geraldo Rivera, Glenn Beck, Groucho Marx, Kate Middleton, Osama BinLaden, Prince Philip, Will and Kate, Winston Churchill
3 Comments »
March 1, 2011
Many of us weren’t born when this nonsense started–meaning, the Academy Awards and the slavish adoration of people with otherwise messed-up lives who have a talent for appearing normal, even heroic, on a silver screen. This bears saying again: the obsession with celebrity is our way of re-creating a royalty that was briefly sacrificed by […]
Posted in Pop Culture |
Tags: 83rd Oscars, Academy Award, Anne Hathaway, Colin Firth, James Franco, Kirk Douglas, Mike Douglas, Sandra Bullock, United States, Vince Lombardi
4 Comments »
December 16, 2010
For those who love wars, there’s always room for one more, and now it’s said that one’s been declared against Christmas by those who don’t believe in or celebrate it. I thought the latter were merely stating their own preferences, but Fox News, eager to push people into a fight, has made this a priority, […]
Posted in Politics, Pop Culture, Religion, Social Issues |
Tags: "New Athiests", Baby Jesus, Christmas, Hanukkah, Holiday greetings, Holidays, Kwanzaa, Oliver Cromwell, Opinions, Religion in America, Santa Claus, United States
6 Comments »
October 14, 2010
If ever the American electorate went mad, this is the moment. People have scoured the past for prior insanity but came up short. The 1960s were close, considering Vietnam, the Nixon era and Watergate, not to forget the Generation Gap, a renewal of the Civil War’s “father against son, brother against brother”–not to mention the […]
Posted in Politics, Pop Culture |
Tags: CBS News, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, Daily Show, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, United States
2 Comments »
Ichabod's Kin 