July 28—August 1, 2014 The ever-helpful Abstruse Goose swoops in to start the week with a vision of astronaut Barbie going rogue and unleashing her vengeance on Earth. Unrealistic expectations, according to AG—but why, I wonder? I’m particularly wondering this after seeing 5’0” Kacy Catanzaro climb up walls and hurl herself through obstacles to become […]
Last weekend there was an unseasonal lightning storm on the coast. Not here (thank goodness, for our dog’s sake), but farther south. More than 1,400 strikes touched down across the region, with 13 people reporting injuries in Los Angeles County alone. A golfer was hit on Catalina Island, 22 miles from Los Angeles. One young […]
These are the dog days. Hot as a dog, lazy as a dog, wanting to curl up and take naps like a dog. Please, let us lie, sleeping like them, on these summer afternoons. But the phrase didn’t originate from the habits of our earthly canine companions. Instead, it came from Sirius, the dog star. […]
Right now, there are a bunch of people in Brazil—and a bunch more following along on television–who are paying very close attention to one particular body part: fast-moving, feat-making feet. But most of us don’t give our feet much thought until they start complaining.
June 2-6, 2014 This week began with cosmic conundrums. Jessa looked at the maladies astronauts suffer after long periods in zero gravity. For Mars-bound explorers of the future, the toll on their bodies–and their psyches–is unknown. “Travelers won’t even see stars. Outside the window, there will be blackness. Utter blackness.” And Ann wrestled with what to […]
A local restaurant reviewer has a monthly feature in which he lists openings and closings of eateries around town. The list only contains the restaurants’ names and addresses, which always seems especially stark when it comes to the places that have shut their doors. It’s the culinary equivalent of a gravestone. There’s nothing about the buckwheat crepe […]
The jokers in the house are starting to learn the game of kings. The set they play with is piecemeal, with a wooden toy horse for a white knight and a lump of rainbow-colored glass for one of the pawns. The board is metal, designed for playing checkers on the road. But still the jokers learn. Until now, […]
Spring is in the air, and with it comes the cha-ching of candy-bar sales. Of jogathons. Of hordes of students (and their parents) trying to raise money for books, for field trips, for the art program that’s on the chopping block, for scholarships. In some places there are also auctions. Here, we have themed auctions where […]