Like Son, Like Father: Judea Pearl
In the beginning of 2002, Daniel Pearl, a 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter on assignment investigating links between Al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence, was kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi, Pakastan....
Urban Kvetch: WebMD.com
WebMD.com
So, Mr. WebMD, I had a slight rash on my face, which turned out to be a simple allergic reaction to my moisturizer. But according to you, I had incurable facial tumors, sun poisoning, melanoma and ch...
Urban Kvetch: Asian People Who Insist On Doing Karaoke In Their Native Tongues
Asian People Who Insist On Doing Karaoke In Their Native Tongues
Do you see me doing a rendition of "Hatikvah"? The whole point of karaoke is to choose a song that everyone's heard before so we can all experie...
Urban Kvetch: Your Annoying Plus One
Your Annoying Plus One
So you had to invite your new "friend" to come out with the boys. She got belligerently drunk and wouldn't stop screeching about "chilling" in a recording studio with Lenny Kravitz ("…an...
Urban Kvetch: People Who Claim To Be Afraid Of Clowns
People Who Claim To Be Afraid Of Clowns
Here's the thing: They're not. They just think that saying they are makes for some sort of childhood-trauma personality accoutrement, fostering the illusion that they're...
Urban Kvetch: Fax Machines
Fax Machines
Why do you insist on forcing me to print out this document and then walk the 11 blocks to Kinko's to fax it to you? You're wasting (my) time, (my) energy and (my) resources because you refuse to u...
Urban Kvetch: “Entertainment Weekly” Columnist Stephen King
Entertainment Weekly Columnist Stephen King
This is worse than John Mayer's Esquire column. Stephen King has been locked in a log cabin in Maine for the past 40 years writing, like, three books a week. Let him...
Urban Kvetch: Cotton Swabs
Cotton Swabs
Forget the generic brand's common, cotton comb-over—the sound of that extra 40 cents dropping on the counter is music to my wax-filled ears. Using generic cotton swabs is like wiping your ass with...
Urban Kvetch: Endangered Stoops
Endangered Stoops
With all the first-wave gentrifiers and old neighborhoodies up-in-arms about the changing face of Brooklyn, it's surprising that nobody has taken issue with the saddest part of new constructi...
Urban Kvetch: Crunch
Crunch
The transformation of what was once a dank gym on St. Mark's Place into a lifestyle brand has been embarrassing: an ill-fated magazine (with "musician" Juliette Lewis), idiotic promotions ("Wicked Yoga"...
Damned Yankees
In yet another example of America's heady cultural imperialism, Boston-based entrepreneur Larry Baras is bringing our national pastime to the Holy Land; June 24 will mark the opening day of the Israeli Baseball...
What Are You Looking At, Nerd?
Back in 1983, Andrew Cassese really nailed his audition for the role of Harold Wormser; like his _Revenge of the Nerds_ character, the then-12-year-old actor was a bona-fide spaz. Those buckteeth and prescripti...
