Sam Pollak
- Sam Pollak
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Runners-up get no respect in today's America
This will surely come as rather a nasty shock to those who know me today, but I have several impeccable sources who insist without the least fear of contradiction that I was an annoying child.
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To err is human; to make good on corrections, divine
"As long as the world is turning and spinning," said funnyman Mel Brooks, "we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes." Fair enough. Still, some mistakes are a bit worse than others.
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Sammies celebrate the naughty, the nice and the just plain odd
If 'tis the season to be jolly (and I have it on the very best of authority that 'tis), then what better way to obtain said jollies than to be treated to my Seventh Annual Sammy Awards?
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Worrying about religion can be a real shame
I was a young guy, so you know this happened a very long time ago.
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A fountain of wisdom gushes forth
There's this tale about a young rabbi from a small village in Eastern Europe who has decided to continue his career in America. Before he leaves, he seeks out his mentor, a wise, revered older rabbi. "Rabbi," asks the young man, "what is the secret to life?"
- Saturday, October 22, 2011
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It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a candidate!
With prominent politicians' campaigns seeming to implode with every interview, we welcome to our studios this evening yet another candidate for high public office.
- Saturday, October 1, 2011
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Texas is making a killing on last-meal savings
Texas has not only made executing prisoners something of an art form, but is getting downright chintzy when it comes to providing the condemned a last meal.
- Sunday, September 11, 2011
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Twice-told tale resonates after all these years
You know how it is when you're telling folks a fascinating story and all you see are weak little smiles, glassed-over eyes and the slow-yet-impatient nodding of heads?
- Sunday, August 21, 2011
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I only made 5 bucks a week, but the benefits were incredible
You might be surprised at how often I'm asked about how I got into this newspaper racket.
- Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Critics caught way off base by decent act
So, I find myself driving in New York City earlier this month and listening to someone getting absolutely excoriated on sports talk radio.
- Saturday, July 9, 2011
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'Smart' technology doesn't make us any smarter
So I'm on my fancy-schmancy "smart phone" the other day, talking to my older brother, Michael.
- Saturday, June 18, 2011
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Memories of a stand-alone photographer
Photographs, quite naturally, are extremely important to Daily Star Chief Photographer Julie Lewis ... but so are words, as I found out in short order 13 years ago when I became her editor.
- Saturday, May 28, 2011
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It's OK to love an imperfect USA
I've been paying pretty close attention for more years than I'd like to admit, but I'd never heard anything quite like it.
- Sunday, May 8, 2011
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He didn't become 'The President' for all of us until Obama got Osama
Some idle musings while wondering how many months _ yes, only months _ it will be before we see the first TV movie about how the Navy SEALS offed Osama bin Laden ...
- Saturday, April 16, 2011
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It's a shame that some folks aren't ashamed
The question just begs to be asked.
- Saturday, March 26, 2011
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Politicians find jokes really are on them
"Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place." _ Mark Twain Fair enough. Still, one wonders whether Twain's (his actual name, of course, being Samuel Langhorne Clemens) wife, Olivia, found all his attempts at humor so amusing.
- Saturday, March 5, 2011
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Norma wasn't always a walk in the park
Lots of local folks knew Norma Hutman a lot better than I did before she died Saturday in a house fire. But I don't think I will ever forget her.
- Saturday, February 12, 2011
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'Modern' stuff not exactly music to my ears
I think Christina Aguilera can be forgiven for forgetting some of the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" in front of a stadium full of Super Bowl fans and the largest television audience in history. I just wish she had forgotten ALL of the lyrics.
- Saturday, January 22, 2011
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Recent epiphanies on scams, thugs and errors
The men in the Pollak family live their lives by this simple philosophy. “Why stand when you can sit? Why sit when you can lie down?” As you might imagine, this sort of lifestyle governance lends itself not only to the hardening of every artery in our bodies, but to time well-spent in profound thought.
- Saturday, January 1, 2011
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Sammies celebrate the odd and the inexplicable
It's got to be terribly annoying. It's the end of the old year and the beginning of another, and you've just been inundated with preposterous Top 10 lists, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Sooooo "¦ one more won't kill ya.
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