Neuroses wins out — Alfred Hitchcock was one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived. He was also a pretty eccentric dude. Known as “The Master of Suspense”, Hitchcock had a career spanning over fifty years. His films Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho are classics. He also had a popular television…

Don’t motivate yourself just to motivate yourself — “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” — Pablo Picasso A few years ago, I had a colonoscopy. I can sense you leaning forward and saying, “Tell me more”. I had a colonoscopy, and it nearly killed me. The procedure dislodged a gallstone which then blocked a duct. I got sepsis…

A student’s search for meaning — We’ve all had shit teachers. Guys and gals who had no business in education. I had one particularly terrible college history professor. On the first day of class, he told us that, if we wanted to succeed in his class, we’d have to commit to “absolute and total recall”. Memorization…

A clash for power, a struggle for America’s soul — “That Tastee Freez is my Tastee Freez,” Ricky Spoonbender says, looking deep into the setting sun. He cuts an impressive figure in his Naruto t-shirt, his sandals, and his socks. “I earned it and I built it into what it is. I alone can fix it.” Prepuce, Alabama is, its…

Satan in a modest paisley tie — Roy Cohn was a shithead. If you don’t know the name, allow me to give you a brief biographical sketch. Born in 1927, Cohn became an attorney. He rose to fame in 1951 for prosecuting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple accused of spying for the Communists. Most people…

Running the Content Rapids — Pin Money I write online. You probably guessed that from the fact you’re reading this and you’re finding it online. Like most people who write online, I’d like the effort to be worthwhile. I’d like people to find what I’m saying useful — and, yes, I consider being “merely entertaining” useful. I’d…

Another call for old-school fun in our conspiracy theories — I wrote an article a while back decrying the fact most conspiracy theories aren’t fun. Most modern examples of the form truck political nonsense and dangerous vilification. Why, I wondered, can’t more hare-brained hearsay be zany? The example I gave in that article was the semi-persistent notion that music mega-star…

Overthinking things? Try these suggestions — Ruminating? What’s That? Most people characterize rumination as “overthinking”. That’s a good start, but it doesn’t go far enough. I’ll defer to Erica Cirino from Healthline for one of the better definitions I’ve seen: “The process of continuously thinking about the same thoughts, which tend to be sad or dark, is called rumination.” …

Printing damn money, y’all! — Disney’s in trouble. It has been ever since CEO Robert Iger retired from the company in 2021. Iger’s successor Bob Chapek’s reign was brief and ignominious. The company fired and replaced him with a second helping of Iger. All hail the conquering hero. Except not so much. Since his return…