Dy’all ever watch Ruby? (Or as I call it: “Rube-Y”?) It’s a show on the Style network about a morbidly fat woman in Savannah, Ga., trying to get her weight down to the state of being just, say, merely fat. I like this show. It’s not so much about how to lose weight (though she…

That’s what my mother (and maybe yours) called the television set — the idiot box — and begged and then nagged me to turn it off already, go outside, go play. Her point was, there’s a whole world out there! I’d get out there, barefoot in the grass, have a look around, and then wonder,…

Somewhere out there is a beginning nursing class that would be so relieved to see this walk into the classroom for the introduction to finding-a-good-vein-for-a-blood-sample day. Have at it class! Also, pictures like this must drive heroin dealers WILD. (Photo by Flynet, via TMZ.)

This afternoon (Sunday), Michael and I drove up to Rockville, Md., to the home of my friend Linton Weeks and his wife, Jan Taylor Weeks. We had to park a block away. Dozens and dozens of people had come to their house. On Thursday night, Linton and Jan’s two sons, Stone and Holt Weeks, were…

Nice to know Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Observer opens his mail!

I’ve been taking the movie cure lately — the only affordable answer to stress. Here are my capsule thoughts: (500) Days of Summer: Call off the Stuff White People Like movie deal because here it is, finished and done. Almost scientifically twee, happy-sad picture about a doomed relationship. I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt — all grows…

Would your committee that picks the “Bookmarked” titles every month be interested in a book where the very first chapter is titled “Target”? A book that tenderly and curiously and humorously portrays the world of Target’s America? Also, I read here that you prefer unknown authors. Well, can do! (And he’s available for Black Friday…

My friend Linda sent me a link to this Baltimore Sun report, another take on “Christmas in July” sales that are now overtaking a lot of stores. But wait, what’s this? A summer breeze of sanity from Williams-Sonoma/Pottery Barn! >>But other retailers think it best to leave Christmas where it is. A spokesman for Williams-Sonoma,…

Believe it or not, I’m only slightly embarrassed to dig this up and show you: It’s been 20 years this summer since I was an intern at the Washington Post. This was the summer between my junior and senior years of college, the same summer I turned 21. In some ways, it feels like five…

Deadline, that is. This morning, an editor at the Post‘s Sunday magazine was supposed to have a lovely, clean draft of a 4,000-word article by me, from me, in her basket. I’m only about half done. Blog’s going to have drift. Keep trying to clone myself so I can do my job _and_ everything else.…