by Mark O'Brien | Dec 1, 2015
As every consummate consumer knows, the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. The term is a marketing and public-relations abbreviation of the full name — Black-Eye Friday — which comes from all the shiners given and received in the shameless,...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 19, 2015
irony (noun): incongruity between what is expected to be and what actually is, or a situation or result showing such incongruity When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 17, 2015
This past weekend, I attended the ninth annual Natural Living Expo in nearby Marlborough, Massachusetts. I have no idea why. Being at the Expo recalled the first time I walked into a hardcore comic-book shop. I was in search of the first two editions of the legendary...
by Mark O'Brien | Oct 30, 2015
One of the more superficial revelations of my recent trip to New York was that I’d never taken a selfie. This realization was driven home by the fact that I saw people who’d come from all over the world seemingly for the sole purpose of taking pictures of...
