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Bushwacking
All weekend long, my Blackberry was abuzz with Breaking News Alerts from President Bush’s Middle East Trip. Friday, January 11, 2008, 11:18 PM PST CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — (AP) President Bush says no decision yet on sending more troops home from Iraq, and reduced force levels will depend on conditions on the ground. Saturday, January…
Read MoreHell’s Kitchen Confidential
I tell her she doesn’t know how good she’s got it, but she’s not having any of it. See, I’m a neat guy, but I’m not a clean guy. I figure most guys are neither, and worse are beer-swillin’, couch-squattin’ channel surfers. So, if nothing else, I should be gettin’ some points for neatness. But…
Read MoreTrying To Tell Me All Along
There are a few authors whose books, based on their bibliography alone, I buy as soon as they hit shelves. Tobias Wolff is one. He was my creative writing professor at Syracuse. His PEN/Faulkner Award-winning memoir, “This Boy’s Life,” came out my freshman year there, and premiered on the big screen (starring Robert De Niro…
Read MoreKeepin’ My Flavor Fresh, Part II
Mike Brady warned, caveat emptor. Still, sometimes, it works out just fine. On New Year’s Day, just as Abbi and I were skulking out from beneath a minor hangover, we grabbed a pizza and a six from the locals Dag’s. Back home, though, we were shocked by the quantity of toppings. So I dashed off…
Read MoreWondering Where The Story’s Gone
When it’s sixty degrees at six o’clock in the morning in January, you go running whether you want to or not. These are interesting times. It’s the beginning, I think, of what basketball teams call “a rebuilding year.” There’s a lot of new: a new marriage, a new home, a new job. And so I…
Read More(The Angels Want To Wear My) Red Shoes
A colleague with whom I’ve been corresponding a fair amount of late has an oddly thought provoking email signature. Email signatures are odd little birds in their own right. In the age of digital aesthetic homogeny (I mean, let’s be honest: all we really have to distinguish ourselves within email is fontography), the signature is…
Read MoreLeisure Rules
My promotion was announced today. “MTV News Digital, which began as a single website, has blossomed into nearly a dozen destinations and products, including News’ user-generated You R Here vertical, Movies site, the video game and talent blogs, mobile news and podcasts. As recently-promoted Vice President, MTV News, Benjamin Wagner is charged with leading and…
Read MoreShattered Nerves, Itchy Skin & Dirty Words
Sometimes a single moment can summarize a entire day. Stepping out for lunch this afternoon, I was slammed in the face by a bone-rattling blast of Arctic air. Times Square was choked with tourists, all racing face-down and oblivious towards their no doubt warmer destination. The Christmas tree in the lobby has been dismatled. The…
Read MoreThe Rhythm Of The Night
I had a crib sheet of song titles and IDs saved on my Blackberry well before the first guests arrived. Our pals Chris and Meg Abad put together New Year’s Eve festivities at iBop, a BYOB karaoke joint just off Herald Square. We helped them lug about eighty-seven pounds of chips, dip and booze through…
Read MoreDon’t Go Back To Sleep
It’s not like she didn’t warn me. I collapsed fully-clothed into bed at 8:30. “You sure you wanna go to bed?” Abbi asked. “You haven’t been sleeping well.” Sure enough, it’s nearly three o’clock on a Thursday morning, I’m wide awake, and have been for two hours. Truth is that I’ve been sleeping just fine.…
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