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Onion 'Edgy': Tasteless and Sickening

'Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhane Wallis is kind of a (expletive), right?' The tweet, posted by the Onion, the satirical website, was intended as a joke, a meta commentary on the sniping and backbiting of Hollywood

The TV Remote is Harvard's Answer to Birth Control

'Where's the remote?' My wife appeared, clutching the precious device in her left hand. 'May I please have it?' 'If you're expecting me to sit or roll over like the dog, may I remind you that my knees are killing me,' I replied

When Selecting Wine, Choose Your Words Carefully

I subtly glanced at the patrons around me, trying to mimic them by sticking my nose far into the glass and inhaling deeply. I pinched the glass stem and swirled, nearly splashing red wine onto my white linen napkin. Eventually I sipped. 'Tastes, uh, great,' was my review

Why Burning Man Inspires Me

Undoubtedly one of the greatest modern American legacies, Burning Man boasted 60,900 attendees this year for a week in the Nevada Desert. A week in the desert can change your year

Finding Great Art in Europe's Smaller Museums

Europe is filled with many fine little museums that amply reward those who venture beyond the monumental sights

Top 10 Works of Art Everyone Should See

While not everyone agreed on the choices, most participants concurred that seeing a famous work of art in real life is a completely different experience from seeing a reproduction

Will Oscar Lose Its 'Crazy Heart' for Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges is vying against George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker). To the millions who tune in to the Oscars on March 7, these terrific performances. Every one deserves an award. But this is Jeff Bridge's year. The same goes for Sandra Bullock. Here's why

Pink Flies High at the Grammys

In some ways, I thought the Grammys belonged to Pink. Ten years after her initial surge to fame with 'Get This Party Started,' the soulful-voiced blonde, had one of those classic gasp-inducing performances -- I've rarely seen or heard anything as astonishing as Pink's rendition of 'Glitter.'

Hollywood Has Seen the Enemy ...

I do love movies and I'm fascinated by what they say about American life. Of course, movies don't always reflect or articulate what moviegoers are thinking. Often they merely express what Hollywood thinks Americans are thinking or what Hollywood thinks they should believe.

J.D. Salinger: Artist Who Never Wanted to Be an 'Idol'

When someone told me J.D. Salinger had died, I jokingly asked, 'How do they know?' It was dark humor and a tad disrespectful. But I was trying to be complimentary. Salinger, who was even more passionate about his privacy than his writing, had managed, at age 91, to die a legend in both areas.

America Through the Reality Lens

Culturally, this has been the decade of the reality show. And what do we have to show for it? Not much more than the contestants themselves.

The World's Top Architecture Museums

Spending so much of our lives inside them, and surrounded by them, we often take buildings for granted. But architecture can help us understand history and grapple with the future. The following fascinating museums are dedicated to buildings, cities and landscapes

Taking the Kids To San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences

We're at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which in the year since it has re-opened has emerged as the city's top cultural tourist attraction, drawing more visitors than Alcatraz

Political History of the Stars & Stripes

The history of the American flag is the story of a nation struggling to find its identity, Woden Teachout argues in her new book, Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism. Teachout, a professor of graduate studies in history and culture at the online Union Institute and University, recently spoke about the evolving meaning of the flag in American culture.

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