Popular Culture

September 2002


Free Water Now
Perhaps this makes me curmudgeon of the year, but I hate the very idea of bottled water. I hate the expense, I hate the packaging, and I hate the people who wander around "rehydrating." I'll back any politician who promises to bring back drinking fountains to public places. For more, click here.

Who Killed the Video Star?
There is a new definition of middle age that merits sharing. Middle age is being old enough to remember when MTV played music videos. This isn't a rant about how things were greater when I was young -- frankly, Reagan's America and Thatcher's Britain were rather scary places. But MTV is one thing that really fell apart. Click here to read on.

Land of the Fat
The New York Times Magazine wasted several thousand words recently in a feature about the American weight problem. It seems that we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic. My most recent trip to the beach confirms this -- and although members of Greenpeace did not try to push me back into the water thinking me cetacean, I myself carry a bit extra around the waist. Click here to read why.