American Idol’s Faithful (and Flirty) Legacy
American Idol wrapped up its awe-inspiring 15-season run on Fox last night, crowing a final Idol, Trent Harmon, in an emotional two-hour finale that featured just about everyone who’s ever been anyone on the show. Watching performances from a litany of former Idols who’ve legitimately become pop culture idols reinforced just how successful the show […]
A Former Adult Film Star’s Difficult Lessons
Former pornography star Bree Olson—who’s also known for her stint as one of actor Charlie Sheen’s former “goddesses”—left the adult film world behind in 2011. But five years later, the now 29-year-old still struggles profoundly with the stigma of the onscreen work she pursued beginning at age 19. In fact, she’s not sure if she’ll […]
If I Were an ‘Owlegory,’ What Would I Be?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that our world is awash in what’s affectionately become known as content. And whatever sort of content you’re looking for, there’s bound to be some of it out there … somewhere. But as a parent trying to raise three youngsters in our content-strewn world, I can testify […]
Facebook Gets Emojional
For 12 years, Facebook’s myriad users were able to signal their approval of a friend’s post in just one way: with the now iconic thumbs-up “Like” emoji. But obviously there are other potential responses to a post, a reality that Facebook execs have been grappling with for a while now. So, after a year of […]
The Day My Life Became a Video Game
I never knew I wanted a Sneakers badge. Or a Redwood Forest badge. Until today. Some of you—perhaps quite a few, actually—know exactly what I’m talking about. Others, perhaps not so much. Let me explain. It all has to do with my life becoming a video game. Well, sort of. Like a lot of Americans, […]
How Selfies Feed Narcissism
Once upon a time, we used to take pictures of other people. But with the arrival of a front-facing camera on Apple’s iPhone 4 in 2010, we began taking pictures of ourselves en masse. Selfies, they were called—a fluffy, innocuous-sounding descriptor. Six years later, we’re taking more pictures of ourselves than ever. And the younger […]
Beyoncé Sparks Unlikely Red Lobster Stampede
How much real-world influence does a popular entertainer really exercise? Normally, that’s an incredibly tricky question to try to answer. Why? Because there are just so many variables in play that it makes proving air-tight causal links between pop culture and real-world behavior virtually impossible. Besides that, artists and entertainment creators often try to downplay […]
You May Never Run Out of Toner Again
We’ve all been there. You need to wash clothes for work the next day, but you discover all too late that you’re all out of detergent. Or you need to print out an important document, and—wouldn’t you know it?—the toner’s gone! Drat! Admittedly, these are first-world problems, not honest-to-goodness existential crises. Still, these are the […]
And the Oscar Nominees Are … Surprising?
It’s that time of year again, the time when we movie geeks hold our collective breath at the brink of Oscar nomination time, wondering what lucky films will be nominated for Hollywood’s highest honor. Well, the nomination news is in. And some of the choices this year feel a bit, well, surprising. I’m going to […]
Rediscovering the Old Fashioned Joy of Reading … Out Loud … Together
There’s very, very little that I’ve done in more than nine years of parenting that I would absolutely, unequivocally say that I’ve gotten right as a father. I’m not always consistent. I can get talked into things by my kids if they pester me long enough. I’m more likely to say yes to dessert than […]