I am very tired from a long day playing Star Wars: Force Unleashed on the Wii and helping to make sure that my nephew's bris went okay, which it did. Since I am so tired, I will only write that I am now uncle Ben, and I am my nephew William Stanley's godfather. If I had to choose which cultural icon I would rather be associated with--Uncle Ben or ( Read more... )

So, NYC: I used to come here all the time: to visit my great-aunt, to the village, to the area around NYU, to some of the midtown hobby stores, to my ex's apartment, to visit my friend going to Columbia. I'm no NYCer -- not even an outer-Boroughs-type -- but I've almost always been able to find my way around the city, I've always felt somewhat ( Read more... )

-Elvis Costello, "God's Comic"

Slavoj Zizek says that even if you meet a greedy Jew, you're still prejudiced if you think Jews are greedy. Of course, we could turn that around and also come up with a true statement: even if you're not prejudiced, you might meet a greedy Jew.

( Yes, they are pushier in Israel. )

- Sam Philips (Sun Records) to a gospel-singing Johnny Cash ( Read more... )

well, what ( Read more... )

to clear up some confusion/fulfill some people's wishes ( Read more... )

I break my long-standing attempt to be cute and witty (and my long-standing habit/policy of not using names) to shamelessly shill a documentary that is not even out yet, but is being edited as I type. But in order to do that, more about my vacation ( Read more... )

The joke goes something like this: the man living in or near the army base has a nubile daughter (though the joke, of course, isn't about her getting married), and he is very worried all the time about the young soldiers' interest in her, and he comes home to discover that his worst fears have been confirmed, and collapses with relief, saying, " ( Read more... )

This weekend I was in Cleveland, Ohio to attend the wedding of my cousin Avraham. A little family history would go kind of, but not exactly, like this: my aunt (mom's sister) Susan becomes Hasidic; Shoshana gets married (a bad match), three children are born (before the divorce): Chava, Avraham, Chani (a year older, a year younger, and several ( Read more... )