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After School Specials.
Is that a Trapper Keeper in your locker or are you just happy to see me? Next month, two volumes of
ABC's "After School Specials" will be released on DVD (in DVD sets designed to look like Trapper Keepers). After the first two sets, at least four more will follow. TV Shows on DVD has the names of many the specials ("Schoolboy Father," "She Drinks a Little," "Did You Hear What Happened to Andrea?") to jog your memory. Of course,
Jump the Shark has plenty of memories of them, too. And anyone who saw Helen Hunt host "SNL" knows that in at least one (possibly two), she jumps out the window. Those were the days.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 11:18 PM on September 22, 2004
(19 comments)
"Al Gore...lives on my block."
Humorous song by one of Al Gore's neighbors (warning: audio starts up right away when you go to the site). See this week's New Yorker for
the full story, but the song itself is quite entertaining with no background at all.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 12:18 PM on September 10, 2004
(19 comments)
Blog Interrupted.
The Wash Post Magazine does a freakishly in-depth feature on ex-Senate staffer Jessica Cutler and the Weblog she once kept, which detailed her supposed romantic entanglements with various and sundry Capitol Hill types. Excerpt: "The messages warning Jessica that her private little joke had just gone very public came from a girlfriend over on the House side. Reading it, Jessica says, she was too stunned to wonder how Wonkette had discovered her blog. Instead, the portion of Jessica's brain that had evolved to help humans survive marauding mastodons screamed: Kill the blog! Kill the blog!" (Via
Obscure Store.)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 10:45 AM on August 16, 2004
(69 comments)
The Man Who Loves Spam
"[Orlando] Soto routinely comes home to some 150 e-mail pitches, and he loves getting them all. The 45-year-old grandfather opens most of them. He answers spam questionnaires. And he buys stuff pitched in spam e-mail -- again and again." Ugh. Thanks a lot, Mr. Soto. You're keeping this industry alive. (WSJ link, via
Obscure Store.)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 12:57 PM on March 15, 2004
(25 comments)
Would you like fries with that?
Saturday's Washington Post has a touching story about a 58-year-old grandmother who thought she'd be retired by now, but instead finds herself popping four different prescription medications at 4 in the morning while beginning her shift at Hardee's. As a journalist, I found this incredibly detailed story an example of newspaper writing at its rare best.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 2:00 PM on October 6, 2003
(44 comments)
Breaking up is hard to do.
U.S. Senate intern sends an ill-advised email to a young woman he calls his "intellectual, moral, social, and emotional" inferior. Unclear if he sent it from his senate.gov address or not, but it quickly finds a wider audience.
Here's the WashPost article mentioned on the Snopes page.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 10:26 PM on July 15, 2003
(64 comments)
After 'The Bell Jar,' Life Went On.
Sylvia Plath immortalized the guest editor program at Mademoiselle Magazine in her famed book, "The Bell Jar." A photo of the 20 young guest editors was taken back in 1953, and they were all lined up in a star -- with Plath, unsurprisingly, at the top. Plath killed herself in 1971, but the other women in her program reunited recently, to discuss their experiences, how they've changed, and their famous classmate. A fascinating read for anyone who's read "The Bell Jar." (NY Times reg required)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 5:48 PM on June 23, 2003
(24 comments)
Hey Jude, what does that song mean?
The Beatles Discography lets you
look up almost any Beatles song, and find out about its history and meaning. According to this, one of my favorite Beatles songs,
"Paperback Writer," was written after Paul's aunt challenged him to write a song that wasn't about love. And
"She's Leaving Home," another favorite, was based on a newspaper article about a runaway 17-year-old girl. and supposedly was attacked in the U.S. as being somehow pro-abortion. I always wondered if there was a real "Polyethene Pam," but I had no idea
her name was really Pat, and that she ate plastic. Fascinating stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 3:23 PM on March 30, 2003
(25 comments)
Losing the memories of a life.
A staff writer for the Washington Post Magazine tells what it's like to watch his mother slip away to the unknown world of Alzheimer's disease. There's a little bit about possible causes and the science of the disease, but mostly it's a very personal story, and it's stayed with me since I read it. Excerpt:
"He changed the subject before the fury came. When she became angry or terribly disoriented, she sometimes told him he needed to go home; that her husband would be arriving soon, and that he better be gone. I am your husband, he would say, smiling. She would yell: Go. Go home."
