Reporters and writers of non-fiction run into trouble when, as their story begins to take shape, they decide that that story speaks a larger truth about Us As [Adjective] Americans.Us As 21st-Century Americans, Us As …

In Hargitay’s defense, I think the guy taking her hostage had just gotten shot by Vincent Spano; I’d make that face too.   On the other hand, she could have just read yet another script …

I watch enough “vintage” movies and television that I find myself thinking about bygone customs and technology a lot — like how writers will contrive to have characters overhear phone messages not meant for them, …

Hey, remember the Ask The Readers book I put you guys onto in July, about the kid with the glider and the school play?   I ordered a copy from Half.com and re-read it in …

Come see me read at “How I Learned,” hosted by Blaise K — the month’s theme is “How I Learned What Everybody Else Already Knew.”   Not sure what I’ll be talking about yet, but …

What ever happened to Toad The Wet Sprocket? You know, the “All I Want” band from the ’90s?
…No? “Walk On The Ocean”? Not ringing a bell?
I’d forgotten I even owned that album until iTunes DJ …

Law & Order: SVU. Really?   A cockroach?   Just going to rip Papillon and Brazil off, but without the insight?
Meloni’s “the walls, they breeeeeeathe” acting choices looked a lot like the ones he made …

Flash Forward. In the DVR timeslot face-off with The Vampire Diaries, this lost….Yeah, I know.   Cool premise; irritating execution, for two reasons.The first: Sonya Walger.I just can’t care.
The second: The idea that this happened …

Concept stolen from the boundlessly talented Joe R; image stolen from The Good Wife; hair stolen, evidently, from Mr. Wayne Newton.

America’s Next Top Model. When did Mr. Jay become kind of rad?Or have I started identifying with my captors?Has Tyra herself become so unbearable to me that anyone who ever makes a shred of non-self-aggrandizing, …