An acquaintance asked for book recommendations. I thought of a few. I'll share them here: "The Twinkie Squad" by Gordon Korman "The Way We Live Now" by Anthony Trollope "The Bug" by Ellen Ullman "Crescent" …

As I'd sort of warned you, my MC Masala column this week is about a silly anecdote. Specifically, I cannibalized a July weblog entry about seeing a mouse. Enjoy. I slammed the bedroom door, immediately …

Malcolm Gladwell investigates.

Jon Carroll, the columnist whose work I follow most closely, warns me of an occupational hazard. Here's a dilemma: You have to be fairly self-absorbed to write a newspaper column in the first place, so …

Some friends came over yesterday for a lovely luncheon (prepared by Leonard) and a joint expedition to the Costco in downtown San Francisco. Astonishingly, there is room for a Costco in downtown SF. As discovered …

Upon seeing that Leonard had spilled peppercorns in the kitchen: "Are you making counter au poivre?"

I have a small combination FM/tape/CD player in my room that my mother gave me as a high school graduation gift. I adore the UI. For example, the designers put the tuning wheel next to …

In case you were wondering how I feel about Indian Independence Day, today's MC Masala column hints. On Aug. 15, 1947, India broke free of the British Empire and became its own country. The date …

Salon published a review of new Nike ads. Sadly, the Salon piece contains no instances of the word "bedonkadonk" or its variant spelling "badonkadonk." It brings to mind a phrase I loved in Salon long …

I think twice over the past 30-day period, a man has mentioned to me that his wife is or soon will be out of town. Do they realize how cheesy and pass-y that sounds, even …