It’s every girl’s dream. A doll you can dress, accessorize, assign a personality and, you know, use as a camera. Mattel’s new Photo Fashion Barbie functions not only as a blond companion, but also as a point-and-shoot camera. She is equipped with a lens on her back and a screen on the front of her … Continue reading
Author Archives: k.e. brenzel
Remain calm. It’s just Tuesday… with a license to buy yourself chocolate.
There are two kinds of terrible people on Valentine’s Day. Those who suddenly, very publicly cannot get enough of their significant other. And those who will spend a majority of the day railing against the card company-created abomination that is Feb. 14. Personally, I think both parties are trying a little too hard to prove … Continue reading
Key to a silly tradition
There’s something about traditions like giving someone the “key to the city” that makes me think being human is an incredibly silly business. Today the Giants will parade about in downtown Manhattan, working their way from Battery Place and Washington Street to City Hall Plaza, where Mayor Bloomberg will present the Super Bowl victors with … Continue reading
Leaving the theater extremely aggravated (but not incredibly)
The book is always better. I knew this going into the movie theater. I also knew that even if François Duhamel had managed to construct a masterpiece, I would find fault in his interpretation of one of my favorite books. But the fact is— Oscar nod be damned— “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, the film, was … Continue reading
Fearing a vague cyber curtain
While reading an article about Cathy Rigby in The New Yorker to my dad —in disbelief that the 59-year-old is still playing Peter Pan, as fiercely as ever—he had a question not answered in the text. “When was Cathy Rigby in the Olympics?” he asked, immediately posing the question to a site he knew would … Continue reading
Unrealistic resolutions? A giant glowing ball? It’s still winter? Cheers!
As the allegedly “most wonderful time of the year” comes to a close, the season for making and breaking self-deluding promises approaches. New Years. Gym memberships will soar. Smokers will attempt to cut back or quit. Social hermits will attempt trips “outdoors”. Etc., etc., etc. For a few weeks, maybe a month or two, many … Continue reading
Dance according to m..m..my generation. Just wasn’t made for these times
Phrases go in and out of our collective vernacular. It’s just the way it is. Park as in Billy and Jody parked on their date is luckily (or unluckily, if you’d like to explore the modern-day alternatives) is pretty far out in the celestial graveyard of words and phrases. (While we’re at it far out … Continue reading
Mind games with the music genome and cookies from Pandora’s box
Can Internet radio be a catalyst for a quarter-life crisis? It probably shouldn’t be, but here we are. I recently discovered Pandora Radio. I’m not sure how it has taken me this long; to be honest, I wasn’t 100 percent clear on how it worked. Moving on… Pandora’s appeal derives from its ability to compliment its … Continue reading
The way we were
It entered my mind today that the first time I visited what would become my undergraduate institution of choice (default) was in the 8th grade. I was there for the teen arts festival. I was on the writing committee for the spring musical. I wrote some terrible terrible scenes that got in, almost verbatim. (for … Continue reading
A case for the exclamation mark
You don’t see it often. It’s tabooed. It’s tacky. It’s overkill. It’s immature. It’s a punctuation mark that deserves a chance. (Sacrilege! Witch! Witch! — See? Useful.) Students, writers, student-writers, editors and the like are warned about the dangers of the exclamation mark pervading the written word. Editors are told to remove it unless encountered … Continue reading
Kathryn Brenzel 