For all the times I’ve watched the circus, I’ve enjoyed a feeling of epic wonder throughout all the performances. For one great price, I saw trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, lion tamers, clowns, and – if you’ve been to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus – the parade of elephants. Elephants that could stand on…
Read MoreBest of our TU Community Bloggers, March 5, 2015: Ten for Thursday
Good morning! Is that the sun out there? Are we going to see these piles of snow and ice finally melt away? Keep thinking positive. It will work out. And while we’re waiting for the snow to melt… let’s check out ten Times Union community bloggers and ten great blog posts from this week. They…
Read MoreOrigami dancing paper swans!
Every so often, I need a little “eye bleach” from all the tragedies in the world. I need something to give me a respite from the wars and famines and bone-chilling weather and gloomy despair that I see on the news and in my social media feeds and in every other location. Of course, seeing…
Read MoreAmish Mafia Episode Review: “Forbidden Knowledge”
Part of the fun of reviewing Amish Mafia episodes is the way the show tries to portray what goes on in their fictionalized “real world,” while still trying to deal with how the real world affects their “fictionalized” world. You know, every time they have a plotline with Alan Beiler, something happens and he gets…
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“I have that Answers Please episode on videotape…”
Nearly 35 years to the day of its first – and only – broadcast, a rare and treasured piece of my history has resurfaced. The tape’s recovery and its contents… make for one of my most reflective blog posts of all time.
Read MoreTrivia playing ban = civil rights violation?
Over the weekend, I received this message from a trivia player in the Hudson Valley. And although I wasn’t sure how to respond… I do have some ideas, based on my personal experience in playing bar and tavern trivia. Here’s the tweet in question. @chuckthewriter Do trivia hosts have the right to discriminate against repeat…
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Dream Window 13: Carissima and Kodachrome
In July of 1981, I attended a five-week pre-freshman orientation program at Hamilton College. Between that summer and the late spring of 1985, I was a college student at one of the “Little Ivies.” There were days when I felt about as out of place as Willy Loman in a summer stock production of Spamalot;…
Read MoreRemembering Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy passed away yesterday at the age of 83. He was an accomplished and respected actor, director, photographer and philanthropist. He brought his religion to Star Trek – the iconic “Live Long and Prosper” hand gesture was copied from the rabbis at his childhood synagogue. And although there was a time where Nimoy distanced…
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Customized license plates for this blog…
My friend Paul Rapp posted an old license plate on his Facebook page. The plate read “LHBLOTTO.” That’s because Paul Rapp is also F. Lee Harvey Blotto, the drummer for the legendary Albany “I Wanna Be A Lifeguard” rock band. He mentioned that several of the bandmembers also had customized license plates for their cars…
Read MoreBest of our TU Community Bloggers, February 26, 2015: Ten for Thursday
In case you’re wondering… spring is just around the corner. Okay, so it’s a big corner, but still… While we’re all waiting for spring to spring, you can feel sprung by springing over to the ten Times Union community bloggers and enjoying their posts this week. I’m sure it will put a spring in your…
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Chuck The Writer 
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