Up in the manicured hills of Los Feliz, a neighborhood that boasts at least three famous murder houses, the one with the weirdest history may be the Perelson house… where, deep… Read the rest of the article: A home, a murder, a mystery (or two)

[I'm a huge fan of Bill Barol's podcast, HOME: Stories From L.A. It's the first podcast Bill has produced, and he knocked it right out of the park. HOME is… Read the rest of the article: Unmaking a home: A story of life, death, Christmas and trash bags

I've never publicly shared my story about The Worst Meeting In The History Of Show Business, but this seems like an appropriate time, for reasons I'll get to in a… Read the rest of the article: Me, Al Franken and the worst meeting in the history of show business: a true story

Recently, Boing Boing presented a series of essays about movies that have had a profound effect on our invited essayists. We are extending the series. See all the essays in… Read the rest of the article: Mind Blowing Movies: Funny Bones, by Bill Barol

Boing Boing recently presented a series of essays about movies that have had a profound effect on our invited essayists. We are extending the series for several additional days. See… Read the rest of the article: Andy Griffith: Before Mayberry, A Movie Monster

[I am reading Bill's novel now and really enjoying it. Look for a review from me soon — Mark] When John F. Kennedy was asked how he became a war… Read the rest of the article: Adventures in self-publishing: Why I took a year's work and tried my hardest to give it away

Photo by Ged Carroll. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. A recent article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology makes a case that height makes right. That is, it… Read the rest of the article: Going up

It's one of those ideas that sounds less nuts the more you think about it: "The Wire" imagined as a 19th-century serialized novel. After all, David Simon's great multi-season drama… Read the rest of the article: "The Wire" as a Dickens serial

It's hard to to top the phrase "pole dancing for Jesus" — I dare you to even try — because it satisfies so many absolutely awful contemporary needs in just… Read the rest of the article: Pole dancing for Jesus

You might know Joshua Allen from the Twitter, where he posts hilariously (and not often enough) under the handle Fireland. Allen is one of the three or four people who… Read the rest of the article: Ten Sexy Ladies

Dear Bill: You know that picture of the terrified giant panda clinging to a policeman's leg after the Japan earthquake? The one that, in the terrible early hours of this… Read the rest of the article: Note to self: Panda earthquake image not a fake, exactly

My name is Bill, and I'm bad at GTD. Many, many factors account for this — let's call it a character flaw. But the biggest is probably this one: My… Read the rest of the article: Do It (Tomorrow)

"The next time you're in a museum, keep a sharp eye out for skull cups," Gadling advises brightly today, following up on a BBC report about the discovery of three… Read the rest of the article: Skull cups

I can think of a lot of reasons why New York City rules, and today there's one more: Soda Party! Anton Nocito, the proprietor of Brooklyn's P&H Soda Co., will… Read the rest of the article: Make mine hibiscus

Today I want to offer my thanks to a nameless collection of audio nerds. Armed only with DAT recorders and patience, and maybe some Mojo bars and sports drinks, and,… Read the rest of the article: The sound of a TV through a wall

[Video Link] You know, it's all well and good to talk about how bomb-sniffing mice are the future of security, and sure, it sounds good. But ask yourself: What does… Read the rest of the article: Bomb-sniffing mice

I want to be snippy about this Wall Street Journal trend story. I really do. It encapsulates everything I hate about trend stories: The totally fake, self-justifying notion that Suddenly… Read the rest of the article: Also, you're gonna love this buttercream scaloppini

It's easier for me to define exotica, a lush, atmospheric, sometimes-sappy instrumental pop music of the '50s and '60s, than it is for me to explain why I love it.… Read the rest of the article: The Exotica Project

Every time I think Bill Murray is a perfect and unimprovable paragon of cool, he does something to get cooler. Like this, his speech introducing writer/director Sofia Coppola at last… Read the rest of the article: Bill Murray at the NBR

I've heard about this on and off over the years, but had never seen it until Kottke posted a link this morning: It's a clip from "My Best Friend's Birthday,"… Read the rest of the article: Where Tarantino came from