10/28/08

The Joker & Sarah Palin

There are few metrics by which we can judge popular culture, but Halloween costumes come close. The general rule of thumb is that the more of a certain character you see popping up at Halloween parties, the more prevalent that character is in pop-culture-land. (One Halloween, my friends all dressed up as the Royal Tenenbaums. We thought we were so cool and unique, until we went to a party that had three other sets of Royal Tenenbaums.)

So, to judge this year's crop of costumes, we went to the expert: Yon Zweibon, owner of

Posted at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/21/08

Is Westchester Humorless?

I think of Westchester as being many things but, for some reason, it just doesn't make me laugh. Compare the typical Westchester weekend to the experience I had in Chelsea on Sunday.

First off, I went to a performance of improv comedy at one of my favorite places in the world, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater on 26th Street. There, for just seven bucks, I was treated to an hour of fully improvised comedy done by performers from VH1 and The Colbert Report. In the past, I've seen an assortment of cast members from Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock on that stage, including Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Horatio Sanz, and Jack McBrayer. (And there was one glorious time I saw Jason Bateman there, and...

Posted at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/14/08

The Music Industry Keeps Trying

With the stock market plunging and the financial system being turned on its ear, are you ready to divest from the Dow and put your money into a different get-rich-quick scheme—I mean, investment? The music biz hopes you are.

Well, not all of the music business. Specifically this one enterprising website, SongVest. SongVest has snookered some musicians into auctioning off a percentage of their royalties to the highest bidder. Were you to become such a bidder, your investment would switch from stocks to songs, and your dividends will become quarterly royalty checks.

So far, surprisingly, it's the country musicians who have signed on most heavily to this paradigm-shifting idea. Yes, you too can own a...

Posted at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/07/08

Stop Complaining about SNL

From Botox to booties, a lot of people in this county are concerned with maintaining the appearance of youth. Yet however you might look on the outside, don’t forget that your thoughts and opinions about popular culture might give away your true age. For example—no matter how much you love our Bedford neighbor Richard Gere—if the movie Nights in Rodanthe appealed to you in any way, there's no way you're under 40. (If you're the type to lie about your age, lie about your movie choices, too: say you saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist instead.) Similarly, if you saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua—currently the No. 1 movie in America—I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt for all our sakes and assume that you went with your...

Posted at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments: 4