February 7-9, 2012
After years on a west coast time-delay, Yael Borofsky rediscovers the pleasures of live hockey. Live on TV, that is. Read “Making the move: On being a bicoastal hockey fan”
It’s nothing less than culinary magic, and if you’re ever looking to impress someone in the kitchen, it’s a great dish to have in your corner. Gavin Craig takes on “Oven pancakes”
January 30-February 3, 2012
Kevin Mattison gets The Great Oscar Race started with Alexander Payne’s The Descendants. Read “The death of a mother is the first sorrow wept without her”
What British comedy brings together Mr. Bean, House, the cool psychiatrist from Bones (no, not Sweets, the other guy), and even the fourth Doctor? Why Blackadder, of course, and the whole thing is on Netflix. Daniel J. Hogan gives you a guide in “The Black Adder”
Ana Holguin meditates on the way her body has shaped her, and the way that yoga allows her to shape her body. Read “A meditation on yoga”
Kelly Hannon reads Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad and considers Penelope, a woman whose absentee husband has a penchant for storytelling (and anger management issues). Read “Penelope, still waiting”
It doesn’t take much to be a good guest in someone else’s kitchen, but it takes a bit more effort to share things on a more regular basis. If you follow a few simple rules, you can avoid any, shall we say, messy scenes. Jill Kolongowski provides a guide to “Finding order in kitchen chaos”
January 23-27, 2012
If you’re a music lover of a certain age, you know that mix CDs are awesome, but they’re just not the same creature as mix tapes. Mike Vincent wonders if even mix CDs aren’t obsolete, and revisits an early effort in “Winter”
It’s Oscar season again, and that means it’s time for Kevin Mattison’s annual “Great Oscar Race.” He sizes up the field in “Already out of breath”
Who watches TV one episode at a time anymore? Certainly not Sarah Pavis. And when Netflix offers so much all at once, how could one possibly be blamed? Read “The united queues of Sarah”
The internet is an amazing repository of the world’s knowledge. It’s a place where people can come together from across the world to accomplish amazing things. It’s also a steaming cesspool of humanity’s ignorance and filth. Lindsey Malta explores a bit of that cesspool in “Dumb internet shit”
Burger King is experimenting with delivery in the Washington, DC area, so The Friendly Foodie tries an experiment of his own, and finds he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Read “A supposedly successful experiment that I’ll never repeat”
January 16-20, 2012
While it’s probably not surprising that rich kids have a leg up in the music industry, why is it that some sons of privilege just rub you the wrong way, and some, well, don’t? Mike Vincent takes on a couple of recent examples in “Phonies”
Having love trouble? Always find yourself dating the wrong kind of guy? The solution isn’t to change your type, but to choose the right person in your type. Unless your type is Jersey Shore. Then it might be hopeless. Ana Holguin helps you sort it out in “Date this, not that”
Sarah Werner reads her Sunday paper and watches a pair of documentaries about “The Old Gray Lady.” Read “The newspapers of yore”
As appealing as watching Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy one more time might be, Kelly Hannon gives P. D. James’ Pride and Prejudice sequel Death Comes to Pemberley a go. Is it a disaster or a new favorite? Find out in “An old favorite in new hands”
If you ever see someone stealthily tucking away a mangled piece of chicken in their napkin, don’t be offended. The tasteful picky eater tries to suffer in silence, but it’s not always easy to do. Jill Kolongowski offers to guide you through it in “On faking it: Dinner etiquette with a picky eater”
January 9-13, 2012
Joe Wright’s 2011 film Hanna begins and ends with the same line, and near-identical acts of violence committed by a 16-year-old girl. Kevin Mattison fills you in on the middle bits in “Little girl lost”
Why is it that outdoor hockey seems to hold such a nostalgic appeal when the modern game was actually invented on an indoor rink? The history may not hold up, but that doesn’t mean that hockey in a baseball or football stadium isn’t awesome. Read “Outdoor allure: Why we love the Winter Classic” by Yael Borofsky
Actor, writer, producer, villain, vampire, and coach, Neil Jackson has appeared in films such as Push (2009), Quantum of Solace (2008), Alexander (2004), and on TV in Blade: The Series, the BBC’s new Upstairs Downstairs and ABC’s Make It or Break It. He’s also an active screenwriter and the founder of the film, television and theater company Paper Dragon Productions. Read Rosemary Van Deuren’s “Interview with Neil Jackson”
The Friendly Foodie makes a last-minute pilgrimage to visit Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian, and discovers one of the possible secrets behind her irrepressible joie de vivre in the kitchen and in front of the camera. Read “Julia’s kitchen”
January 2-5, 2012
Alabama and Louisiana State will meet up (again) on January 9 to play for the NCAA Division I National Championship. Maurice Pogue looks back at another BCS rematch that never happened — Michigan and Ohio State in 2007 — and how another Michigan team has suffered in the sordid world of football rematches and BCS romance. Read “The B(s)CS strikes again”
The Idler has resolved to not make any resolutions, but if Ana Holguin were making resolutions, here’s what they’d be. Read “Things I should resolve to do in the new year but probably won’t”
What are you doing with your New Year? Daniel J. Hogan is watching Bond, James Bond on Netflix streaming. Where should you start? Find out in “Bond, James Bond”
Kelly Hannon has started a lot of books that she’s never finished, but there’s no better way to make sure that she won’t read a book than telling her that she has to. Read “Procrastination, or, Why I don’t belong to a book club”
Jill Kolongowski cooks a bit of Christmas comfort. It all goes wrong, but somehow turns out right. Read “Homemade chicken and dumplings soup“
December 19-23, 2011
It’s almost Christmas, but we’re not quite there yet, so there’s still time to wish that it were Christmas today. Mike Vincent does in “Christmas pinnacles”
The Casual Gamer rather perversely prides himself on being behind the curve, so if you’re shopping for the video game player who always seems to be playing catch-up, or if you’re just trying to catch up on some last-minute ideas, check out his end of the year “Casual Gamer Wishlist”
Sarah Pavis isn’t looking for something brainy, she’s just looking for something to keep her occupied before she hits the road for the holidays. Enter Limitless, in which Bradley Cooper first pretends to be slovenly, and then pretends to be really smart. Read “Limitless: A movie where some things happen”
You can’t just watch the movie, you need to read the book, especially when you work in a bookstore. Except sometimes when the movie is a 10 hour miniseries. And the book is 864 pages. And the six volumes that follow are even longer. Read “Watching the book” by Kelly Hannon, before the film comes out.
