When I was a freshman in high school, not only had I reached my final height of 5'5", but my English class went on a field trip to the Boston Herald. One of the editors explained to us how they had chosen the headlines that would be running the next day. Most of the headlines were about how we were having a heat…

Your dad sounds awesome.

It helps if you remember that agents, publicists, lawyers, and managers take a very hefty chunk, so it's not quite as much money as it may seem at first. Still a shit-ton when you're in Clooney territory, but not as much as it sounds when it's just the lump sum spelled out.

Thanks for the encouragement. :-) I always do this—wait until the last possible second to finish a project. It's not terrible; it's mostly just connecting bits that are already written, so it's maybe 40 pages at the most. Plus, I've got to rework a couple of scenes. No worries; it'll get done. But I will be…

I have a draft of a novel due to my publisher in four days and it's... well, it's not done. But am I working on it? No. I'm watching reruns "30 Rock".

I don't normally get gushy about celebrities (in fact, I'm generally pretty hatery about famous people), but Beyonce and Jay-Z are definitely my exception. Their relationship has never seemed anything but private and real, and I've got to respect her big time for not selling the pictures. They both seem to be…

He worked for Obama as the ambassador to China. He also tweeted a couple of snarky comments about global warming and evolution, which seems to have pissed off the people who think science is a fad (which seems to be a lot of people who vote Republican). Other than that, I think he just doesn't seem Obama-hatey…

A lot of the Republicans I know (and I know a lot, but we're in the Northeast, so I'm not sure they count) are pretty pro-life, family values, but the vast, vast majority of them will recognize that personhood ammendments and the like are disasterously stupid. Then again, I have some cousins in Florida who think that…

As an American with a strong interest in US politics, it boggles my mind as well.

War: bad for humans, bad for dogs.

Yeah, Falconbaby isn't born yet, and I've already learned to hate the words "I'm not going to tell you how to raise your kid, but..."

The advice not to get it done on or just before your period is absolutely correct. I've done the Advil thing before, but I'm not sure how effective it is. What definitely does work is having a slightly heavy meal before you go (think, a large sandwich or sub or some pasta). After you eat a fairly large meal like…

I started saving my legs in the fourth grade because I thought everyone else was. Turns out they weren't - I was just really, really hairy. I started shaving my bikini line when I was in eighth grade because I was on the swim team and really embarrassed to have my pubes hanging out all over the place (see earlier…

Of course he has black friends. Just none that are in relationships with white people. Because that's icky.

Shake any American's family tree hard enough, and a few people of the "wrong" ethnicity or race are going to fall out. Ultimately, there's a little "mixing" in all of us, so why not let the issue go, Mr. Thompson? Or would you like to prove to us that all the couples you're decended from have been lily white?

It's too bad that that was in the days before cell phone cameras (unless you are now a nine year old). Because that would have made a great picture.

I would not have been able to keep myself from giving that woman the Blank Stare of Doom. Falconbaby is due in April; I'm totally not worried about breastfeeding or vaccinations or not getting enough sleep or teething or any of that. I'm worried about the annoying people I'm going to be forced to deal with as a…

My grandmother forgot my dad at the store when he was three. She didn't notice until she got home. She unpacked the groceries, then went back and got him. This is a story my uncle told at her funeral. But this was 1955, so things were a little different then.

Don't older men's offspring have a higher likelihood of things like autism? Also, if you have a child at 80, aren't you pretty much dooming him to lose his dad by the time he's, what, 10? That's some interesting theories on parenting you've got there, Kody?

I think that's exactly right. I could never figure out why four of my extremely religious conservative cousins got pregnant or got someone pregnant while they were still teenagers and me and my idiot brothers never knocked anybody up. Then it occurred to me that not using birth control offered plausible deniability…