Do you believe in little green men? No, I don’t mean leprechauns. We all know they exist, they make Lucky Charms. I mean aliens. Life on other planets. Black gold. Texas tea. Sorry, too many episodes of “Beverly Hillbillies” ingested. Judging by aliens’ popularity right now, even if you don’t believe, you’re still interested in the bug-eyed baldies. And the funny thing is, our perception of that life is about 90 percent shaped by the world of entertainment. Ever since H.G. Wells created Martians, the public’s imagination has far outstripped its logical... Read More

Recently, I spent a day laid up in bed, sick, with Gatorade and a TV remote as props to pass the time. Flipping beyond the deluge of courtroom and self-help shows I found a real blast from the past. “The Brady Bunch.” I didn’t even realize old episodes of “The Brady Bunch” were still airing. When I was a kid, my siblings and I used to watch re-runs and make fun of them. But it’s been a long time since I’d seen it on TV. I figured it had been superseded by shows like “Saved By The Bell,” “Family Matters” and “Full House”... Read More

Saw the “Barbie” movie. Wanted to wait until the hype died down. Brilliant script, great movie. I will be shocked if it’s not (deservedly) nominated for a bunch of Oscars. First off, it’s very smart, very meta, and very funny. I laughed a lot throughout. But it’s also not necessarily for kids, they won’t get a lot of it. The women to the right of me were laughing along with me at most of it, the little girls to the left of me not so much, and in fact, a couple times they were saying to their parents “why are they laughing, what’s so funny?”... Read More

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Orange juice? Me, too! Coffee? Me, too! Leftover pizza? Me, too! I guess there must be some special bond between us. Something unique. Something real. You know, I haven’t felt this way since I read that Charlize Theron likes to drink Red Bull — just as I do. I hadn’t felt that way since I had read that Sarah Michelle Gellar is a big fan of tiramisu — just as I am. Those revelations were important to me, my sense of identity and my sense of well-being because they gave me a tangible, iron-clad link to someone famous. And that,... Read More

Is ET shopping at HyVee? As UFO sightings increase across the nation, and a Pentagon whistleblower is testifying about the government having UFOs and “extraterrestrial non-human beings” in their custody, there have been a handful of alleged UFO sightings over the Quad-Cities. The latest one flew onto local radar over the weekend, this time over central Rock Island. Previous sightings have occurred in east Davenport near Bettendorf and in downtown Rock Island and Davenport, during a sighting of possibly two UFOs floating high over the Mississippi River from the Iowa side into the Illinois... Read More

What has happened to daytime TV? At one point, it was a wild, wild, west of trash TV shows. However, with all the moral majority whiners returning to gripe about the sinful rot of television, every week a new daytime chatter is getting the short straw. Politicians and pundits are pounding away at the “cultural abomination” oozing about daytime TV. Advertisers are starting to drop shows, and viewers are beginning to cool to such meaty topics as “Hermaphrodites who have slept with their sisters’ husbands and the meth-addicted white trash who love them.” It seems like... Read More

Saw a pre-teen boy today in the grocery store wearing an Alex Morgan U.S. women’s soccer team jersey today. Told him I thought it was cool. He looked surprised that a.) I would recognize the jersey, and b.) that I would tell him it’s cool. His mom said “Thanks, usually nobody knows who it is, and if they do they give him a hard time about wearing a girl’s jersey.” But why would I? Alex Morgan is a freaking phenomenal player, and the team U.S.A. jerseys are pretty cool. Plus, I’ve seen plenty of girls wearing Lionel Messi and Ronaldo jerseys. And, let’s... Read More

I have boldly gone where some man may go, some day. Grandma, grab the smelling salts — I have been to the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. Well, it may be the future birthplace. It may not. Not even Gene Roddenberry, who created “Star Trek,” exacted the place of Kirk’s conception, other than to say it was a small Iowa town. The citizens of Riverside, Iowa, population 826, say that it will be in their tiny bosom that Kirk’s parents indeed will do the deed. Hold the birthday cards, though. Kirk’s supposed conception will take place on or about... Read More

There have been a lot of horrible things going on in the news lately. So I think it’s time we had a difficult discussion on a sensitive topic that, quite frankly, I’ve been avoiding talking about for a while. No, not my relationship with Kim Kardashian. (Fifty feet MEANS fifty feet, Kanye!) But rather, the fact that Avril Lavigne possibly died (or was murdered) and replaced with an Illuminati body double. I know, I know, I know… you’re like, “Oh Sean, EVERYONE knows about that!” But what about the one or two Amish folks out there, who are just getting onto the... Read More

Time is the only thing you can spend once. As we go into Father’s Day weekend, that’s something to definitely remember. Being a father, bringing another life into the world, is an amazing experience and responsibility, and it gives you a blessing in time to spend with a person who will always be a part of your life, and who is beholden to you for helping to shape them as a person. You can literally make the world a better place by making the time and effort to make your children better people. To be there for them. To enjoy your time with them. To be a parent and friend to help guide... Read More