Amy Poehler must surely have been excited to have had Carol Burnett on her podcast Good Hang. In an episode that was released early this month, the comedy legend sat down for an expansive conversation… Read More
“Fortunately, there is more to life than death. There is for one thing, fiction. A thousand thousand characters to be sent marching out into the world to divert time from its forward gallop to the… Read More
Ranking Roger would have been 63 this weekend. Roger Charlson was born in Birmingham on Feb. 21, 1963, and was still a teenager when his band — the Beat, or the English Beat, as we… Read More
I wonder if there are many shared smiles between John Risley and Brendan Paddick these days, as the two of them deal with separate court actions — one in which they are pitted against each… Read More
“No nation can be really great unless it is great in peace, in industry, integrity, honesty. Skilled intelligence in civic affairs and industrial enterprises alike; the special ability of the artist, the man of letters,… Read More
Something delightful happened this week. Labi Siffre, the British singer-songwriter whose work is perhaps better known than his name, released a new single. It’s a prelude of what will be his first album of new… Read More
Kristi Noem has been under intense scrutiny and political attack this winter (including from her own side), but the person out of a job is not the controversial Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, but the spokesperson… Read More
“When you’re on Earth, if you go to the top of a mountain, the stars look much brighter than they do at sea level. And because the space shuttle is above Earth’s atmosphere, it’s like… Read More
The photo above is of my niece Beth, and it shows the moment when she wrapped herself in the quilt that Martha made for her. She came over during the holidays for a fun evening,… Read More
“Nothing recedes like success.” — Walter Winchell For decades an observer (and sometimes an instigator) of the news, the columnist and broadcaster Walter Winchell certainly witnessed and documented the rise and fall of many a… Read More
Neil Hannon has been performing as the Divine Comedy since he was a young man in Northern Ireland in the late 1980s, and he’s still going strong. I think he’s a remarkable songwriter, and so… Read More
It’s a snow day in St. John’s, and even more so just outside the city, where the snowfall accumulations are really piling up. An odd thing about St. John’s in winter: the closer you are… Read More
“There are two kinds of people in the world — bath people and shower people.”— Yoko Ono Artist Yoko Ono made this quip during an interview in 2002, as collected here by the BBC. I… Read More
I don’t even notice them anymore. Thin plastic hoses, draping down from the ceilings in Memorial University’s network of tunnels, eventually finding their way to buckets. They collect water that otherwise would — and indeed… Read More
“I really didn’t say everything I said.”– Yogi Berra Yogi Berra was an acclaimed catcher for the New York Yankees (a 10-time World Series champ), but he is perhaps better known for what have long… Read More