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 1:54 PM on January 15, 2003
(19 comments)
Merry Christmas from Scandinavian Airlines!
Scandinavian Airlines has offered a special online-only deal for each day of December. You go to the site and open the day's date (like an Advent calendar) and a new European city is offered--you can then fly to that city roundtrip from the US for about $250 US. The catch? You have 24 hours to book, you must travel between January and mid-March, and you must depart from Seattle, Newark, DC or Chicago. It's a neat deal, but today's the last day, and so as a great holiday surprise they've opened up all the past cities. Pick any of the previously offered destinations, get thee to one of the four departure cities, and enjoy a great airfare deal! London, Paris, Madrid, Oslo, Stockholm, Milan and other cities are offered. (Not a plug--I don't work for or have any connection to SAS.)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 4:14 PM on December 24, 2002
(19 comments)
Roadside memorials.
Every so often you'll catch one out of the corner of your eye--a makeshift cross on the side of a highway, or flowers tacked to a highway sign, marking a life that ended in that spot. Gives me chills--realistically, probably every single day we pass places where someone breathed their last, but we don't know it. Photographer Bill Sampson takes photographs of roadside memorials--called "descansos" from a Spanish word meaning rest--and collects them on his site. Loved ones are invited to submit memorials of their own. (Link via
USA Today Web Guide.)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 10:57 AM on November 5, 2002
(39 comments)
100 scariest movie moments
Retrocrush is listing their top 100 scariest movie moments, and so far, the quality is pretty high -- well-chosen scenes, and interesting writeups. And one exploding head. You've been warned. Happy Halloween!
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 8:41 AM on October 31, 2002
(80 comments)
Ryan Leaf retires from NFL at 26
This article calls him one of the biggest busts in NFL history. When signed in 1998, he said "I'm looking forward to a 15-year career, a couple of trips to the Super Bowl and a parade through downtown San Diego." Instead he got interceptions, fights related and unrelated to his job (for which he blamed everyone but himself), and a lot of disappointed fans. What happened?
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 8:01 PM on July 26, 2002
(23 comments)
The Most Gruesome Toy Ever
Well, maybe not, but Retrocrush does make a good argument for this Aurora Monster Model kit of the Girl Victim. Check out the comic book ad, featuring Vampirella and Frankenstein's monster. Do kids still play with monster dolls and monster models, or have they been shelved as un-PC? Never had the models, but as a girl in the '70s, I loved my cousin's monster dolls (uh, action figures?). (Link via
Cruel Site of the Day.)
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 11:09 AM on July 12, 2002
(16 comments)
The eight worst TV dads, according to EW.
Just in time for Father's Day. Tony Soprano is #1, Ozzy #2. Aw, Ozzy is a bit mad, but at least he wants to do right by his kids. I make no excuse for Tony Soprano. He'll buy Meadow whatever she wants, but then again, he offed her boyfriend. Any bad (or good) TV dads to discuss?
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 9:30 AM on June 14, 2002
(27 comments)
Wonder Twin powers, activate!
Form of...an upcoming live-action Wonder Twins movie. Shape of...my disbelief. Does no one get that even "SuperFriends" fans hate these
space losers, and their little Gleek, too?
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 2:53 PM on June 6, 2002
(43 comments)
Everybody Vogue. Well, really just the thin people.
Vogue Magazine gets a tongue-lashing from Slate. Seems the fashion mag attempted a "body diversity" issue, but their idea of a large-size model is a size 8. Excerpt: "If "tall" and "short" and "pregnant" are body types, and Minnie Driver is "curvy," there's no need to admit the existence of the bottom-heavy, let alone try to dress the poor bastards."
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 5:36 PM on April 2, 2002
(21 comments)
Bringing up Adultolescents
Newsweek has a fascinating article on adult children who're still living with their parents after graduating from college. It's hardly a new concept, but this is a good piece. (Especially noteworthy: The parents who spend away their own retirement savings providing for grown kids.) And if you've priced a supposed "starter" home recently, you know as well as I do that this trend isn't going away any time soon.
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 5:29 PM on March 19, 2002
(13 comments)
It's D-Day
Someone at work shared this Ernie Pyle column published just 10 days after the 1944 invasion of Normandy. It put a lump in my throat. Maybe it'll do the same for you. Excerpt: "I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France.
It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn't know they were in the water, for they were dead."
posted to MetaFilter by GaelFC
at 8:11 AM on June 6, 2001
(14 comments)
