Absence....Fonder hearts?

My long-suffering readers... Apologies for the delayed absence. I've taken a new job at Tablet Magazine where I edit The Scroll, blogging obsessively and semi-convincingly about topics that I used to limn about here at TFR. It's a great gig...

Click here to continue reading "Absence....Fonder hearts?" »

Self-Promotional Round-up

As always, my little blog here is taking some neglect as I pursue my dreams of artistic greatness alleged financial solvency. For Salon, I interviewed Kirby Dick, a filmmaker whose documentary on the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system...

Click here to continue reading "Self-Promotional Round-up" »

Aluf Stone

My most recent article for Tablet, about a group of non-Israeli IDF vets, is up. OMG check it out here! Some of the members also interact with Israeli-born IDF veterans who have since moved stateside—but again, their experiences are not...

Click here to continue reading "Aluf Stone" »

Lone Star of David

It was published here, but here's the original version. Shortly before leaving his native Tennessee, Davy Crockett--Texas’s most venerated adopted son--famously told fellow statesmen, “You may all go to hell, I will go to Texas.” Crockett’s departure for Texas in...

Click here to continue reading " Lone Star of David" »

Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange

My latest piece for The Atlantic just went up and I am pretty thrilled about it. The thrust of it is a looking-back at Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as the film turns 40. I had the good fortune of being...

Click here to continue reading "Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange" »

Tablet

My latest up at Tablet is a profile of Ean Seeb, who is (amazingly) both a marijuana dispensary owner and a machar in the Denver Jewish community. Read here: Seeb is a third-generation Jewish Denver native. Ean, his first name,...

Click here to continue reading "Tablet" »

Andrew Sullivan Loves Me

Or at least loves my most recent article. Get your mind out of the gutter. I was honored to have my Occupy Wall Street dispatch featured on Andrew Sullivan's blog on the Daily Beast, which you can check out right...

Click here to continue reading "Andrew Sullivan Loves Me" »

Podcast & Dispatch

I've got a few new things to share up on Tablet's website. First things first, my very first (and probably last) podcast is up. In it, I interview Nathan Thrall who is the Middle East analyst for the International Crisis...

Click here to continue reading "Podcast & Dispatch" »

Swine Stories

Wrote a profile of TFR friend Jeffrey Yosokowitz, a kosher kid who started a site called Pork Memoirs. Check it out here: Though drawn heavily from Jewish themes and settings, the stories are not all tales of rebellion against a...

Click here to continue reading "Swine Stories" »

Spanish & Portuguese Cemeteries

Here's my first feature for Tablet on those curious three Jewish cemeteries in downtown Manhattan. Check it out here, it's been leading story on the site all day. Of Shearith Israel’s three historic cemeteries, it’s the third that is the...

Click here to continue reading "Spanish & Portuguese Cemeteries" »

New Address

I started a new gig at Tablet Magazine, which does great work. My first piece for them is a little newsy thing for the blog. You'll never guess what it's about. (If you guessed Middle Eastern strife, you are correct.)...

Click here to continue reading "New Address" »

So This Is News?

On a serious note, today's New York Times front page article about two star-crossed teenage lovers in Afghanistan has to be one of the most insane and heart-breaking things I've read in a while. You should read it too. On...

Click here to continue reading "So This Is News?" »

Haaretz Op-Ed

Extraordinarily honored to have an op-ed running in Haaretz today. It's currently trending on the front page. Check it out! For the many whose priorities have shifted away from Israel, now is the time to focus on specific issues. The...

Click here to continue reading "Haaretz Op-Ed" »

The Independent

of Canada honored me recently, by reprinting my latest gem in the Huffington Post in their paper and on their website this week. Check it out if you haven't read it. If you have read it, then thank you....

Click here to continue reading "The Independent" »

On Twitter (lit. and fig.)

Author's Note: The first half of this is for people who don't use Twitter; the second half is for everyone. Perhaps because I've been so resistant to Twitter that when a friend recently implored to me to see it for...

Click here to continue reading "On Twitter (lit. and fig.)" »

(My Mother's) Favorite Articles of 2010

In the spirit of shameless self-promotion, I went to the veritable fountainhead of self-promotion for artists everywhere, my Jewish mother, and had her pick her top ten favorite articles from 2010. Of course, they all ended up being written by...

Click here to continue reading "(My Mother's) Favorite Articles of 2010" »

Andre Johnson: A Man

I was fortunate enough to witness last week's Texans/Titans game in person and wrote this little piece about the non-suspension of Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson following his beat down of Titans provocateur Cortland Finnegan. When helmets come off and...

