If you’re in a workplace like mine, you probably get a lot of seasonal online safety tips… but what if you aren’t? So in the spirit of remembering some handy tips as all the holiday deals start dominating our inboxes and site next week, check out some of CISA’s guides for shopping safely: Note I saw both of these pages were labeled “ARCHIVED CONTENT” which CISA cautions may mean “outdated information,” but a) it’s from…
Okay, so last week, I shared an article about some creepy places to visit and, to my mind, film six to seven scenes of your indie horror opus. But what if you just want to engage in some movie tourism, spooky style? This compilation article (list-icle?) from Jonathan Carey, et al, from Atlas Obscura gives you a bunch of places to visit in person where you may have previously visited on screen, whether it’s getting…
It could be that growing up with both Count Gore De Vol and Count Floyd, I have a soft spot for “horror hosts,” those usually hyper-local curators of horror films good, bad, and ugly. Tea Krulos has a nice longer piece for Atlas Obscura that delves into not only the horror hosts, but the mission they serve in preserving frightening film history. Enjoy! And remember: there’s just a few more shocking days until Halloween!
Continuing the posts for spooky season, the idea of a ghost tour certainly comes to mind this time of year, but what about travel plans to specific creepy locations? Writer Kristine Hansen has your back (and for my filmmaking friends: don’t tell me you wouldn’t want one or more of these locations for your indie horror flick).
I enjoy trying regional specialties, hence my trying to recreate the Italian Beef when watching the recent season finale of The Bear. Maine has some obvious ones, and, no, I’m not referring to the McLobster (“with flecks of real lobster” was an actual selling point back in the day), though a real lobster roll is good. No, another item you will find in that flattened bun is a Maine-only hot dog known as the red…
For however much I’ve read and watched about Napoleon Bonaparte, there always seems to be more to discover, or at least revisit. I suppose, then, I’m posting here today on the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo as a reminder that I ought to visit that battlefield at some point… and probably read a well-received biography. The recommended reading in this case is a longform article by British historian and journalist Andrew Roberts, written…
While it’s not my favorite war film, I confess I do often have an itch to watch The Longest Day on June 6th… and then I think of all sorts of moments from the film, including the repeated use of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Maddy Shaw Roberts assembled a collection of music connected to World War II or in remembrance thereof in honor of the 80th anniversary of D-Day last year, but it’s still a good…
It’s 2025 and the first Super Soakers went on sale 35 years ago, changing backyard water gun fights forever. Invented by Lonnie Johnson, the Super Soaker (initially with the entirely accurate if less glib name “Power Drencher”) was a game-changer from a toy company called Larami. My siblings and I were already familiar with Larami doing for water guns what Activision did for Atari 2600 game cartridges. Translated from the Gen X: this was a…
The official unofficial start of summer is coming, which means more than a few families are planning some road trips. And on those trips, you may be tempted to stop at a restaurant that isn’t as familiar, perhaps a regional chain. But did you realize some of these regional chains might have once had visions of national grandeur? Ernie Smith, in an article on Atlas Obscura, dives into the occasionally deep-friend origins of some of…
The last time I checked, scholars were not absolutely certain about Shakespeare’s birthday, though April 23rd is a contender. They are, however, quite certain of his death day, which is… also April 23rd. That seems fitting for Shakespeare in a thematic symmetry kind of way. Okay, I see a few John Webster fans raising their hand at the mention of Death, but stay with me and the Bard for a moment here. I’ve been a…