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Tony Puts Us All in a Coma

Last Sunday’s episode of The Sopranos was the worst in recent memory because it was uncharacteristically static and boring.
There is nothing worse to watch in any sort of drama than a person talking on and on — especially talking to someone who does not respond — because that kind of monologue drains all the energy and tension from the show. 

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The Sh*t and the Pendulum

When I was in graduate school at Columbia University fifteen years ago, I was honored to serve as the great script author Peter Stone’s Associate for the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies.

Peter Stone

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Worst Valentine’s Day Ever

What was the worst Valentine’s Day you were forced to experience? I’ll go first: THE WORST I was in Fifth Grade and the class project for February was to create a “Valentine’s Day Train” where we each would create our own “coal car” out of colored construction paper so everyone in the class could put valentines in our hopper.

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How Much Would You Pay for Content?

How much would you pay a year for access to content found exclusively online?
Would you ever pay an annual subscription fee to read a blog? A newspaper? A magazine? Does the publisher matter or is content the only important king?
Here’s what I pay for online access to a few of my favorite daily reads. I do not receive a hardcopy version of these publications even if they exist.
New York Times Select
I pay around $40 a year for “exclusive access” to some online New York Times content and it is not worth the extra money. The “TimesSelect” content is ordinary and uninteresting. I would pay $1,000.00 a year to read Frank Rich every day but he only publishes once a week on Sundays.

New York TimesSelect Logo

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Mr. Grumpy Goes Blogging Round Three

It’s time once again for Mr. Grumpy to Go Blogging! This is Round Three of the Mr. Grumpy Series on Blogging. Mr. Grumpy’s goal here is to point out misfortunate blog design choices and mistakes in meaning and incoherent content and creative choices that make blogging a painful experience for the rest of us instead of one built on Passion and Magnitude. Some of the following mandates come from Mr. Grumpy, some of them come from Mr. Grumpy’s readers — all come from eyes too swollen by bad blogs to afford us a good night’s sleep and that makes everyone grumpy! Let’s get started:

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