Day 111: Are We Not Pac-Men?

originally published April 20, 2012 When Pac-Man was released in 1980, it became a phenomenon that so clearly defined the youth culture of that era, it became a totem of a generation. More importantly, it became a vehicle for cheap rip-offs by companies hoping to score a few thousand dollars off Namco’s hard work. The […]

Day 110: Mermaids – … Yeah, I Never Saw This Film

originally published April 19, 2012 Today’s entry will pay tribute to the Orion Pictures film, Mermaids. This is not because I love the movie (I don’t), or even because I have seen it (I haven’t). The ticket-tearer of fate has granted admission to this particular Wikipedia entry, and so I progress. How do I make […]

Day 109: 15 Facts About William Shatner

originally published April 18, 2012 After a barrage of flavorless Wikipedian stubs about soccer players, Polish villages and moth species, a familiar face looked coyly out at me from the right-side column of the page. It was a face that said, “Hey there. You landed on my page. You know you want to write about […]

Day 108: This Much Is True – The Story Of Spandau Prison

originally published April 17, 2012 In 1876, the Germans completed construction on Spandau Prison, designed to hold up to 600 prisoners. It was a brick fortress, surrounded by a 15-foot wall, then a 30-foot wall, then a 10-foot wall topped with electrified wire, and lastly a wall of barbed wire. In 1946, due to some […]

Day 107: Words To Drool By – New York Cuisine

originally published April 16, 2012 Once again I’m punishing myself. I wrote a heart-felt ode to bacon earlier this week, and today I find my stomach and fingers aimed squarely at the cuisine of New York City. Fortunately, this is not a topic that can be consumed in one article, so I’ll tuck some of […]

Day 106: Batman vs. The Japanese

originally published April 15, 2012 Little Tokyo, Gotham City. “Since a wise government rounded up the shifty-eyed Japs, it has virtually become a ghost street.” Wait… What? Yes, we have entered racist Batman territory here. Well, in all fairness, Batman himself doesn’t appear to have been racist, just the narrator and the world around him. […]

Day 105: Jazz Doesn’t Always Look Pretty

originally published April 14, 2012 Having slipped off my raincoat and eased into my velvet-lined smoking jacket, I was clearly in the right mood for writing about jazz today. Luckily Ms. Wiki’s random needle gently lowered into the smooth grooves of a jazz album, almost as though she’d anticipated my wardrobe selection. I chanced upon […]

Day 104: The Sandy Sports Page

originally published April 13, 2012 I thought I’d found a goldmine with today’s Wiki-selection. “Beach sports” could be such a fascinating topic, a tome of strange and fascinating goings-on from around the world, a stash of quirky time-killers employed by those fortunate enough to live in much warmer, much more awesome places than I. Unfortunately, […]

Day 103: Baize Is A Scratch, And I’m Still Hungry

originally published April 12, 2012 I have learned one thing today, and hope to learn a second. First, I learned that the green stuff that covers a pool table is not simply called ‘felt’. It’s called baize, and for whatever reason, it’s the subject Ms. Wiki has chosen to sink into my brain’s corner pocket […]

Day 102: A Love Letter To Bacon

originally published April 11, 2012 I have written about a lot of subjects this year. 101, though if you count the hundred topics from two days ago and the dozens I scraped up for my haiku experiment, the number is closer to 300. Some subjects (the 1715 Jacobite Uprising, the Subservient Chicken) I have been […]