It might not be so popular in New York City, where real estate’s at a premium, and peace and quiet just means your neighbors aren’t screaming at each other. But down in the South, sitting on the porch can be a highlight of the evening. Head outside with a cool drink and a snack to…
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The ability to tell stories sets humans apart from other animals. No other creature on our planet (that we know of) has the ability to create and share tales, or to communicate their imagination. In scientific terms, it’s called “episodic memory”, but that clinical phrase saps the romance from one of the best parts of…
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Video games started out as a few points of light on a screen, darting back and forth in a digital game of ping pong. They progressed through weird yellow monsters eating ghosts, giant apes hurling barrels, and extremely bouncy plumbers, until they became a whole new art form. One capable of presenting sprawling epics and…
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Pizza transcends international boundaries. While it remains indubitably Italian in history and influence, it evolves to take on the characteristics of the place in which it is made. Consider, for example, the pizzas made in Sweden, which we can only call “unique”. New York pizza is a breed unto itself, an exemplar of the class.…
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Many of us grew up going to the circus. We went to see elephants parading around the ring, lion tamers locked into cages with big cats, and we came home emotionally scarred from the clowns. We might have thrilled to the skills of the aerialists, but they often paled next to the other acts. Today,…
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Kids have terrible attention spans, especially the young ones. You can capture their focus for a minute or two, and then a squirrel runs by. Boom! They’re distracted and you’ve lost them. Let’s face it, though. We’ve all felt like that. We’ve had days when we couldn’t sit through a full-length feature film if we…
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There’s plenty of review websites dedicated to finding good movies. Theatergoers are always on the hunt for the next great film, whether it’s likely to win one of the big awards or just absorb them in a good story for a couple hours. But what about the appeal of really bad movies? Films that don’t…
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There’s no evidence to corroborate the phrase “money makes the world go ‘round,” but we all know the saying is pretty apt. (Scientists say the Earth’s rotation started out with the conservation of angular momentum, then inertia allowed it to continue, but what do they know?) Money greases wheels and convinces people to do things…
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Believe it or not, there’s times when a beer just won’t do. Don’t get us wrong. We love a good brew just as much as the next folks (though never while we’re driving, either cars or ferries). Variety is the spice of life, and it’s nice to change things up, especially when there’s a delicious…
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Kilts are not skirts. Tartan is not a sauce you put on fish. Both are proud, distinctive symbols of a person’s Scottish heritage. (Or just good fashion sense. What can we say? Kilts are cool, much like bowties and fezzes.) The sight of someone dressed in a kilt conjures up the sound of phantom bagpipes.…
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