I've been a fan of Stephen Fry since seeing his hilarious turns as Lord Melchett, the Duke of Wellington, and then General Melchett in Blackadder II, III, and IV, respectively. So I was happy to discovery, via John Scalzi, that he writes an entertaining blog. The occasion for this discovery was his well-written and heartfelt apology for a cheap and easy line featuring the phrase "let’s not forget which side of the border Auschwitz was on,” a turn of phrase that made me preemptively cringe before I even read the context. Fry aptly describes a human failing with which I am quite familiar: "If a joke or a neat phrase or an apparently convincing rhetorical trope or apt simile occur to me they will emerge from my mouth without passing Think." It's well worth reading.

Eric Turkewitz does a bang-up job on a spooky Blawg Review #236 over at his New York Personal Injury Law Blog. Enjoy.

You know, blawg reviews are hard. The one we did was exhausting. You have no idea how time-consuming it was for me to criticize all the work Patrick did on it.

So I'm astounded that Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise has been doing what almost amounts to a weekly lawblawg review in his A Round Tuit series. And they're good. Check out the latest.

Facebook just suggested that I "poke" a high school classmate.

This particular high school classmate died tragically young this summer of cancer.

Apparently I'm not the only one getting creeped out by this sort of thing.

Facebook is also suggesting, in so many words, that I make suggestions to help make certain friends' profile pages less lame.

Facebook is kind of a dick, isn't it?

I took the kids to brunch at our favorite local diner this morning. They usually have classic rock playing from a jukebox. Today they had a 40's music CD going.

I had never previously heard "Bongo Bongo Bongo I don't want to leave the Congo" played in a non-ironic fashion. (I know if from Fallout 3, where its use is definitely satirical.) Several people nearby were looking incredulously at the jukebox. Even the kids thought it was odd. "Daddy," asked Evan, "Is he saying 'bongo bongo bongo?"

I enjoyed a wonderful Halloween night of friends and boardgames. We got to play several games that I need to review here, including the better everytime I play it Le Havre and the new expansion for Dominion. Great games all (and I won 2 out of 4, which always helps.) For the evening, I put on the digital cable channel Sounds of the Season, which was playing some awesome Halloween songs.

We got "Nature Trail to Hell in 3D", Marilyn Manson's awesome cover of "This is Halloween", some kitschy Elvira stuff and much more. It was a lot of fun. Until it wasn't. At exactly 11:30, Halloween ended as far as Comcast was concerned, and the channel started to play Christmas music. Argh! Must we begin the ramp up already.

Look, for a Jew, I love Christmas. I celebrate everything about the season, but I refuse to do it until after Thanksgiving.