Wow. This is dagblog, huh? I don't even recognize the place. Readership is flourishing, the pace of posts is snowballing. Frightening dagger logo be damned, it even looks like an official bloggy thingy now.

It's like I left the neighborhood right before they legalized prostitution or discovered massive amounts of shale oil under dagblog's hallowed grounds. If I was a more insecure man, I might even say there was a causal effect involved here, and that everyone had been lurking on the outskirts of town, waiting for my departure, but I'm quite confident my body odor has been under control since my junior year of high school. [Read more]

Oh man. I used to love weddings. I really did. I thought they were fun affairs where you got to see family and friends, drink and dance, and just have a good ole time. Plus, when I was single, I almost always got lucky at weddings - something in the air lends itself to sex and romance I guess.

So i always thought I wanted a big wedding because then it's all the good things about weddings but you're the center of attention and getting all the gifts!! What's not to love? [Read more]

Great answers to Part I of the regrets column. Here are my other 5 top regrets.

6) I regret being afraid of dying. In some ways, I feel my whole life's purpose is to finally accept (at least on a Zen-like level) the inevitability of my death. Instead, the concept so terrifies me that it has clearly kept me from being as adventurous and/or productive as I could have been. A little caution can be a good thing, perhaps, but to live without fear of death sounds so freeing. (To be completely accurate, it's more the pain of dying than the actual being dead part that scares me). [Read more]

In a post long ago, I talked about regrets and how I view them as a natural part of the examined life, something to be embraced, not feared. A person who claims he has no regrets is either a magnificent liar or an unreflective fool.

You can learn a lot from your regrets, and the only goal should be to minimize their occurrence as you grow older.

I didn't go into much detail discussing the specifics of my actual regrets, but I've now decided to list the top 10 regrets of my life to date, thinking that it could actually be a useful exercise for me and an enjoyable, potentially educational, but very long read for others (so long in fact that I've decided to divide the column into two). [Read more]

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see Regina Spektor perform at the Beacon Theater in NYC's Upper West Side, courtesy of a gift from the soon-to-be-Mrs. Deadman.

What a disappointment.

I really like Ms. Spektor, could listen to her breakthrough album 'Begin to Hope' over and over again. But her live performance was uninspired and pretty boring, to be frank. Spektor just wasn't connecting to the audience and it really put a damper on the evening. [Read more]

Michael Jackson dead?? That's what the LA Times and AP are reporting, anyway (CNN hasn't yet confirmed). Unbelievable.

Earlier today, my brother was bemoaning Farrah Fawcett's death, trying to come to grips with the loss of his most common inspiration for those special, intimate teenage moments. (I kind of remember Charlie's Angels and thinking of Farrah as a sexy broad, but she was a bit before my prime mastubatory years).

Michael Jackson, however, was kind of like my Beatles. So I'm in shock, and surprisingly sad to learn of his premature death. [Read more]

It's been a long time since I've written a Questions column, but now that we have so many new contributors and commenters, I think it's about time we get to know each other a bit better.

Alas, now that online poker has sapped my soul and absconded with my muse to a faraway island, I am forced to look to Cosmo magazine for inspiration. [Read more]

OK, so Obama's tough talking apparently worked.

The administration got three moderate Republican senators to agree to support the stimulus package and prevent a filibuster. In return, some $100 billion in spending from the package was removed while some Republican proposals for tax cuts and credits were adopted (most notably a $15,000 credit for homebuyers). [Read more]

OK, so I didnt find a way to scrounge up an Inauguration ticket. I'm certainly not going to spend one of the most beautiful and meaningful weeks in recent memory being bitter. At least A-man and the Big O are making me feel like I'm there with their insanely comprehensive coverage (although how about a little more multimedia please!). In the meantime, as my own little contribution to the week's festivities, I hereby offer up a special Inauguration version of my Questions column. Now these are no fun without reader participation, so you need to contribute by answering!

1) I've been to the mountaintop and I've seen the inevitable references.

2) A well-stocked Cabinet?

3) The over/under.

