*batteries Not Included 105
Batteries Not Included
My Family’s Gaming Legacy
For as long as my memory can reach back, there are two games I know of that stand out in my mind as the chosen ones of my family, equality on both sides of where I come from. When I was a kid I can recall being sent to bed while downstairs hours and hours […]
Batteries Not Included
The Worst Date I Ever Went On
That transitory time that comes at the end and the start of the year is a time of reflection for many. I have found this to be especially true as one week after New Year’s Day is when my birthday falls. Seeing that this week I celebrate another trip around the sun, and also entering […]
Batteries Not Included
Resolutions I Promise to Keep in 2019
Happy New Year! 2019 is upon up us and if you’re anything like me, you too are having massive anxiety over dealing with the fact that somehow 1999 was 20 years ago. But with the coming of another year comes once more a set of resolutions to mostly not keep. This week, I’d like to […]
Batteries Not Included
Christmas Malaise
Lo, it came to pass that I found myself sitting on the floor of my laundry room beside a pile of dirty laundry, binge-watching episodes of “Matlock” on my iPad, drinking Hot Chocolate. Was I doing laundry? No, that would have been a productive use of my time. Instead, I was simply hiding as my […]
Batteries Not Included
True Stories
In my early 20s, the friends I spent most of my time with and I shared one trait. We were obsessed with music. In particular, we had a strong obsession with the music of the CBGBs late ‘70s punk era. Our parties were often filled with the sounds that came out of the fabled venue. […]
Batteries Not Included
A Series of Existential Crises From Gift Giving
I’m a perfectionist. It took me a long time to come to terms with and admit that I am a perfectionist, but I am now at peace with it. I also have anxiety and as you can well imagine this makes for a “fun” combination. With the holiday season upon us I imagine that you, […]
Batteries Not Included
A Boatload of Benny
From the early 1930s until his death in 1974, Jack Benny was one of the most popular and influential comedians of his time. It’s been reported that Johnny Carson, who idolized Benny, broke down in tears upon the news of his death. Though Benny was most prominent in radio and later on television, he did […]
Batteries Not Included
The Princess Bride
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the ultimate test for a movie is a test of time. Today we worry about what movies make the most at the box office—which has always been true to a degree. Which is why it’s all the more surprising when you find out that a movie […]
Batteries Not Included
A Slight Case of the Turkey Trots
On the surface, there was nothing unusual about last year’s Thanksgiving plans. I was going to be cooking, the family was coming over, and a few friends as well. It should have been old hat to me by this point, just a matter of going through the standard operating procedure. However, I wasn’t feeling it. […]
Batteries Not Included
Shampoo
Director Hal Ashby’s 1975 film “Shampoo” was the director’s first giant commercial success. Ashby cut his teeth in Hollywood first working as an editor for Norman Jewison—winning an Oscar nomination for his work with the director on 1966’s “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and an award proper for best editing for 1967’s […]
Batteries Not Included
Village of the Damned
I wonder what was going on the media zeitgeist in the early 1960s where two prominent works of media focused on creepy children with terrifying powers. In December 1960 MGM released “Village of the Damned” a big screen adaptation of the 1957 John Wyndham novel “The Midwich Cuckoos.” Then in 1961, Rod Serling’s seminal TV […]
