I don’t really know why I still go to open mic poetry nights, as I reached the age where other people’s earnestness becomes anathema quite a while ago. But as Paul Stones, host of Howling at the Moon, said last night (though in slightly […]

Since I was a child, I’ve been certain that our planet is not the only place where life exists. I can remember staying up with the covers pulled around my head in bed, with my eyes glued to shows like Nova on late-night public television. Seein[…]

Celebrity is what most people aspire to, thinking that fame is only about the click and whir of the camera lens. This is true, though it also allows television advertisers an avenue to sell their products. Old Navy and Gap are the old guard at this, […]

Then again, perhaps I will just…
I just went from watching Grass, a Fast Show spinoff on BBC3, to reading the final story in the Essential Human Torch volume that I mentioned below. This story features the Watcher, and I realised that I see him[…]

Remember option two of how to expand a comedy show, especially for a movie? Option one was always send the cast on holiday together, but a close runner-up was to add a weedy crime thriller plot, usually where our hero(es) witness some awful crime. Th[…]

Check out the recent issue of Stay Free!, subtitled the Psychology Issue. There are interviews with Edward Valenstein on the history of lobotomies (why does my library not carry his books? I want to read more!), Laurence Kirmayer on mental illness ac[…]

I can’t stop thinking about my dinner at Lomzynianka. My meal was cheap, tasty, satisfying Polish food. After rejecting two restaurants in Williamsburg (Brunch only? Four dollars for borscht? Screw that!), my dining companion and I finally made[…]

Be sure that there is a storm brewing, as too many games jostle for too few release dates, but this is the calm before, and we’ve just time to take stock. Within a month anyone will be offered the chance to buy Pro-Evolution Soccer 3 and its r[…]

one exception to MarkS’ ruleis the ready salted crips, liberally sprinkled with malt vinegar. My Mum showed me this little trick when I was a kid and it’s fantastic, the crisps go ever so slightly soggy, and best of all, there’s a […]

Lab-ways jist ain’t what they were #1: Back when my dad was a college student, just after WW2, junior research scientists couldn’t necessarily afford even basic equipment, and the departments they were attached to didn’t necessarily[…]