Blogelstein!

Imagining McCain's 9-minute bio video...

I look to Nora Leah Sherman for election analysis that is both insightful and entertaining. My only...

Aug 31st

Chief amongst the myriad joys of spending time at the...

Aug 31st

America is choice

When I was young and used to visit my mother’s native climes (the Borders region in Scotland)...

Aug 31st

noraleah: My god, this is way beyond red state vs. blue...

Aug 30th

A thing I love about America

Every time I come home, there is a Law and Order marathon on TNT, which is presented as if there has...

Aug 29th

Things you can't take back

What strikes me as most astonishing about the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican...

Aug 29th

Two impediments to writing

1. As a sometime-literary critic myself, the anticipation of how another critic might be able to...

Aug 29th

On his webcam in London, Seb sends a subtle message about...

Aug 29th

Don't sway

Sarah Palin, eh? Not a bad pick, McCain, especially when you were considering Mitt Romney as an...

Aug 29th

Post-game analysis

Mumelstein: Can we go over on to CNN to see if they say anything else?
Dadelstein: CNN? But they'll be JERKS.

Aug 28th

“America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this...”
— O-BAM-A

Aug 28th

My parents watch the DNC

Mumelstein: I kind of love David Brooks.
Dadelstein: Really? I think he's a pill.

Aug 28th

“You need a president who puts Barney Smith before Smith...”
— Barney Smith, a...

Aug 28th

Help!

NPR! NPR! Switch it on immediately - they are having regular Americans speak and it is...

Aug 28th

Just when was I beginning to feel properly Obama-tastic, PBS interviews some delegate from Texas who...

Aug 28th

“God wants you rich, and as if to prove it His golden...”
— Religion: Pentecostalist...

Aug 28th

Garamond, back by popular demand

“[your new font is]not ignorant. but i think it would be better suited to someone who writes...

Aug 28th

Blogging photos of one’s pets is, I know, pretty lame,...

Aug 28th

I never ask for photos, despite my unusual magic power to...

Aug 28th

Writing a book is hard.

Aug 27th

Writing a book is hard.

I am hoping now that I have put that out into the ether, it will get a bit easier.

Aug 27th

Books and love, redux

I was terribly amused yesterday to receive a press release from Penguin announcing their new...

Aug 27th

I am not ashamed to admit that Hillary’s speech made me a little teary-eyed. Well, not very...

Aug 26th

The fascinator looks ESPECIALLY good on Amy. Poor, charred,...

Aug 26th

The fascinator looks good on everyone.

Aug 26th

Good morning, Baltimore!

(I had to say it.) Operation Three Thousand Words a Day commences now. I shall let you know how it...

Aug 26th

A girl can dream

I have arrived in Baltimore. I would like to complain about the fact that the bus dropped me in a...

Aug 25th

After some serious consideration of whether I should wear my...

Aug 24th

Hurrah for Emily and Dirk! And the Statue of Liberty!

Aug 24th

Prescience

Jean: I just met you...in sixty years. You have a small dog and shoved in front of me at the deli, shouting, 'bacon, egg and cheese!' I let you, in deference to your superior New Yorkness.
Sebastian: There's only one thing you got wrong: there'll never be a dog. Besides that, you're probably right.
Jean: Oh, but there will be a dog - it will be my dog, which as a good BFF you'll be looking after while I am in the hospital, recovering from my face-lift.

Aug 23rd

Health insurance...

…is one of the major reasons I don’t live in the USA. I was reminded of this tonight as...

Aug 22nd

Good morning, New York

I am jetlagged, so I have watched out the window as the sun has risen since before six, gradually...

Aug 22nd

I was glad that although I only spent an hour in the...

Aug 22nd

At drinks-before-I-leave-London-for-a-month (not the same as...

Aug 22nd

“Williamsburg is like a college campus where everyone is...”
—  Laura takes me on my first...

Aug 21st

I survived the Fokker! It was a little violent and unpleasant, but I survived. A testament to the...

Aug 21st

SO much to do...

Organising my life in order to leave it behind for a month is rather more complicated than I...

Aug 20th

Jean: ...so I think it is time for me to start talking about Fake Boyfriend.
Ross: Oh, good old FB!
Jean: Yes. I think today his name will be...uh, Terence.
Ross: Terence? No, how about a more interesting name, like Theobald?
Jean: I don't think I could speak in convincing loving tones about a fake boyfriend called Theobald.

