When I lived outside Philadelphia about a decade ago, one thing I learned was that Philly was not the “City of Brotherly Love,” no matter what the etymology of the name meant. No, Philadelphia was the city that booed Santa Claus! Santa Claus! And the city booed him! No, I had no idea what thisContinue reading “On Booing Santa Claus”
Author Archives: Allyn
On Hillary Clinton’s 2012 Political Options
It’s August. Political reporters need something to write about. So why not write about the 2012 election? How else to explain the sudden flurry of articles — with this one from Politics Daily a typical example — speculating on Hillary Clinton’s plans for 2012? Or, this article which suggests that Clinton will stage a primaryContinue reading “On Hillary Clinton’s 2012 Political Options”
On Baseball’s National Anthem
I get e-mails from the History Channel. I must have signed up for their newletter at some point in the past, but I couldn’t say when that was. Normally, I just delete them, unless the subject line looks interesting. And yesterday, I got a very interesting one. To me, anyway. “Forgotten Baseball Poet Receives StarContinue reading “On Baseball’s National Anthem”
On Writing Silly Short Stories
I Tweeted this morning that “I woke up with the feeling that I dreamt a short story, but the feeling doesn’t tell me what it was or anything about it, just that it was.” What that story was came to me, somewhere around 11:30. Unsurprisingly, my immediate thought was, “Wait, I dreamt that?‽!” Clearly, Sunday’sContinue reading “On Writing Silly Short Stories”
On Marvel Comics’ New Thunderstrike
I mentioned recently, when looking at some Thor comics reading, that Marvel Comics was bringing back early-90s Thor spin-off character Thunderstrike in a new series by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz. Eric Masterson, an architect and single father, was, for a time, Thor. Then he became separated from Thor and Thor became Thor again (no,Continue reading “On Marvel Comics’ New Thunderstrike”
On Favorite Characters In a Book
To my chagrin, I made it through college without ever having to read F. Scott Fitzgerald in an English course. I did, however, read Fitzgerald for my American history course. I had to write a paper on "Echoes of the Jazz Age," an essay where Fitzgerald used this memorable phrase to describe the 1920s —Continue reading “On Favorite Characters In a Book”
On A Brand-New Rutles Project
The Rutles! Who among us is not a fan of the Prefab Four? Who can’t remember where they were when Ron, Dirk, Stig, and Barry appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show? Who could forget the riots when they played the concert at Che Stadium? Who could forget the outcry when Dirk announced that he wasContinue reading “On A Brand-New Rutles Project”
On WordPress Plug-Ins and WordPress.Com Tags
On occasion, I can be a stat fiend. I used to write analyses each month of what people were looking for on my website, but eventually I lost interest. Not in looking at the stats — the information was interesting to me — but in sharing it with others — I’m not sure that itContinue reading “On WordPress Plug-Ins and WordPress.Com Tags”
On Emma Thompson and House
Emma Thompson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week, flanked by Nanny McPhee costar Maggie Gyllenhaal and Cambridge classmate and House star Hugh Laurie. Seeing Thompson and Laurie together reminds me, besides Peter’s Friends (which I’ve not seen in far too long), of a House story I would love to see.Continue reading “On Emma Thompson and House”
On Counterfactual Doctor Who Musings
Over the weekend, with the world still in the afterglow of “A Study in Pink,” Sherlock‘s debut episode, reports began to surface in The Sun and The Daily Mail that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had been offered the role of the Doctor after David Tennant decided to leave. Really? The Sun? Really? The Daily Mail?Continue reading “On Counterfactual Doctor Who Musings”