In two days, I return to St. Louis — city of my birth; city of my youth; city of my mother’s death — to debut Literary Death Match. …

Today, Literary Death Match turns 16. To celebrate our Sweet 16, we present 16 pictures guaranteed to make you smile. #1. Zach Anner wins at Orpheum Theatre #2. Alex Borstein speaks the obvious, hilarious truth before Danny Pudi and Ron Funches at Largo at the Coronet

A few years ago, my Australian fiancée and I were in Los Angeles when she suddenly slapped the shit out of my shoulder and shouted, “Flag slap!” I looked at her like stunned while she laughed, pointing at an American flag that waved atop a pole. …

Last year, my Top 10 Movies of 2020 list featured only THREE films from 2019 or later. This year, I feasted on 2021 films, and out of the 128 movies I watched, none released before 2020 made this year’s list. …

Four years ago, I was looking for the perfect gift for my fiancée — something personal, creative, the sort of thing that would plain wow her and “win Christmas.” And over the last four years, I’ve done exactly that by writing her a book using Mimeo, a book-creation software in…

At the end of 2019 I decided to do two things: 1. keep track of every film I saw in 2020. 2. make a point of watching older films. The pandemic + lockdown + the lack of new releases added up to make #2 way, way easier. Of the 122…

5 Reasons Why People We Know Have Become True-Believers — The unfunny truth: we all have family, friends and neighbors who believe in the Deep State. People furious that ignorant “sheeple” like us stand by while dark forces consume our government, and our way of life. It’s hard to witness this drift into Orwellian fantasyland where every cogent argument we…

Five years ago, I didn’t care at all about politics. My history of following big news stories was to be wowed years later by the biopic (“Wait, that’s what happened!?”). But then Donald Trump cruised down an escalator, became President, and changed my life. Suddenly, I cared about all of…

$$$ > People. America’s Republican leaders have made it clear: our nation’s most important asset is not our people, it’s money. After relentless bashing of the Affordable Care Act (which was entirely political, as they had no want to improve it, only to eradicate it), we now sit with this…