Click here to continue reading "Andre Johnson: A Man" »

Derision Point: How Bush Can Rehabilitate His Image

Here is something I wrote for the Huffington Post in the haze following my trip to Oregon. It was composed in a fever dream and the sentiment died upon awakening. ENJOY! Thus, if offered the chance to finally dispel the...

Click here to continue reading "Derision Point: How Bush Can Rehabilitate His Image" »

I lied.

There is nothing happening in my life outside of The Huffington Post. Here is my latest piece. It's about Iran and the WikiLeaks scandal. Enjoy it! Few in the liberal HuffPo readership did. :o)...

Click here to continue reading "I lied." »

Is There an Israeli Left Left?

My most recent on the HuffPo. I promise my life exists outside of the Huffington Post as well. I'll tell you all about it soon!...

Click here to continue reading "Is There an Israeli Left Left?" »

Huffington Post

Dear TFR Readers: I've started my new life as a Huffington Post blogger. Do check out my first piece here. Comment, repost, mention how handsome my headshot is. All traffic helps. Fear not, I will continue to flood this site...

Click here to continue reading "Huffington Post" »

TFR: Loved by Christina Hendricks

I was pleased to find, among the spam-laden bots that leave ads all over my well-kempt site, that Christina Hendricks (of Mad Men fame) is now a reader of TFR. She left a comment on a post written in...

Click here to continue reading "TFR: Loved by Christina Hendricks" »

Turkish Delight/Coffee (break)

Not that any of this sojourn has had any real altruism behind it, but I hope you'll excuse me for a few days while I explore Turkey and visit Dubai with an old friend, likely not having many moments to...

Click here to continue reading "Turkish Delight/Coffee (break)" »

Jerusalem Post piece from Jenin

Enjoy people....

Click here to continue reading "Jerusalem Post piece from Jenin" »

Good News for People Who Like Bad News

A couple articles of mine were in the Jerusalem Post today. The first piece is about how one of President Obama's friends from his days in Chicago (and a small focal point in the 2008 campaign) is now helping arrange...

Click here to continue reading "Good News for People Who Like Bad News" »

Pauses, Escapes

Forgive this brief break from blogging. brief break from blogging brief break from blogging brief break from blogging brief break from blogging brief break from blogging I've run away to the Negev Desert; mere meters from the grave of David...

Click here to continue reading "Pauses, Escapes" »

Jerusalem Post

Last week I attended a lovely little reading in Jerusalem featuring writers Jonathan Safran Foer and Etgar Keret. I've written a piece about it for the Jerusalem Post and I hope you enjoy it. JPost, Page 5...

Click here to continue reading "Jerusalem Post" »

PresenTense Plug

The people over at PresenTense do good work. The righteous kind. They also publish good work so be on the look out for the next issue of the mag featuring a piece by yours truly on Omri Casspi, basketball extraordinaire...

Click here to continue reading "PresenTense Plug" »

Drunk on TheGloss

My latest on TheGloss: opportunity to call all the women there sexist. Yes, this may have been written in the booze-addled aftermath of the U.S.'s improbable tie with Slovenia in the World Cup. You can likely pinpoint where the gin...

Click here to continue reading "Drunk on TheGloss" »

You're Welcome

Good customer service is afoot over at TheGloss....

Click here to continue reading "You're Welcome" »

Freebie

If you know me (I think at least some of you out there do), you probably know that I'm finishing a book. I try to refrain from using it as an excuse for a lack of substantial posts on TFR,...

Click here to continue reading "Freebie" »

The Gloss

More nonsense from me on TheGloss....

Click here to continue reading "The Gloss" »

thegloss + some hate mail

A short work on why women shouldn't propose to men. And then some awesome hate mail written in response....

Click here to continue reading "thegloss + some hate mail" »

A more subdued piece on thegloss.

Enjoy this for your lovely weekend....

Click here to continue reading "A more subdued piece on thegloss." »

Latest on thegloss

Today it's Sarah Jessica Parker. In the future, more things I'm not sure I'd ever finding myself writing about. Enjoy!...

Click here to continue reading "Latest on thegloss" »

Fame.

My touching *thanks Paul* column on handjobs was so well-received that over the weekend I became a top trending topic on thegloss. I am starting a weekly column for them, so be on the look out for that as I...

Click here to continue reading "Fame." »

TFR Reader: You have forsaken us

I was pleased to receive a little note from a TFR reader all the way in Israel who accused me of forsaking my readership. And my response is yes and I'm sorry. Next week I'll be posting a link to...

