My latest piece over at The Awl: As crazy as it seems now, when I was a freshman in high school I was convinced that my life was going to end, healthy and unadulterated, sometime before December 31st 1988. Of course it’s common for sensitive teens to consider their mortality during those tumultuous years when the hormones start to kick [...]

Nothing moved me as much as 2009′s debut record by Girls. But who’s complaining? Overall, some pretty great music was made this year. This is what I was listening to in 2010: 15. Sam Amidon: I See The Sign 14. Julian Lynch: Mare 13. Lower Dens: Twin-Hand Movement 12. Wild Nothing: Gemini 11. LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening 10. James [...]

A new piece on Krampus by yours truly over at The Awl: Christmas is nearly upon us and, with all its commercialism and saccharine rituals, it’s all too easy to forget the true meaning of the season. Thankfully, the sanctity of this glorious holiday is still appreciated in parts of Germany and Austria where good, hardworking folk remember that Christmas [...]

Aquarium Drunkard just posted an interesting compilation of Christian psychedelia from the sixties and seventies: This is so good. A couple of weeks back the guys at Crescere shot me an email hipping me to their latest creation; a two part compilation of super-obscure, often private press, outsider psychedelic guitar and folk music from the 60s and 70s… all with [...]

The New York Times included a short quote by yours truly in this article on vinyl siding. And yes, I really do live in a pink building. To Mr. Canfield, replacing vinyl siding that is in good shape, as some homebuyers do as soon as they have the deed, is like carelessly restoring antiques that came over on the Mayflower. [...]

I love this video.

Somehow, this doesn’t really surprise me: Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life. On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and [...]

Yu(c)k – Automatic from Yuck on Vimeo. This is still my favorite video of the year. Beautiful in its simplicity, especially in contrast to some of this year’s less subtle videos.

The Morning News just posted a new one by yours truly: DawnQuil & DuskQuil Time-specific alternatives to Vicks’ popular DayQuil and NyQuil brands for those days when you want your cold and flu medications around the clock. Executives at Vicks are hopeful another spinoff, the NyQuil 40 oz, which comes pre-wrapped in its own brown paper bag, will do better [...]

If you’re as tired of those ubiquitous TV recaps as I am, you may enjoy this spoof I did over at The Awl. Last night on “Three’s Company,” there were hijinks. Hijinks, wacky scenarios and sexual innuendo. And, spoiler alert, somebody overheard a conversation while standing outside of a door and misinterpreted it as somebody else having sex. (Well, that [...]