The Lionel Show Blog

I can walk down the street, theres no one there
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.

-         
Cream

Health Tip:  If you still have Halloween Candy left, it’s gone bad…

Health Tip:  You can’t trust hospital food

Health Tip:  Candy Canes are good for your health

Health Tip:  Who says salvation can’t be chocolaty and delicious…

Health Tip:  If you can’t get a doctor’s note, get a transit workers note  (Mr. Kotter would approve)

Health Tip:  Baby, think of me once in a while…

Happy Black Friday ev’ry-buddeh.  Have you put up your Christmas decorations yet?  Are you planning a trip to a bastion of consumerism? A “big box” store? Or will you be making your purchases at the speed of electrons on the information superhighway?  Whatever your plans, retailers are slashing prices across the board in hopes that this day will live up to its name and they can finally start using the black pen to fill in their books instead of that unseemly red one they’ve been using up until now. This neo-tradition has become a part of American culture, and the fluctuating economy makes this particular Black Friday an important one historically: will America’s retailers weather the storm, or will Americans’ newfound forced frugality have them seeing red?  We’ll discuss this, along with other issues of historic Americana with author Kenneth C Davis, renowned writer of the “Don’t Know Much About…” series, whose newest book “Americas Hidden History” will remove the proverbial wool from your eyes regarding how the many became one, and how the west was won.  (Hey, that rhymes!) 

Here it is, the day before Thanksgiving.  Families are coming back together; and urban centers are experiencing a mass exodus as yuppies and the like follow that long and winding strand of cellulose back to their humble roots.  Back to a place where everybody knows your name, and they still remember about that five bucks you owe them.  A place where the gun and religion clinging is in full effect, and the starry-eyed youths dream of the bright lights, big cities, and wardrobe malfunctions in store for them at the end of the Celebrity Rainbow.  Such a place (Auburn, New York to be exact…CNY PRIDE BABY!) brings us our first guest today, Tim Delaney, the author and sociologist whose newest book “Shameful Behaviors” examines the culture of shamelessness being propelled forward by Popular Culture and the internet. (and some – like me – would say by elected officials, CEO types, and the elusive “Punditocracy”) We’ll talk to Tim about how best to deal with this epidemic of idiocy in module two.

Turkey Day. Happy Turkey Day. I want to puke. I hate Thanksgiving. Hate it. It's contrived, pressure-packed, nauseatingly mawkish and hokey. Women around the country are enslaved, chained to their ranges and ovens, overwhelmed all too often by the pressure of the meal and that bird.