Author Neil Gaiman has written some of our all-time favorite stories, including Sandman, Good Omens, American Gods, and The Doctor's Wife. He's got a wonderfully creative mind which has led us into worlds of darkness, fantasy, and whimsy, and he strikes a chord for us in a way that is distinctly Gaiman-esque. We consider him a creative role model in many ways, so that's why we were excited to check out his new book: Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World. (Release date: November 20, 2018.) The book is a collection of four previous Gaiman essays, which are... Read more →

Professional wrestling has always seemed like like an over-the-top circus (fittingly, given the industry's roots.) Loud overgrown men vowing to defeat their opponents, putting on an entertaining physical show in front of cheering audiences, and then packing up and moving on to do it all over again in the next city. The travel is intense, and the job security is temporary, but these guys (we're only focusing on male wrestlers here) grind away at it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. The audience might sometimes forget that these performers are real people with real... Read more →

Friends is one of the all-time great TV versions of comfort food. Just saying, "Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey," can trigger a sensation similar to the idea of sitting down to a plate of mac and cheese. The show stopped airing new episodes in 2004, but it doesn't feel like this group ever left us. That's largely because you can find multi-hour blocks of reruns airing every weekday on various cable stations. What is it about Friends that's given it such staying power? Kelsey Miller takes a look at that question, as well as the rest of the... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! How are you? Can't tell a lie, I'm already missing the days when it was light out as we get up in the morning. It's a little harder to get the crew started when it's still pitch black outside. However, I remind them that you'll be here soon, and that gets us all moving, so thanks for your help! BDH and Little Buddha made the coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Tuesday Clutter. The midterm elections are four weeks from today, and it seems clear that women voters will... Read more →

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett, is one of our favorite books. It's the story of an angel named Aziraphale and a demon named Crowley who team up to try to prevent the Apocalypse. These two may represent Heaven and Hell, but at the end of the day, they've grown accustomed to a certain standard of living on Earth which they'd like to maintain. It's a darkly funny and well-written tale. There's a mix-up involving the birth of the anti-Christ, the Four Horsemen show up, and there's... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! How are you? We were just looking at the weather forecast. Looks like we've got a rainy day ahead of us. Hmm, BDH and Little Buddha finished another book, so I've got to see if we've got anything else around here they can read. Otherwise, there's a trip to the library or book store on today's schedule. In the meantime, the guys made the coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Tuesday Clutter. Look at that, the woman Republican senators used as a human shield during the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing... Read more →

New York Times Magazine Chief National Correspondent Mark Leibovich was looking for a distraction from his regular job covering politics so he decided to examine something far less controversial: the National Football League. (Wait, that doesn't sound right.) Leibovich dove head-first into the saga that is the NFL over a period of four years and came out on the other end with his new book, Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times. (Release date: September 4, 2018.) The author doesn't hide the fact that he's a lifelong New England Patriots fan. In fact, he fully embraces it. Whether you think... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! How are you? BDH, Little Buddha, and I were just hanging out and talking about the book they're reading (with hopefully a review to come next week), as well as reviewing what's still left on this week's to-do list. I picked off most of the low-hanging fruit already, so we'll see how the rest of it goes. We're still also adjusting to it being dark in the morning. I assumed I still had plenty of time to sleep when I woke up today, but it was only 10 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go... Read more →

Longtime fans remember well the dramatic transformation that hit the pro wrestling landscape in the mid-1980's. A longstanding collection of regional wrestling territories were challenged by Vince McMahon as he sought to turn his father's Northeast-based (then) WWF into a national company. McMahon upended tradition with sweeping talent raids, aggressive use of the emerging cable television industry, maximizing the new pay-per-view universe, and providing a more cartoonish form of wrestling aimed towards children. The other promoters tried a variety of ways to block McMahon's plans. One by one they fell, and wrestling would never be the same. It's a fascinating... Read more →

Bob Woodward's latest book, Fear: Trump in the White House, has been all over the news for the last few weeks, and with good reason. The veteran political reporter provides a harrowing look into the inner workings of Donald Trump's administration, and it's alarming. It's not that the book reveals another side of Trump, it's that it demonstrates his known failings are even more extensive and dangerous than have been reported. Fear shows that the biggest daily task his staff and cabinet face is not carrying out his agenda (not that he has a defined one in the first place.)... Read more →