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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Prince Is a Pauper | William Lobkowicz left Boston for the Czech Republic with dreams of reclaiming his family's stolen royal fortune. Turns out, that's been the easy part. Duck, Duck... Lawsuit! | With a new competitor roiling the waters, the business of toting around boatloads of quack-happy tourists has turned downright cutthroat. And the legal fight's not the half of it. The Rag That Would Save Newspapers | Our new daily, BostonNow, is easy to poke fun at. But the ideas it's built on just might be what the foundering news business needs. Thinking Big | Casual Male was a washed-up company in a dead-end business, until its new CEO boosted sales and got competitors racing to enter the once maligned men's big and tall niche. How David Levin cracked the toughest riddle in retail.
Strongman Training Helps Burt's Son Get to First Base | Athletes from a wide variety of sports, and from high school to the pros, have come to embrace strongman workouts as a new level of training.
I Don't Smell a Thing | When your nose doesn't work right, it's hard to tell chocolate from Vicks VapoRub. Maybe that's not so bad. Patient Pioneers | For patients involved in historic, first-ever medical procedures, there's no such thing as keeping a low profile. Paying Big to Be A Donor | Giving an organ can be costly. Would a tax break cross a moral line? Combat Zone | There's no neutral ground in war of information about Lyme disease Sex therapy on call | Some clients too ashamed or uncomfortable for in-person therapy are getting treated for sexual problems via phone and computer. (with sidebar) Missing ingredients | Ingredients on natural personal care products' "contains no" lists may not cause harm; they may simply be victims of Web-fueled health scares.
The professor of smoochology | How a nebbishy ex-academic who keeps changing his name wound up traveling around the country convincing total strangers to kiss onstage. What do women want? | Most everything, according to a new study that shows women are more aroused by more forms of erotica than men. From the halls of Montezuma to the whores who give for free | A Nevada brothel's offer of free sex to U.S. troops who fought in Afghanistan or Iraq is a quirky reminder of just how closely tied the military is to prostitution.
History and all that jazz | How did a tiny town in Massachusetts begin producing successful jazz players, and become a regular performance spot for some of the best players in history? Turning the tables | Competetive table tennis players are banding together, and they're always looking for company. Just don't say the words "ping pong." Pumping more than iron | It may not sound like much fun to flip an 800-pound tire or pull a Mack Truck, but a growing group of athletes think of these tasks as exciting competition -- and, they say, a great way to work out.
Jeans that look even better on the floor | Sex sells. We get it. But a French clothing company named Shaï is taking that adage to a whole new level. Together forever online | At a time in which personal value may be measured online -- as people obsessively Google themselves or tally friends on MySpace -- its perhaps inevitable that love requires digital consummation as well. At the car dealership: fighting back | After I bought a car, I felt taken advantage of. I decided to get even, and found revenge is a dish best served at a Honda dealership.
Island Hopping | Australia's Kangaroo Island is teeming with wallabies, koalas and, of course, its namesake. (with sidebar)
Grin
& Bare It |
I suppose my inner-nudist is crying, suffocating under
my t-shirt and pants, woozy from my usual insistence on wearing socks. Am
I a closet nudist -- predisposed to be exposed? Telephone Temptations | In a forest of temptations, female telemarketers are the trees. Their calls reach men who disregard the seemingly statistical certainty that a woman's face is not nearly as beautiful as her voice. But science may prove otherwise. Uncomfortably Numb | For decades, these numbing creams have been the wild card of an unorthodox industry, offering a Faustian-like deal to men who are helplessly trigger-happy.
Freedom of speech includes silence | I am American-born and -bred, have enjoyed the bounty of the nation's freedoms, and I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. I haven't for years -- regardless of how that upset my schoolteachers or the beefed-up guys sitting next to me at ballgames. To me, it's patriotic.
Cleveland Magazine Museum of Bad Art | Every museum has standards. But when you're the Museum of Bad Art, those standards mostly involve distinguishing between different shades of terrible.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette A chance to mend ripped away | After more than 20 years of separation, Kenny Stuart and his family were finally going to be reunited. Then his dismembered body was found in a freezer. North and South: Tale of 2 chair cities | The United States is the living room of giants. Scattered throughout the country, from New York to Colorado, enormous chairs are perched on top of buildings and in the middle of fields. But for two cities, they're no joke. Re-entry, ready or not | Life after prison can be one hurdle after another, and there may not be enough resources outside the big house to help everyone who needs it. Fire vehicles pushed to limit | With little money available for fire departments to update their vehicles, most departments in Central Mass. have trucks so old that they violate National Fire Protection Association standards.
Athol Town
Hall stages teen headbangers' ball |
They were teenagers, mostly. Dressed in black, the
only appropriate attire. Some pierced, some looking rough, but most of
them baby-faced and thin. And they had come to a most unlikely place -- Town Hall,
home of tax collections and zoning regulations -- to find what they were
looking for. Boston's Weekly Dig
Five-Drink Minimum: 33 | ...in which I accept an assignment to have five drinks at a swanky lounge and then write about my experience, drink by drink.
State House News Service Money Talks: New law offers cash to spur housing, but will it work? | A new law that gives financial rewards to communities that host certain kinds of affordable housing has been steeped with praise from those connected to it, but the success of its actual application is still unknown. Bulk Buying, Tax Benefits Help State Government Weather Higher Gas Prices | Rising fuel prices have eaten into the budgets of some state departments, but bulk purchasing power and tax exemptions have insulated state government from any serious financial concerns in a fiscal year marked by surging prices at the pump.
BeerAdvocate Beer News | From December, 2006 to July, 2007, I put together the front-of-the-book news section for this consumer beer magazine. Pdf files of section available for the Dec '06 / Jan' 07 and Feb '07 issues.
Milwaukee Shepherd Express Digital Deluge | The battle over Fahrenheit 9/11 has spilled out into the inboxes of movie theater employees, but is anybody actually listening?
The Morning News The Stitch Service | Big scoops don't often happen to little towns, so when a delegation arrives from Ukrania, you can bet it's front-page news. Early Broadcasting | What happens when a ten-year-old enters the ranks of ham-radio enthusiasts and Dirty Old Men? The author remembers his friends, his call letters, and his place in broadcast history. No ham or ham-product punnery included. The Word You Dare Not Spell | Whatever Kaavya Viswanathan's legacy, she has inspired us to take pleasure in others’ misfortune. And as there happens to be a word that means just that -- schadenfreude -- many writers have been more than happy to remind us of it.
McSweeney's Leaders of the hip-hop nation | A list of prime suspects. Philadelphia Cream Cheese | A small review in the weekly "Reviews of new food" section. Just scroll down -- it's there somewhere.
Flak Magazine The Heat's First Spark | As the guy who gave Miami Heat fans something to root for, Rony Seikaly, the team's original low-voltage star, deserves to revel in the thrills created by this year's contending squad.
60 Seconds to Shine: 221 One-Minute Monologues for Men | A book for actors that reprinted my "Philadelphia Cream Cheese" bit, originally published in McSweeney's. Understando | A self-published, 24-page comic book about a Spanish-speaking college janitor who becomes the unwitting emotional crutch for a student there. It's a lot better than it sounds. Really. |
