I’ve lost my sense of humor.  When not even Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert can make me laugh consistently, I’ve got a problem.  I’m not depressed.  The world just sucks.

Much of my unhappiness is entirely personal: nagging health issues that m… Read full post »

(In honor of President Obama finally declaring his support for marriage equality, I am reposting what I wrote two years ago about my own “evolution” in thought.)

June 28, 1969.  I was beginning my last summer vacation before heading/… Read full post »

Dear Mr. Romney: I was quite amused by your statement criticizing the Obama Administration for not standing up strongly enough for the human rights of Chinese dissident Chen Guancheng at the very same moment that YOU were NOT standing up strongly enough for… Read full post »

“Kindle” is the appropriate word. Halfway through converting my book to Amazon’s e-reader, I wanted to hurl stuff into a fireplace.

Before I bitch and moan about Kindle, let me say that, on the surface, it is as easy to create a… Read full post »

21 years ago today, I held a baby in my arms, moments after she had entered this world.  My wife and I had already decided we were going to name our younger daughter Nicole, and give her the middle name Rita, after my mother.  Here are a/… Read full post »

Since I am a loner by nature, it was inevitable that social media would wear out its welcome in my life.  That day has arrived.

Today I deactivated my Facebook account.  Deactivation means I/… Read full post »

(I first posted this in April 2010.  It was the first time I’d mentioned my battle with depression.  Some recent conversations have inspired me to repost it.)

The older you are, the more you live… Read full post »

GLENDALE, CA. – Reality-TV star Kim Kardashian, following a hint that she had dropped recently on her TV show, announced today that she is a candidate for mayor of Glendale, California.  Standing before a banner showing her dressed demurely, which caused some observers to insist the pictur/… Read full post »

After I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge last week, I posted a comment on Facebook that I had knocked something off my bucket list.  Someone asked what else was on my list and I was taken aback because I didn’t have an answer.  I had never formulated a list,/… Read full post »

Because I have self-published a book - excuse me while I insert a link - many people now consider me an expert and have asked me for advice.  That is like asking a guy who’s played touch football who the New York Jets should draft in the/… Read full post »

(Title with all respect to Fats Domino.)

When I was thirty years younger and, let’s say for the sake of argument, thirty pounds lighter, my feet were my second favorite part of my body.  I loved to walk. Whenever possible while traveling, I chose/… Read full post »

If Kermit thinks it’s not easy being green, he should try being a New York Mets fan in the city it shares with the most successful franchise in sports history, the Yankees. To be a Mets fan in New York is to prefer Shemp, to be the… Read full post »

(“High and Low” is being shown on Turner Classics this Sunday night / Monday morning at 2:30 a.m.)

Akira Kurosawa, director of cinematic classics like Rashomon and The Seven Samurai, and Ed McBain, prolific pulp detective novelist, are two/… Read full post »

I try to remain young at heart musically, or at least as young as my 61-year-old ears will allow me.  I check the websites Pitchfork, Stereogum and emusic regularly, and I will investigate the latest buzzed-about indie band (The Men’s Open Your Heart sounds pretty good), the/… Read full post »

My book is now available on Amazon. The link is below. I'm having a little trouble with the Kindle formatting, so that version is pending. 

http://www.amazon.com/THECLOWN-CARThe-White-2012By-Cranky/dp/1470176459/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332015016&sr=1-2 Read full post »

Sometime in the next few days, my self-published first book, Send in the Clown Car: The Race for the White House 2012, should be available on Amazon. Oh, if you insist, here is the cover …

           … Read full post »

(I did this meme over the weekend on Facebook.  Since it’s become an Open Call, I’ll repeat my answers here.  BTW, I hate the word “meme.”  I hate “BTW” too.)

1. Your main trait: Curiosity and/or anxiety, rarely at the/… Read full post »

As I’m sure you do, I believe every word that Tinkerertink69 writes on his blog.  His adherence to total honesty, regardless of the personal cost, puts to shame those of us who just make shit up.

For a long time, however, I failed to believe the… Read full post »

On Saturday, for the second year in a row, my wife and I participated in a special brand of torture called the Oscar Best Picture marathon. We saw four of the nominated films in one sitting, which instantly quintupled the number we had seen.

   … Read full post »

Dear emusic.com editor,

In your weekly review of new music, the entirety of your comment on Paul McCartney’s standards album was:

Paul McCartney, Kisses on the Bottom: I can’t. I just can’t.

Did you mean… Read full post »

Announcer: “Live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it’s the 54^th annual Grammy Awards, and here’s your host, a rapper who hasn’t had a hit in 20 years but coincidentally happens to be starring in a CBS series that needs promotion, LL Cool J.”

Read full post »

Six years ago, in a Bridgeport, CT. courtroom, my friend was accused of being a child molester. 

A nine-year-old girl took the witness stand, testifying about the sexual abuse she had allegedly suffered at a local synagogue from its caretaker.  When t/… Read full post »

To the list of crimes committed by the George W. Bush Administration, add this:

It turned me into a writer.

I’d always longed to be a writer. I had majored in journalism as a college freshman and had made some abortive, laughable a… Read full post »

Apparently some people didn’t realize my post yesterday about OS joining the online protest against SOPA and PIPA was a parody.  I apologize and vow that next time I post a parody, every paragraph will contain a flashing neon light reading, “Not True./… Read full post »

Kerry Lauerman announced today that Open Salon would go black tomorrow, along with other websites such as Wikipedia, to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

SOPA is a bill before the House of Representatives and PIPA is a bill… Read full post »