With a December 31 entry marking Edison's introduction of the incandescent street lamp, in addition to the birthdays of Gandhi (well, Ben Kingsley) and Hannibal Lecter (actually, Anthony Hopkins), my brother Brad has completed a full year of Triviazoids, his trivia blog in which he finds curious and...

The closest I've ever come to being a Deadhead was for Ben Folds.

Listening in awe to one track after another at a CD-listening station at Tower Records, I was instantly hooked by his blatantly misnamed power trio, Ben Folds Five, and their 1995 self-titled debut album, a...

In his boisterous directorial debut, "That Thing You Do!", Tom Hanks's record-executive character Mr. White makes the following request of the songwriter for the one-hit Wonders (nee Oneders):

"I want something peppy, something happy, something up-tempo. I want something snappy."

Mr. White would have loved the Wellingtons.

On the Internet, we are so inundated with the slipshod, the slapdash, the barely -- or never -- proofed, that errors, silliness or the just-plain-odd seem to confront us with every refreshed webpage. But for something nutty or peculiar to make it all the way to completion as a finished...

These days, it seems that a movie can't get made unless it has first been a comic book, a board game, a toy or a breakfast cereal. (Seriously, what's holding up that buddy-cop movie where streetwise Sugar Bear and by-the-book Cap'n Crunch pursue the Cocoa Puffs cuckoo bird?) And you're...

The "fab five" of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, as profiled on "60 Minutes" -- Bob Petrella, Brad Williams, Rick Baron, Marilu Henner, Louise Owen. PHOTO: Nan Collett

According to Wikipedia, notable people who have died on July 15 through the years include...

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -- Orson Welles

This Sunday, millions of people will witness exactly the same event. Approximately half will find this event exhilarating and life-affirming. The other half will find this event horribly depressing and unfair,...

You may have heard the song, "F**k You", by Gnarls Barkley vocalist Cee Lo Green. It swept across the internet way back in August, which in viral-video terms makes it a golden oldie. When I first learned that a song with that title was creating a buzz online, my initial...

Four years ago this month, the Huffington Post changed my life. And my brother's.

In March, 2006, I spotted a link on the main page of HuffPost that led me to an ABC News article headlined:

Woman With Perfect Memory Baffles Scientists
Patient Remembers Every...

More years ago than I care to admit, I spent a frigid Christmas Eve packing nearly everything I owned into a used brown Chevette hatchback in preparation for a move to Los Angeles. I had just graduated from the University of Wisconsin on the coldest day my skin has ever...

“May you live in interesting times.” – Anonymous

“On second thought…” – Me

Growing up, I sometimes regretted that I had missed out on the “Swingin’ Sixties,” with all of that decade's societal upheavals and explosions of creative freedom.  Sure, you had a divisive and costly war, and I could...

I caught a little of Michael Steele's speech on CNN today as he addressed the Republican National Committee State Chairmen, setting the party on its new course. When I had the chance to read through the full text, a few thoughts struck me. And before I get accused of...

The Republicans seem to be taking "opposition party" as their sole defining characteristic as they flounder for their place in the new political landscape. Considering how much they bitched when they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress, it's not surprising that their current situation would leave them...

(Washington) Internationally known philanthropist Santa Claus made a surprise appearance before Congress today to request a massive loan to keep his workshop open, asserting that, without an immediate infusion of cash, "This may be the year without a Christmas."

Mr. Claus, age unknown, offered...

Last week, General Motors announced second-quarter losses of $15.5 billion. For the same period, Exxon Mobil reported the best quarterly profit EVER for a corporation: $11.68 billion.

Since it's clear that the real money is in oil rather than automobiles, isn't the obvious solution for General Motors to merge with...

On a recent visit to my mother's house in Wisconsin, a single day's mail included a dozen entreaties for money. Many were from worthy charities -- cancer research, the heart fund, injured vets, CARE -- but ones to which she had already generously donated this year. Two envelopes were from...

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has made oodles of gaffes in recent days, but here's one more blunder for Iowa's caucasians to ponder before they caucus:

CNN: Presidential candidates relaunch Letterman and Leno showshttp://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/02/hollywoodlabor.latenight.ap/index.html

The return of TV's late-night funnymen after a two-month strike hiatus turned into a bizarre mix...

I spent Christmas week in a world without network television, during which I saw a vision of the Ghost of Entertainment Future which ought to scare the bejesus out of the writers and the producers enough to get them back to the bargaining table.

As my family...

As the Writers Guild strike has ground to its current impasse, I have started to see the negotiators from the AMPTP as the boardroom equivalent of Anton Chigurh, the implacable, single-minded killer brought to indelible life by Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men. The producers might have allowed...

What if you could remember, in detail, nearly every day of your life?

My brother Brad can.

Mention the date May 15, 1972, and Brad will tell you it was the day Governor George Wallace was shot by an attempted assassin. It was also the second night...