“A Joke that has gone too far…”

Britney Spears, After a Dip Into Marriage, Is Free for Whatever Future May Hold By LOLA OGUNNAIKE Forlorn men around the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Britney Spears is one step closer to being available again. Confirming reports that her marriage to a childhood friend early Saturday morning in Las Vegas might not last forever, a [Read More]

Is this a Joke, Ann?

I have only read Ann Landers colums perhaps five times in my life. The other day on the road, far away home, I came across a real funny one that I want to share. I wonder if Ann ever thought about doing her column live as a form of stand-up comedy. Too bad we cannot [Read More]

The World’s ‘Funniest’ Jokes

New York Times, January 27, 2002 By TOM KUNTZ IF you’re a careful reader of this newspaper, you’re already aware that British scientists have released preliminary results of their search for the world’s funniest joke. Reprinted below is the best-rated joke in their global online survey, which will be followed up with further diligent study. (You may be [Read More]

Office Jokes

I’M ON A COMMITTEE! Oh give me some pity, I’m on a committee, which means that from morning to night, we attend, and amend, and contend, and defend without a conclusion in sight. We confer and concur, we defer and demur, and reiterate all of our thoughts. We revise the agenda with frequent addenda, and consider a load of reports. We compose and propose, [Read More]

Reports from Berlin, 1920-33

A couple of months ago (March 2003) I started reading Joseph Roth’s newpaper columns about life in Berlin in the 1920s.  He turns out to be a master of short essays on social life. I became so enamored with his powerfully perceptive prose that I started to read his novels. Savoy is a fine story image [Read More]

The Story of Job

Roth has the ability to create suspense even though we are reading about the "Life of a Simple" man. The central theme of the novel is the role of destiny in human life that has become surrounded by the products of science and technology. The tale begins with a prophecy in prerevolutionary Russia and image [Read More]

Germany

In July I had a chance to visit Germany. I wanted to see not the big cities but smaller places. Weimar, a small city in which Goethe spent most of his life and later became synonymous with German high culture and the failure of the short-lived German Republic, 1918-1933, proved to be a feast for image [Read More]

Cold Mountain

This Civil War movie works because it is has historical depth and employs a love story very effectively.  Instead of going overboard with passion, the lovers take cautious steps toward each other and just as they allow themselves a kiss and the dream of a life together, Inman (Jude Law) is forced to join the image [Read More]