Imagine this: You’re in the audience of the 16th-century edition of Italy’s Got Talent. Some guy from some small village plays a sweet lute riff. Maybe Michelangelo paints a sweet-ass ceiling live. Finally, out struts Vincenzo Cervio, holding a giant fork with a roasted goose joint on...
In 2005, Chris Applebaum was working as a music video director when an ad agency approached him about an upcoming campaign it was working on. “We want to do a Carl’s Jr. commercial with Paris Hilton,” their reps told Applebaum, whose biggest video credits include Semisonic’s “Closing...
If money metaphors grew on trees, we’d all have at least… a little bit of money. The world is decently littered with advice on not just what to do or not do with your money, but also how to think about money itself. Change your metaphor, the...
On an upcoming episode of MEL: On Air, we’ll be focusing on the theme of Lost Loves Found. We’ll be chatting with a professor widely considered to be the world’s foremost authority on reconnecting with high school sweethearts; a TSA spokesperson who desperately wants to reconnect passengers...
Tyler Lyson has been hunting dinosaurs his whole life. Growing up in a family steeped in fossil fuels, Lyson benefited from access to land and heavy equipment as well as a knack for finding prehistoric creatures. Every year, Lyson invites volunteers — average folks from all walks of life — to...
For decades, if not much of human history, men have preferred having sons over daughters. The preference for sons in Asia has resulted in some 80 million girls being “aborted, neglected or directly killed,” according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, but the bias against daughters...
I’m going to describe an image to you, and I want you to think about where you’ve seen it in the last few years. There’s a man — maybe wiry, maybe with a potbelly; either way, his forearms are sinewy and covered with tattoos. The sleeves of his flannel...
Restaurants, caterers and cafeterias toss out 43 billion tons of food every year. And it’s not just plates of half-eaten salmon and crates of overripe produce; it’s also ready-made foods such as pies, pizzas and sandwiches that are perfectly edible, but won’t keep overnight for resale the...
When I think of men and leftovers, I think of the Blondie comic-strip character Dagwood, his goofy smile distracting from the horror-movie blackness of his eyes, raiding the fridge for a midnight snack or to make one of his famous sandwiches. Several strips specifically mention Dagwood’s love...
I first realized I had a sweating problem when I was in the third grade. I was running around during gym class when my friend Dion stopped, cocked his head, looked at me and asked, “What the hell is wrong with you?” “What do you mean?” “You’re...
Last year, Chili’s made an expensive decision. The restaurant chain set aside $750,00 a year to introduce an egg glaze to the top of its burger buns. Their reasoning? A glazed bun is more Instagram-friendly than an unglazed one. And the more people want to Instagram your...
Martin Riese is a sommelier. But not for wine. Or beer. Or any other beverage you typically would think requires an impeccable palate and expert recommendation. No, Riese is a water sommelier — and one of the best in a small, but quickly growing field. (The Wall Street Journal...