4) In case Orlando has some free time in DC. [Read more]

So earlier this week, we discovered that several daggers - perhaps even a majority - do not believe Curb Your Enthusiasm is funny. One of my co-bloggers was perhaps the most strident of the Curb-haters, calling the show 'an atrocity' and Larry David the 'least funny on-screen performer ever given a screen on which to perform.' This made Mortimus mad, and trust me, you won't like Mortimus when he's angry (I've put the big green guy on tilt at poker several times and barely survived to tell the tale). [Read more]

Just got done watching The Happening, written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, and felt the need to do a question column on it. Yes, they are mostly rhetorical.

1) The

2) Absolute

3) Worst

4) Major

5) Motion

6) Picture

7) In the

8) History of

9) American

10) Filmmaking

Questions: The Happy Holidays Edition

1) Christmas Songs

2) Christmas Lights

3) Best gift

4) Come, Sit on My Lap

5) No, really, come sit on my lap

6) The Ball or The Parade

7) New Year's Resolution

8) Prediction Time

And because I'm out of holiday questions, a couple lingering non-thematic questions

9) Tipping

10) Pigeons

Partly inspired by Prophet and his ongoing top 10 albums of 2008 series, and partly because I'm otherwise uninspired, I've decided to take a different tact for this week's questions: I am going to press shuffle on my IPod Nano and create a question somehow related to each of the first 10 songs that come up. I will also be giving some very quick commentary on the songs.

I am uncertain how well this process will lend itself to thought-provoking questions, and I will certainly be risking great personal embarrassment by exposing my music collection to the dagworld at large. [Read more]

Since I'm home for the Thanksgiving weekend, I figured I'd compose a bunch of questions relating to childhood and hometowns. Many of these assume you have parents who are still alive and a 'normal' upbringing (you know, nuclear family and all), so please accept my apologies if this isn't the case and feel free to adjust the question if at all possible (by going back in time or thinking about your own children perhaps) to fit your situation.

1. You are getting sleepy?

2. First crush?

3. Regress much?

4. Childhood home?

5. Any connections left?

6. Hometown sports teams?

7. Teenage hangout?

8. High school dances?

9. Barely relevant ethical question? [Read more]

Not to steal any of the Dead One's thunder, but I'm going to do my own thing here with some questions that are on my mind.  There won't be ten of them, but rather the exact number that are on my mind at the time.  I also don't expect any answers.  Consider them rhetorical if you wish or offer your thoughts.  It's up to you.  Here goes.

Why can't Barack Obama close the deal?

It's funny how Obama is already getting pilloried.  The dude hasn't even been sworn in yet and the judgement is coming down.  I have a feeling that he's going to be under a copious amount of scrutiny, which brings me to my next question.

Is America prepared to be pragmatic? [Read more]

Genghis wins: Full questions in comment section ...

1) I am thankful for pleasant memories?

2) I am thankful my mom knew she couldn't cook and we mostly went out to eat?

3) I am thankful for innocent childhood diversions?

4) I am thankful for innocent adult diversions?

5) I am thankful for working at home (and for the fairer, less hirsute sex)?

6) I am thankful for moral consistency?

7) I am thankful that I won't be seeing any more new banks in my neighborhood?

8) I am thankful for free but fair trade?

9) I am thankful for good wine, not that I really know what good wine is?

10) I am thankful for being thankful and recognizing my blessings? [Read more]

Because on this question column, we try out Genghis's proposed suggestion to write the full questions in the comments section to make it even easier for you to answer them ... Also, I was eating bitter herbs while I wrote this ... Man-eesh Ta-Na ...

1) NHL Hockey?

2) Bobbleheads?

3) New Music?

4) Tivo additions?

5) Laundromats?

6) Shopping?

7) Avant-garde parenting?

8) Corporal punishment?

9) Sterilization?

10) Liberal arts education?

Bonus Qs) Column? New Format?

Do conservatives read liberal blogs (I suppose this one qualifies) with as much disdain and condescension as I feel when I read right-wing blogs (hotair.com makes me wanna throw things every time I read it). For some reason, I feel like even the most liberal of blogs at least acknowledge the other side may have something of value to offer.

What is Genghis (not to mention SarahPalinGrrrrl) going to talk about after Nov. 4 (OK, I'll give them a week of post-game analysis posts, but what then)??

Why do people still wait in line at the box office to buy movie tickets when every theater nowadays has those awesome kiosks inside? Everyone has a credit or debit card, right? [Read more]