My son made a break for it. He cried when I pulled up in front of his new preschool and as I carried him inside he cried, “home, home, home,” while pointing in the general direction of our house. He tried to wiggle free of my grasp and I had to set him down to [...]

Instead of posting my 3,000 word FINAL TAKE manifesto on sports talk that spiraled into a full blown analysis of all things Tebow, I’ve decided to share my “instead of” list. This list is posted on my wall and on my computer and is meant to keep me on track for the new year.  All [...]

My wife lost her pregnancy on a Monday. I held out hope ‘til Tuesday, but by then it was over. The disappointment I felt was real, although for me, the pregnancy hadn’t quite felt real yet. We’d just begun telling family and close friends. My wife wasn’t showing. We didn’t know the sex of the [...]

Ernessa says: It feels so weird to not be making any resolutions this year. Some people love this time of the year because of the gift exchanges, time spent with family, goodwill toward man, blah, blah, blah — but I’ve always been a resolution girl myself. I love making the list and mustering up my [...]

Amy Says: To continue my streak of disliking the stuff everybody else likes (ie. I didn’t care for A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, which so many others loved…maybe I should be the “On the Contrary” guy next year. I swear to g*d I’m not doing this on purpose.) In my humble opinion, ONCE UPON [...]

Amy says: Can a remake of a BBC show be considered new? If so, then PRIME SUSPECT is my pick for the best new TV of the year. Maria Bello is awesome in everything I’ve ever seen her in. Detective procedurals aren’t normally my thing, but I love the complexity of the characters here. Some [...]

Ernessa says: What’s funny is that I’ve always liked Maroon 5. I mean, I’ve never downloaded a Maroon 5 song or anything, but I’ve never minded them. And when they came on the radio, I didn’t change the channel on the automatic like I do with say, LMFAO or Ke$ha or Bruno Mars. But then [...]

Amy Says: I was so excited about a movie mash-up of western and sci-fi. It would have cowboys AND aliens! My expectations were super high. Sadly, COWBOYS & ALIENS is my pick of the worst movie of 2011. While it was moderately entertaining, the dialogue was clunky and I just felt sorry for Harrison Ford [...]

Amy says : My favorite movie of the year should have been RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, but I was in the Colorado wilderness the entire time it was in theaters. The original, with Chuck Heston, is my favorite movie of all time. The first time I saw it, I knew I wanted [...]

Ernessa says: I’m going to make the caveat again that if I manage to get through a book, it must have something to recommend it. Life is short, and I’ve become rather good at putting down books I’m not enjoying. That claimed, this category was a bit difficult for me this year. Right now I’m [...]