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grin and bare it

A blog by Matthew Dicks

To read or not to read

By Matthew Dicks | March 31, 2010

I’ll be speaking this evening at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in my hometown of Newington at 7:00.  Topics for the evening will likely include my first novel, SOMETHING MISSING, my upcoming book (UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO),…

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It’s a room

By Matthew Dicks | March 31, 2010

When did the word room get replaced with the utterly pretentious and overblown word space? A substitute teacher entered my classroom a couple days ago and said, “This is a great space. Your students are…

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Witticisms or lacking wit?

By Matthew Dicks | March 30, 2010

There’s an iPhone application called iQuote which is essentially a database of thousands of quotations from famous and intelligent people, and one by Angelina Jolie which I am surprisingly fond of: If I think more…

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Fuzzy time tables

By Matthew Dicks | March 30, 2010

Earlier this year, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which are still sending images back from Mars, celebrated their sixth anniversary on the red planet. The mission was slated to last only three months. In 1997…

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Longing for happier days

By Matthew Dicks | March 29, 2010

Am I the only one who finds it tragic that the number of people in the world who can define the Malachi Crunch diminishes daily? Rocco and Count Mulachi. Pinky Tuscadero and the Pinkettes. Please…

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Asked and answered

By Matthew Dicks | March 29, 2010

Thanks to podcasting, I don’t listen to much talk radio anymore, which was once a staple of my media consumption. Granted, I listen to a string of NPR podcasts pulled right off the radio, and…

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I’m saved!

By Matthew Dicks | March 28, 2010

While my wife and I were serving brunch today, two Jehovah Witnesses knocked on our door. I am grateful to the Jehovah Witnesses.  There was a time in my life when I was homeless, living…

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Ten Word Wiki

By Matthew Dicks | March 28, 2010

Ten Word Wiki is a spinoff of Wikipedia with one important distinction:  All entries must consist of exactly ten letters.  The results are often amusing and sometimes quite profound.  The site has become my newest…

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Plan A

By Matthew Dicks | March 27, 2010

I was listening to Ira Glass of This American Life discussing the concept of a Plan B for an episode of the same name. He said that in a room of one hundred people, he…

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I don’t get it

By Matthew Dicks | March 26, 2010

I know it’s hip and trendy to love Wes Anderson’s films, but I don’t.  I thought that Rushmore was okay, The Life Aquatic was overrated, The Darjeeling Limited was slow and unfunny, and The Royal…

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