“Climate change” is the nice way to say it. There’s just this pesky stigma surrounding the phrase “global warming.” It makes people think about unpleasantries like polar bears floating on melting islands of ice and Al Gore and even that terrible movie Water World – because deep down we know…
Thursday nights can be the most stressful evenings of any work week. You’ve spent your last four days protecting yourself from office toxicity. On Monday you sound-proofed your cubicle so that you wouldn’t be tempted to strangle your Celine Dion-addicted neighbor. On Tuesday you brought your lunch so that you…
Everyone wants to be part of whatever world they can’t fit into. It’s the basic principle of marketing: The rich want to slum it with the club kids; the club kids want to look rich. That’s why magazines dress up outrageously hip, young, and penniless kids in $1,000 sunglasses –…
There’s something alluring and attractive about the Highland Games. Maybe it’s because the events are primitive and self-explanatory: instead of throwing a shot-put, hulking beefcakes in skirts (nay, kilts) hurl giant stones. (The event, coincidentally, is called “Stones.”) Also on the bill is the Caber Toss; that’s where the hot…
Who says Floridians don’t understand history and preservation? Sure, we might not have cobblestone streets and ivy-lined mansions that date back hundreds of years like those snobby folks up north. But what we do have, we cherish. Take for example the West Palm Beach Historical Walking Tours. These guided foot…
There’s an old adage that the only thing New Yorkers can agree on is how much it’s always changing. There’s a loyalty to the past that N.Y. residents share, a common understanding that nothing is as good today as it was several decades ago. That goes for where the best…
The gods have been dropping by to interfere in mortals’ lives for centuries. Zeus used his super-power prowess to knock up half of Greece’s mortal women, leaving bastard god/human love children all over the city. Eventually you couldn’t walk down Athens Ave. without tripping over a Heracles or a Perseus…
People have always said that your wedding day will be the most wonderful day of your life. Of course, what they casually omit from that fable are all of the labor intensive days leading up to the magical moment. Who knew there would be so much stress involved? Do yourself…
While cities expand, asphalt spreads, threatening to blanket the entire surface of the globe and leading us to this great conundrum: Why do we pursue order and power over nature while simultaneously longing for chaos? As more terrain is conquered in the name of progress, we romanticize those untamed regions…
It’s a helluva dry spell since that the blasted writers strike started; we’re suffering a collective case of television blue balls. Thankfully one of the most avidly followed shows on cable will start a new season on Sunday night, regardless. And while there will be parties all across the country…
You find solace in the ocean. Allowing yourself to examine the waves – from distant ripples, to suction-like C’s, to eventual breakdowns, racing forward to tickle the sand – gives you peace. There’s comfort in change, in knowing that each of those waves, however temporary, will affect the lives of…
You love Foreigner. Every time that you slide into your Camaro and pop that self-titled album in the tape deck, it truly does “feel like the first time.” Instantly, you’re fumbling through time and space, and you’re 18 again, smokin’ doobage until you got “Double Vision” with your high school…
Ahh, Christmas tree, we’ve shared a lot of good times. Remember when the cats climbed up your bushy branches and knocked you over, breaking two thirds of your high fashion accessories (ornaments)? Ooh! Or how about the time the dog got sick from drinking the aspirin water in your stand…
It takes some major cojones to embrace the parts of yourself that you can’t change. (Who do you think you’re kidding by putting a band aid over that hairy mole? The jig is up.) It takes a pair the size of Saturn’s moons to make roomfuls of people laugh at…
Shotgun shacks crafted entirely out of Popsicle sticks. Glittery strings of precious jewels (AKA macaroni). Minimalist renditions of life and its cycles (stick figure family units). Kids have lots of ways to express themselves artistically – of course, some of them are easier to display in your home than others…
Today is the Winter Solstice, meaning the earth is at its maximum tilt with the sun and you can expect progressively longer days until June. What are you going to do with all of that extra sunlight? You can’t store it up (but if you could, it would go into…
Getting face time with the big guy is tough; his minion elves command you to stand patiently in hour-long lines and then hustle you away as soon as your photo op is complete. You hardly have time to eke out the words “I wanna new pink glitter paint job for…
Tonight the goyish are all tucked away. They’re fussing with last-minute gift wrapping, baking desserts they should have made days ago, and they’re knockin’ back nog with their toothless grandparents around their energy-inefficient Christmas trees. For Jewish singles, Christmas Eve and Christmas can feel like a sci-fi movie: You go…
If there’s a lesson to be learned from watching Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, it’s this: Never have children. If you do, from the time they are small and asking to go on expensive field trips to when they’re old and hoping to solve their financial messiness by knocking…
Aren’t you tired of making every errand on your list about others? You should be. Taking a little time for you is the key to enjoying the holidays. Totally Bare Wax Center (2394 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale) agrees. That’s why it’s giving you a gift: your first eyebrow, lip,…
It’s tough being holy during the holidays. Sinners pack your church to maximum capacity in an impulsive effort for atonement, leaving you – the good church-goer – in the standing room only section, with no clear view of the preacher over that steaming cloud of hypocrisy. It’s enough to make…
Let the Gentiles feast on pork. It’s a small concession; after all, the Jews are taking back rock ‘n’ roll. Rob Tannenbaum and David Fagan make up the lounge/pop/rock and hilariously kosher shtick Good for the Jews. Songs like “Shiksas are for Practice,” and “They Tried to Kill Us (We…
