You’re a Mean One….
Holidays have always been a time for celebrating tradition. Maybe you like to gather your family around the tree for hot cocoa. Maybe you like over-decorating your yard with dozens of blow-up Santas and reindeer. Maybe you like caroling with neighbors. Maybe you like to watch Grandpa and Uncle Bill get liquored up and argue […]
It’s Complicated
Remember privacy? Of course, you don’t. Back in the 90s, you might have signed on to AOL expecting that when you got mail, it would be your business and nobody else’s. But now it’s 2022, and it’s all about the data. Your laptop and your phone, Siri and Alexa, your Ring doorbell cam and your […]
This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Last Tuesday, Taylor Swift opened “just-for-fans” ticket presales for her upcoming 52-date “Eras” concert tour – and promptly broke the internet. 14 million users flooded Ticketmaster’s website, jamming the site with 3.5 billion requests. Swift herself said, “It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot […]
Winter Aches and Pains
2022 is drawing to a close, and it can’t come soon enough for some folks. (We’re looking at you, Elon, Kanye, and Sam.) Winter’s chill is creeping south, ski resorts are opening throughout the north, and turkeys are looking over their shoulders. Mariah Carey is defrosting – and sooner than you think, all she’ll want […]
Please Listen Carefully as Our Menu Options Have Changed
When was the last time you called someone’s customer service number and found an actual person at the other end of the line? Did it feel like winning the lottery? We’re not talking about ordinary voicemail here. We’re talking about those endless phone tree menus that have gotten so frustrating that there’s a website — […]
Skeleton Crew
Another Halloween is in the books. Your kids are still working their way through their full-size bars and leaving those lame “fun-sized” bits at the bottom of their bags. They won’t even notice if you swipe a few unless they’ve gone and inventoried their candy on a spreadsheet, in which case, congratulations, they’re growing up […]
Madea’s Big Happy Audit
Tyler Perry made his fame and fortune playing Mable “Madea” Simmons, a pot-smoking, gun-toting, god-fearing granny who takes no foolishness. Perry’s signature character has appeared in 11 plays, 5 TV series, 11 movies, and even a cartoon. She certainly won’t win Perry any Best Actress awards. But the movies do make bank. Together, they cost […]
Tax Breaks To Get Charged Over
On September 21, 1893, the Duryea brothers road-tested the first gasoline-powered American car. They never could have guessed how their horseless carriage would define the 20th century. Automobiles transformed our landscape into a patchwork of strip malls and suburban cul-de-sacs. Detroit’s “Big Three” supported an apotheosis of blue-collar employment that let a high-school graduate raise […]
Taxtoberfest!
October is here, and Hot Girl Summer has faded into Pumpkin Spice Fall. Leaves are turning yellow, temperatures are turning cool, and shirts are turning plaid. Children are dreaming of costumes and candy corn. (It’s OK, they’ll outgrow the candy corn part.) We’re all celebrating with bonfires, hayrides, haunted houses, and more. And every town […]
“Do You Like Phil Collins?”
Rock musicians generally win more praise for their riffs and melodies than their lyrics. Everyone loves Jimmy Page’s screaming guitar solo from “Stairway to Heaven,” while no one can explain that bustle in the hedgerow. True, Bob Dylan was a poet at heart – if you can make out the words through the mumbling. But […]