ArcaMax

"Maybe you just aren't fun anymore," a reader wrote to me recently. With all due respect to this reader, are you fun? No, please, are you having it? What is so fun out there, hmm? Is someone having a party full of Nerds Gummy Clusters and total disassociation?

Apparently, the tone around this column space has trended too serious for some ...Read more

First, the Florida of it all registers. Oranges, gators, crystal blue skies full of possibility.

Then, something else dawns in the opening breaths of "Nickel Boys." The film is shot in a first-person lens. We, the viewer, embody Elwood Curtis, an ambitious Black teen growing up in 1960s Tallahassee. He's the one looking up at oranges, and by ...Read more

I recently watched two documentary series that unpacked slices of zeitgeist from the 1990s and 2000s. One was "Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story," the other, "Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action."

Both series illuminated an era rife with cartoonish sexcapades and violent, Roman arena-style fighting. I lived through it, of course, and at ...Read more

Hi! What is the Gulf of Mexico?

I will answer the question with more questions, an old sales trick: Have you heard of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida? Have you been to a beach? Did you not witness the 2024 hurricane season? Did the schools fail you this badly?

There's no reason to be like that.

You're right...Read more

You may have heard that a new president will be inaugurated on Monday.

By Donald Trump's side, reportedly, will be the billionaire Founding Fathers of our exciting oligarchy. This includes Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who has rebranded by cutting baby bangs and wearing chains last seen on a Zales truck. As part of this macho ...Read more

The final dinner of winter vacation is funereal, death incarnate, the dissolution of rum ball-soaked peace.

It's even more fraught when a season of political mayhem looms. Let's slice into braised chicken and ignore the worst Sunday scaries known to man. Let's pass the salad and avoid reading about how Elon Musk moved into a Trump outbuilding...Read more

One way to know you're in your 40s is that you still open BuzzFeed listicles. I'm sorry, it was beyond my control! My phone's news app spooned me this highly targeted content, and I had no choice but to slap the black mirror for dopamine like an infant gumming pureed banana.

The factory-farmed piece was culled from r/Xennials on Reddit, home ...Read more

January is rearing its perky, crunchy, healthy little head. That means we are contractually obligated to improve -- the worst assignment.

I'm not a huge self-improvement person, not because I don't want to improve, but because I assume everything is a grift. It's rare I get through a self-help book without switching to some literary novel ...Read more

This may come off like another Festivus gripe, just an unpopular opinion about a pointless seasonal irritant. And it is, for sure, but bear with old Fezziwig.

Holiday inflatables have gotten out of hand. They're smooth, homogeneous and overexposed. When hyperactive homeowners barf up six pop culture franchises in a row, narrative arc becomes ...Read more

Almost two years ago, I begged Joe -- Trader Joe, that is -- to send another of his clever grocery emporiums to where I live. I wrote:

We have so many people, Joe, denizens who request, nay, demand your low prices, friendly staff and flavor combinations not available from Larry Q. Publix. Trail mix with mung beans. Vegan tzatziki. Greek ...Read more

"We've got a possum in there," an employee said with a smile. She motioned around a corner, directing me toward the dwelling of the furry friend.

I played it cool, but I already knew about the possum living at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida. In fact, I'd announced to my family after dinner the night before that I intended to visit ...Read more

With Thanksgiving falling on the heels of this ultracombative election year, family dinners have the potential to be fraught, if not fully explosive mashed potato massacres. Don't worry (or do, I don't know your life). Here are some topics to talk about around the holiday dinner table in mixed company this year:

"Who wants to see 25 photos of...Read more