Month: December 2003

  • Keep Your Friends Close, Your Enemies Closer

    A few months ago, Intercontinental Video reopened its doors. It had been closed for more than a year, after a fire destroyed the West Bank store’s irreplaceable video collection of almost 50,000 titles. The store was always a sure bet if you were trying to up your cool factor with an attractive potential mate by…

  • My Shizzle: Gone Fazizzle?

    If you’ve watched television at any point during the past ninety days, you’ve probably seen the latest ads from Old Navy, a brand that dispenses irony like VH1 serves up nostalgia: cheap, shameless, and unfiltered. In a commercial I cannot for the life of me get out of my head, a waxy Fran Drescher brays,…

  • The Year of the Onion

    The Chinese calendar declares that 2004 is the year of the monkey. Anyone born this year will be intelligent, well-liked by everyone, and have success in any field they choose. Lucky monkeys. The loquacious and red-faced Democrats have claimed 2004 as the Year of Change. Athletes and festival purists may see 2004 as the year…

  • From Norway >> UFOs in the Fjords

    After threading his car through a few harrowing switchbacks on a Norwegian mountainside, Erling Strand stopped the car and pointed. “It started down in the valley and someone saw it moving up the hill there. The lights are yellow, many white, some are blue, very few green, also different types of colors. It’s been so…

  • In Defense of Stuart

    I am a female reader who really likes Stuart Greene’s column, and not as kindling for a fire. I hope I am part of a legion of such readers who have written to say “rock on.” I presented your debut column to my (male) team teacher as a potential piece to use in our college-level…

  • Custody: Still in Dispute

    Recent articles [“Dealing From the Bottom,” September] and letters in The Rake compel corrections of the record. Disagreements about custody will occur; places for their resolution are required. Many are resolved privately by written agreements without attorneys involved. Mediation works for more. Collaborative law works for others. Only a few custody cases actually go to…