Category Archives: Commentary

Awkward Moments in Entertainment History: The Worst Sitcom Joke of All Time

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Sitcom fans born during the last twenty years have no idea how good they’ve had it. The ebb and flow of conventional wisdom changes the tone of the genre every generation or so. The early days of television had fanciful … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Television, Videos | Tagged 1980's, 80's, All in the Family, Cheers, Commentary, I Love Lucy, M*A*S*H, Mr. Belvedere, Newhart, Seinfeld, Sitcoms, Television, Til Death Us Do Part, TV, Videos | 2 Comments

Spooky Action at a Distance

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Teams of scientists working with the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced this week that the elusive Higgs boson has quite possibly been observed for the first time. The level of certainty provided by the recent run of data isn’t sufficient … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Science, Sports | Tagged Albert Einstein, Commentary, Denver Broncos, Don Majkowski, Entanglement, Higgs Boson, John Elway, Large Hadron Collider, Merril Hoge, NFL, Physics, Pro Football, Quantum Physics, Relativity, Science, Spooky Action at a Distance, Sports, Tebowmania, Tim Tebow | 7 Comments

This Strange, Twitterfied World

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Tom Garrett

The profound changes to our culture wrought by the rise of the Internet as a whole are obvious to all. But I’m fascinated by one very surprising and strange way in which Twitter specifically altered the manner in which we … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Music, Sports | Tagged 1980's, Boogie Nights, CM Punk, Dare, General Culture and News, Internet, Music, Sports, Stan Bush, The 80's, The Touch, Transformers, Twitter, WWE | 2 Comments

At Least the BCS is Consistent

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Our infallible BCS system produced a customarily-frustrating result tonight, to the surprise of almost no one. The BCS passed over Oklahoma State for its BCS “National” “Championship” game. The Cowboys, losers of one double-overtime contest, dominators of Oklahoma, and champions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Sports | Tagged Alabama, BCS, College Football, Commentary, Les Miles, LSU, Mike Gundy, National Championship, NCAA Football, Nick Saban, Oklahoma State, Sports, Stanford | 3 Comments

Escape to New York

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Tom Garrett

It’s been an unusually-long time since I’ve posted, but there’s a good reason for that: I knew that writing about the trip I took to New York City a little over a week ago was going to take some time. I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Sports | Tagged Big Sister, Charity, Commentary, Froot Boots, General Culture and News, Hurricane Irene, John Cena, Kofi Kingston, Little Brother, Mick Foley, Sheamus, Stand-up Comedy, Survivor Series, The Rock, UCBW, Vacation, Wall $treet, Whole Lotta Denim, WWE | 6 Comments

My Father, the (Fake) Doctor

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Tom Garrett

Among the cultural artifacts I unearthed at my mother’s house during recent preparations for a yard sale were issues of Time and Newsweek from March, 1961. The Newsweek cover is especially fantastic. The bleak picture painted in today’s media environment when one … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News | Tagged 1960's, A. H. Robins, Advertising, Commentary, General Culture and News, Newsweek, Pharmaceuticals, Time Magazine | 1 Comment

The Last Toy

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Tom Garrett

I recently helped my mom prepare for a yard sale by going to her house and sifting through my childhood toys so that she could label and group them more accurately. As an only child in a middle-class family, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News, Television | Tagged 1980's, Bandai, Cartoons, Childhood, General Culture and News, Hasbro, Intellectual Property, Jetfire, Licensing, Macross, Megatron, Nostalgia, Patents, Robotech, Television, Toys, Transformers | 3 Comments

Ghostbusters: A Narrative Lyrical Analysis

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Tom Garrett

In honor of our impending Halloween weekend* and the zombie Moammar Gaddafis and slutty-fill-in-the-blanks who come with it, I thought it only fitting to scrutinize arguably the greatest sort-of-Halloween-themed song of all time. The song I Want a New Drug … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Music | Tagged 1980's, Commentary, Ghostbusters, Huey Lewis and the News, Humor, I Want a New Drug, Lyrical Analysis, Music, Ray Parker | 2 Comments

How Things Used to Work

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Tom Garrett

As I sat around on Sunday staring at a RedZone “quad-box” on my HDTV with my smartphone by my side and my laptop in my . . . uh . . . lap, I realized that even those of us … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, General Culture and News | Tagged 1990's, Aging, Commentary, General Culture and News, Old Man Tom, Ramblings, Rants, Society, Technology, The 90's | 24 Comments

Plenty of Room Left on the Bandwagon

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Tom Garrett

My general preference is to avoid self-promotion. However, I am proud of what I’ve accomplished so far with this website. So, I wanted to pass along two quick suggestions to you, our faithful readers. First, you can follow the Axis of … Continue reading →