Aug 19th

Oh, what a Fokker

Checking my flight for Thursday, I discovered that in my efforts to be thrifty in July, I booked...

Aug 17th

Tips for New York?

I’m going to New York City for five days on Thursday, for the wedding of a childhood friend...

Aug 17th

I am watching the women's triple jump

Viewing this Olympic event is always a poignant experience for me, because when I was 10 I...

Aug 17th

“Very attractive, with a shock of thick blonde hair. Quite...”
— Wife’s fury as Labour...

Aug 17th

“Smell him. If his genes smell like yours, steer clear!”
— Via text message, Lauren draws...

Aug 16th

Having my say, anyway

Hm. That was a little disappointing: after booking me to do a phone-in interview, the Beeb never...

Aug 14th

On air: Can a woman’s behaviour make her more...

Aug 14th

“You have GOT to revise your attraction to weedy men.”
— Unsolicited, but useful,...

Aug 13th

I love the inherent optimism of Freecycle: someone will give...

Aug 13th

Progress

One of my most secret character traits is that I am outstandingly, astonishingly, at times...

Aug 13th

My shower is fixed, so I no longer have to take baths every morning, which is both inefficient and...

Aug 13th

NBC's Olympic crying games | TV & radio |...

Aug 12th

What would happen, I have often wondered, if Gmail stopped...

Aug 11th

Bex: Ah, Obama's on holiday in Hawai'i. Good choice.
Jean: Hawai'i?! He should be campaigning! He should be on holiday in a small mining town in Pennsylvania!
Bex: But what about the Hawai'ians?

Aug 11th

Watch

Ha! I am not much of one for TV nostalgia, but I was transfixed by this utterly mad programme (whose...

Aug 11th

Notes on this afternoon

- Lunch with my pregnant friend! She is glowing and hilarious and makes me want to be pregnant, just...

Aug 11th

Happy Monday

Oh! I feel a stunning lack of enthusiasm for today. I am definitely ready for my sabbatical…

Aug 11th

“As the festival approached, events piled up, and often it...”
— “The Strawberry...

Aug 10th

It’s grey in London today, in that particular way that London is grey in August. But it suits...

Aug 9th

“Sometimes, happiness is not as straightforward as a cup of...”
— In conversation with Jude, I...

Aug 9th

The 100 Most Common English Words

Aug 8th

Good morning

I am at my neighbourhood vegetarian/vegan cafe of choice. They do good coffee. But I am not sure...

Aug 8th

Emotional weariness

When I was in my junior year physics class, my teacher, a kindly man on the verge of retirement,...

Aug 7th

Victoria Osteen, Joel Osteen's Wife, Accused...

Aug 7th

Dear Evil Public Masturbator,

I wonder, why did you decide to put on that nice natty pinstriped suit and accompanying shirt and...

Aug 7th

14 Ways Starbucks Has Tried to...

noraleah: dihard does it again with a comprehensive assesment of Starbucks’ attempts to sustain...

Aug 6th

Watch

Oh, cute!

Aug 6th

The woman sitting next to me in the...

…in a stompy way. I swear I’m being very quiet. I blame myself, of course. I wonder, did...

Aug 6th

Writer's Block Solution No. 248

The Wellcome Library! Oh my goodness, where have you been all my life, Wellcome Library? Spacious...

Aug 6th

I am the worst hostess ever

Our sofas are quite small - love seats, really - so usually when anyone comes to stay who is of...

Aug 5th

Amongst the many regrettable thing about Sebastian’s...

Aug 4th

My mother is visiting

Which is rather lovely, but she’s tired me out. More tomorrow…

Aug 4th

SUSO Viewer

Aug 3rd

Watch

I saw The Loose Salute three years ago at the Spitz, when they were opening for Great Lake Swimmers,...

Aug 3rd

Points from this weekend

- I was going to go to Brighton and sit on the beach and read stuff completely unrelated to work...

Aug 3rd

Writer’s Block Solution No. 247: Writeroom. There is...

Aug 3rd

Saturday night

I’m opting to stay in tonight: cleaning my room, reading, listening to This American Life...

Aug 2nd

Because The Night: a short story by Tessa...

Aug 2nd

Flu cake! Instructions: 1. Follow method for one rhubarb...

Aug 1st