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I’ve made no secret that I find talent shows like “American Idol,” “The Voice,” and now “X Factor” endlessly fascinating. Part of it is the delusional nature of many of the contestants. A larger part is the time-honored theme of regular people chasing their dreams. It’s the stuff books and movies are made of. I’m…

“People are lazy and times are strange, I’m locked in tight, I’m outta range, I used to care, but things have changed.” – Dylan This year, for the first time since 1994, I stopped playing fantasy football. Just quit cold. The thought of preparing for the draft and keeping up with the stats every week…

When I was a kid, no older than seven, my dad was friendly with a guy named Earl Nightingale. What I remember about Mr. Nightingale, besides his interesting last name and the deepest voice I’d ever heard, is that he gave my dad a series of LPs (vinyl albums for you young ‘uns) entitled “The…

I took my 10-year-old grandson to see “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” yesterday. He enjoyed it, although he had two problems with the title. “Why do all the new movies start with ‘Rise of’” he asked me? An astute question and one I had no answer for. He also took issue with two…

I recently finished a book called “Drive,” by Daniel Pink. No, it’s not about putting the pedal to the metal or going on a road trip. The subtitle explains it better than I can: “The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.” As it turns out, the traditional business world has gotten that particular subject wrong…

Television has changed a lot since I was a kid. (Insert “duh” here.) And I’m not just talking about the 7 VHF stations and 1 UHF  station I grew up watching in L.A. on a Zenith color console. (Which was a big improvement over the 4 black and white stations in my hometown of Detroit.)…

Last weekend, my wife and I celebrated our anniversary by going to see Garth Brooks at the Wynn Encore Theater here in Las Vegas. She’s a big fan; me, not so much. The tickets set me back more than some vacations, but I felt it was important to honor the occasion  (a milestone number) and…

One of the best things about working with young people is they keep you on your toes. If it weren’t for all the twenty-and-thirty somethings at my day job, I doubt if I would have jumped into social media with one foot, let alone two. First I stuck my toe in the My Space waters,…

Welcome to the third installment of “Real Men of Genius,” the semi-semi-regular feature that celebrates creative artists who, while successful, have been largely under-appreciated by the general public (with apologies to Bud Light for letting me rip off their commercial theme…so far). Today’s nominee is Mr. John Prine. Ever since Robert Zimmerman burst on the…

There are good movies and there are bad movies. And then there are bad movies that are way too much fun to turn off. Guilty pleasures. Movies that, no matter how quickly I’m channel surfing, I just have to stop and watch. Here’s my top three: “Road House” – Between “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” lies…