Just before I left for the Poconos for Thanksgiving, I taped my call on Car Talk, which destroyed all of my notions about the show while being as fun and intimidating as you might think. Nothing happens live, of course, though listening to the show makes you think it does. I called almost two weeks […]

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We spent the afternoon in Mystic, Connecticut yesterday, a nice little town rife with “historical” spelling and a little strip of shops along the central walking street. I think we were the only people to visit Mystic who didn’t go to either the Seaport or the Aquarium, which will have to wait until next time. […]

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I attended a talk and tour last night at Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott about Amherst’s Residential Master Plan, which will shape the look of the campus over the next five or so years. The talk was set up by the Amherst Association of Boston, and was at the firm’s office downtown, just over from […]

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Why aren’t there more places with “The” in their name? We now have The Congo back, and seekers of fairness the world over are familiar with The Hague. In the US, Oregon is blessed with The Dalles, and Texas with The Colony, while Canada has The Pas. This is a start. But I still think […]

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How did we end up with one band named Fooled by April and another named Fooling April? Who’s April? Do these guys know each other? Is there a rivalry? Are they each ashamed or made proud by their own status vis-a-vis April?

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The ‘political’ graffiti in the bathroom at work reappeared today, where it always does, in the big handicapped stall in the corner. Last month it was “Bush=Hero.” That was quickly taken care of with a lot of chemicals and vigorous rubbing. Now it’s “Dean=Hero.” Same shy kid scrawl, different wall, same stall. Who knows, really.

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I came across a new reprint of Mark Alan Stamaty’s classic Who Needs Donuts? while browsing through the Brookline Booksmith last night. What a great book – I’d forgotten about it, but immediately recognized it and remembered what strange, scarily detailed illustrations it has, and how I got a sort of nightmarish yet alluring image […]

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The latest in a long series of hand-painted wooden signs attached to already-standing street signposts around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville (and beyond?). These two are at the edge of the Simmons College campus, at that nasty intersection where The Fenway curves around and heads back into Park Drive, and where buses, construction vehicles, and gaggles […]

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Badly Drawn Boy played two shows at the Iron Horse in Northampton two Saturdays ago. We saw him in Boston on the first date of his first American tour back in 2000, and headed out to the Valley to catch him again, on the first date of his latest US tour. He was terrific, mostly […]

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A nice little site featuring Ticketstubs and the stories behind them. I wonder what Roberta from Cinemania would do with that concept.

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So we saw a Honda repair show called the “Civic Center” today outside Barre, MA. Add that to our own Hondar House here in Cambridge, and you start to wonder if Honda mechanics have a certain gift for naming their shops….

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