I hate to tell you this, but Fall sucks. Yeah, yeah, the leaves are pretty. That’s because they’re dead. You want foliage, you like the falling leaves of red and orange? Fine. Makes a nice song. But dead leaves are not a good sign. Trust me. And yes, the days are not as hot as the stifling days of summer. That’s because winter is coming, when days...

The Sopranos set off a war among the Fortunato Family, as I suspect it did with Italian-Americans across the nation. On the one side were those who saw it as a good show, well written, well acted, well photographed (we’ll get to that later). They watched it every week. You got a problem with that? Well, yes, yes, I do. And so did my father, and so did one of...

There’s clutter, and then there’s clutter. The clutter in my bathroom — which involves lots of perfume bottles, a green and pink striped cosmetic case, a purple sachet, little bottles of shampoos from hotels of all nations, a porcelain clock, a leopard print soap dish with a matching candle stick, and a small collection of rubber duckies all in a row —...

Group therapy was never like this. Group therapy was exactly like this. Sessions — a new musical revue starring Robert Newman in which  In Treatment meets A Chorus Line  — will make you wonder if group therapy could possibly be that much fun. It couldn’t. Trust me. But the play is, and I’m really getting to really like The Algonquin, the small...

The Art of Procrastination You gotta have a plan, or you’ll never be able to procrastinate in peace. Say you really don’t want to see that exhibit at the museum, the one everyone says you absolutely must see.  Here’s what you do: write it down in your date book with as much sincerity as you can muster. When you get to that day  — make it...

How do I get into trouble by blogging? Let me count the ways. First of all, the usual: Readers don’t always agree with what I say. Or they don’t like getting emails directing them to my site where they can read what they don’t agree with. Or they just don’t like getting these kinds of emails. But, being me, I get in trouble in new and...

The blogging adventure continues. Today I got my first expletive-deleted reply to an e-mail blast. The expression was nothing special, just the usual three little words, beginning with “go” and ending with “yourself,” with a four- letter expletive in the middle, suggesting an activity I might want to perform on my person. I hear this...

               What good is a “secret” that’s been out for thousands of years? Well, if it’s news to you, it could change your life. The Secret, which had everyone buzzing on Oprah, is that everything in the universe is connected, including your thoughts, so that what you...