Stephen Lynch
The Archive
Here's what Kidz Bop does to Drake, Bieber and Taylor Swift
As my 3-year-old sang every word to “I Can’t Feel My Face” from the back seat the other day, it finally dawned on me — wait, this song is about...
Deep down, masochistic Cubs fans want to lose
My friend Kevin has many admirable qualities — intelligent, loyal, funny. He nonetheless possesses one attribute I’ll never understand: He’s a Cubs fan. He cheered himself raw through the division...
The famous Robert Frost poem we've read wrong forever
It is the most famous poem in American literature, a staple of pop songs, newspaper columnists and valedictorian speeches. It is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost: Everyone can...
How the AIDS epidemic really began
In Randy Shilts’ history of AIDS, “And the Band Played On,” he tells the story of an Air Canada steward named Gaëtan Dugas, who suffered from what Dugas called “gay...
The secret to loving Netflix’s 'Marco Polo'? Ignore Marco Polo
It's a cliche of television criticism to label little-watched gems “The Best Show You’re Not Watching.” Unless you’re already watching everything from “Justified” to “The Americans” to “Downton Abbey” ....
10 terrifying drone facts, er, fictions from ex-Bush advisor's new novel
Frustrated with the success American drones are having in decimating their ranks, an Islamic narco-terrorist called the Qazzanis plot revenge — by killing pilots who fly the craft from a...
CBS 'Sunday Morning' is least cynical show on TV
http://youtu.be/1bwSLPE4ecU On his way into a Cracker Barrel in Maumee, Ohio, 8-year-old Myles Eckert found a $20 bill. He first thought about buying a video game. Then he saw a...
How elevators transformed NYC's social landscape
It put the “Upper” into the East Side. It prevented Fifth Avenue from becoming Wall Street. It made “penthouse” the most important word in real estate. The elevator did more...
The Smithsonian's unexpected treasures
There isn’t much America throws away. Julia Child’s kitchen? We’ve got that. Enola Gay? Saved that. Everything from dinosaur bones to Eli Whitney’s cotton gin to a Mercury space capsule...
Searching for the real Jesus
Zealot The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan Random House In about year 93 of the common era, historian Flavius Josephus set out to write the...
Ready To Believe Again? ‘X-Files’ Is Back – With Exclusive Art
The truth is out there? Ha! For “X-Files” fans, it seemed like some of the show’s greatest mysteries would remain unsolved. Like whatever happened to that alien colonization plan? Did...
Green Lantern's new light
Poor, prosaic, pitiable Hal Jordan. Is there a more shrug-worthy hero in the DC pantheon?At their worse, the Green Lantern books were humorless affairs, Hal rushing off to save Coast...
Nobody does it badder
“Skyfall” has been praised as the best James Bond film ever, with a stunning 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and more than $800 million in global ticket sales. It...
Fit to be tied
Unless something shakes up the presidential race in the next three months, there’s a good chance that the only happy people on Election Day will be political nerds. That’s because...
An offer you can refuse
The Family Corleone by Ed Falco, based on a screenplay by Mario Puzo Grand Central Publishing He barely appears in the movie, yet Luca Brasi steals “The Godfather.” Maybe because he’s...
Sloshed stars spew ‘exhaust’
Amy Winehouse suffered from it. So did Lindsay Lohan. In 2001, Mariah Carey suffered an “extreme” case of it, according to her spokeswoman. And last week, the dread epidemic fell...
Red, White & 'Who'
He’s been around longer than Captain Kirk, has met more robots than Will Robinson and has a ship at least as cool as the Millennium Falcon. Yet many Americans —...
The Man With the Golden Touch
After he wrote classics like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” author Roald Dahl tackled another hero of young boys everywhere — James Bond. Working on the screenplay for the Japanese...
Carol Burnett: "this time together"
What do you get for the comedian who has everything? “I had always wanted a chin,” admits Carol Burnett, in her latest almost-autobiography. Nothing is impossible, though, so she got...
The 'Lost' supper
Let’s be honest — if you haven’t been watching “Lost,” you’re not going to start now. No hourlong recap special is going to make sense of the hatches and exotic...