The connections between food and family are indelible but not immutable. Sometimes the difference between the two can be as simple as a loaf of garlic bread. Read “Garlic bread” by Gavin Craig
December 12-16, 2011
Kevin Mattison is a man who spends a lot of time sitting in the dark, but he sheds some light on his end-of-the-year desires in his “Cinephiles Wishlist”
Kelly Hannon loves bookstores — she works in one — and she loves Netflix and Hulu. What then to make of Amazon.com’s recent promotion which effectively turned ordinary consumers into operatives against their local brick-and-mortar bookstores in return for a 5% credit? Read “Ambivalently anti-Amazon”
While the scientific evidence backing up the severity of the long-term impact of repeated had trauma in sports seems to be growing, there’s a lot left to be sorted out. Yael Borofsky argues that while it’s true that any action that the NHL takes on head trauma will be a policy decision and not a scientific one, the time for action is still now. Read “What science doesn’t say about head trauma”
Like a lot of people, when Netflix split up (and increased prices for) streaming and DVD subscriptions, Sarah Werner went streaming-only. There are a few things that you can only watch on disc, and Sarah makes some recommendations in “Going back to the disc”
Jason Segel may be able to get the Muppets back together, but he can’t take them home again. Ana Holguin gives you a tour of her (and their) postmodern crisis in “Where have all the Muppets gone?”
The Friendly Foodie apparently has a bit of a sweet tooth at the end of the year. Check out his wishlist (which really isn’t about food at all) in “The Friendly Foodie’s Wishlist”
Hockey is clearly the sport best suited to the winter holidays, and Yael Borofsky drops the end-of-the-year puck in her “Over the Boards Wishlist”
One of the burdens of growing up is the office holiday party. Jill Kolongowski steers you past the common obstacles (or at least lets you know that they’re there) in “Holiday party food and foibles: grown-up edition”
December 5-9, 2011
Nothing sours you on Christmas music faster than working in retail. But for the second year, Mike Vincent does some digging and gives you a Christmas mix that will break those stale, repetitive Christmas music blahs. Read “The war against Christmas music, part 2”
In line with his general contrary nature, Mike Vincent’s end-of-the-year wishlist starts off with some music and a video game, but quickly spins out into items of a less material nature. Read Mike’s “Dysphonia wishlist”
It’s hard to justify spending $60 on new release video games. With a bit of patience, you can get the same game for half the price or better, and use the money you save for important things like more video games. Still, especially as online play becomes more important, there are concrete downsides to waiting. New columnist Maurice Pogue helps you sort it out in “Buying ain’t what it used to be”
Rosemary Van Deuren’s second installment of “Peeps to Watch Out For” talks to four very different and very talented artists working in book and graphic novel illustration, animation design, and more. Read “Kassandra Heller, Eric Orchard, Rebecca Dart, Alexis Barattin”
The Idler’s orgy of end-of-the-year materialism continues in Ana Holguin’s “PopHeart wishlist”
The Gamers’ Club is playing EarthBound. Read “The end is the beginning is the end” by Daniel J. Hogan
As the end of the year approaches, many of us are shopping for gifts for loved ones. And ourselves. Over the next couple of weeks, Idler writers will be sharing their gift suggestions (and wishlists). Get started with Kate Sloan in “Practically awesome” and Lindsey Malta’s “Thoughtcicles wishlist”
In the first in an occasional series on comfort food, Gavin Craig takes on macaroni and cheese. “Adult” versions are starting to show up in respectable (or pretentious) restaurants, but Gavin shares a recipe that passes muster with the toughest mac & cheese critics he knows: his daughters. Read “Mac and cheese”
November 28-December 2, 2011
Kevin Smith has accused the Independent Spirit Awards of losing their independent spirit. Kevin Mattison says that Smith is just complaining because his bad film didn’t get any nominations. Make up your own mind in “Indie-pendence day”
With players like Sydney Crosby and Eric Lindros sidelined — or worse — due to frequent or severe concussions, Yael Borofsky cheers the NHL’s new attention to brain injury. We owe as much to players who sacrifice so much for the game. Read “Coming to a head”
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Daniel J. Hogan lists the titles he’s most grateful for on Netflix streaming. There’s some forgotten animation, men in dresses, and an orangutan in a pickup truck. Get the details in “I’m thankful for. . .”
The Gamers’ Club is playing EarthBound. Read “Location, location, location” by Daniel J. Hogan
The F Word and The Friendly Foodie are both recovering from Thanksgiving. Jill Kolongowski shares the story of a family in the hospital that ends in a Thanksgiving that she’s truly thankful for in “Giving thanks” Gavin Craig looks for converts to cranberry sauce with an incredibly easy recipe in “Cranberries before you know it”