Click here to continue reading "TFR Reader: You have forsaken us" »

Clearly I've been very busy...

My week of adjusting to life in Brooklyn (yes, it's true), attempting to stay vertical while tending bar on St. Patty's Day, enjoying the blossoming spring, and writing consistent entries for this blog were all interrupted when I was interviewed...

Click here to continue reading "Clearly I've been very busy..." »

Join Team TFR: Haiti Relief Run

Loyal Readers, I run for a number of reasons: --I am predisposed to chubbiness --Women love when I talk about running (especially when I casually mention the foreign places where I've run) --I hate the idea that my right knee...

Click here to continue reading "Join Team TFR: Haiti Relief Run" »

TFR: Not a Sensationalist Site

An awesome clip from last night's Daily Show elucidates why this blog is so much better than the others out there. The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cThe Blogs Must Be Crazywww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorHealth...

Click here to continue reading "TFR: Not a Sensationalist Site" »

I'm Back and It Feels Good

Dear TFR Readers: I've missed you since we've been apart. Since 2009, the site has been updated, expanded, no more truncations, no more sadness. I look forward to servicing you in the least sexual way that such a statement suggests....

Click here to continue reading "I'm Back and It Feels Good" »

TFR Vacation

Loyal Readers: As you well know, TFR has an overarching commitment to excellence. Our standards are so duty-bound to preeminence that not even the slightest inkling of the second rate can be afforded. It is in the spirit of this...

Click here to continue reading "TFR Vacation" »

Another Easy Breezy Jewcy Post

http://www.jewcy.com/post/ahmadinejad_worlds_biggest_selfhating_jew...

Click here to continue reading "Another Easy Breezy Jewcy Post" »

I'm Not Cheating Baby

...I'm diversifying. I've now been entrusted to entertain and enlighten the already sparkling and brilliant readership of Jewcy. If you haven't strolled through their pages, you ought to. They are good people. Here is my first post. It's about the...

Click here to continue reading "I'm Not Cheating Baby" »

how much better was my sunday night than yours?

I got to see all this at Radio City Music Hall and it was for AIDS charity. Here's a clip from the finale. You really must get 1:50 into this video to fully appreciate what happened....

Click here to continue reading "how much better was my sunday night than yours?" »

Stay Tuned.

Updates from the road just as soon as I can catch my breath....

Click here to continue reading "Stay Tuned." »

Free Range Nonfiction Reading Series

Thanks to everyone who came out and heckled my subpar jokes. Here's the last piece I read. An oldie but a goodie. The Blue Man My house here in France is covered in spiderwebs, but I don't dare touch...

Click here to continue reading "Free Range Nonfiction Reading Series" »

Work in Progress

Fucking is an old instrument. Charlie Parker’s sax. Edith Piaf’s sauternes pipes. The hair strands on the back of your neck. The old standards play in regular time, they play at 4/4 speed. They are a tangle of feather. The...

Click here to continue reading "Work in Progress" »

Colon Cancer Challenge

What compels a man to run 15K (9.3 miles) in the 32-degree starkness of a March Sunday morning? Is it the search for self? The spirit of competition? Love for his colon and others (and their colons too)? Likely...

Click here to continue reading "Colon Cancer Challenge" »

Semicolons and Colons (events)

photo courtesy of Benjamin Schmidt TOMORROW!!! I will be reading at Cornelia Street Cafe along with a few other talented folks including Susan Orlean, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of several books including The Orchid Thief,...

Click here to continue reading "Semicolons and Colons (events)" »

For You New Yorkers...

Come hear me read on Friday! And contact me for more details should you need them......

Click here to continue reading "For You New Yorkers..." »

Turkey Trot.

I don't even know what a "Turkey Trot" is, I am leery of things that are one species/synonym away from "Goose Step", but I will be embarking on a 10K journey in Houston, Texas on Thanksgiving morning in the...

Click here to continue reading "Turkey Trot." »

Can You Tell The Playoffs Are Coming?

We're going retro, almost twenty-six full hours back, to when you could comment on TFR without inciting a spam riot. If you keep digging back, you'll find Hakeem was once Akeem and the world was still right. Akeem The Dream...

Click here to continue reading "Can You Tell The Playoffs Are Coming?" »

Pre-Passover Goodness

First things first...if your Saturday evening plans are in lack, I'd like to shamelessly plug the Festival of Chametz happening at the Knitting Factory. It's this Saturday night, and thus, your last chance to drink burr before Passover begins. That's...

Click here to continue reading "Pre-Passover Goodness" »