R.I.P. Art Buchwald

There's one less funny person in the world today ... All I know is, when I go, I want to do one of these.

This week's column:Dying is easy, commenting is hard

First, a few words about the late President Gerald Ford. I always liked him, and even voted for him in my elementary school’s mock presidential election in 1976. (I figured I should, since my mother drove one of his cars.) Here was an ordinary guy, someone who showed that in America, anyone really can accidentally become president.

But something that surprised some pundits was that he had apparently made some critical remarks about President Bush to journalist Bob Woodward, on the condition that they not be made public until after his death. And Woodward was true to his word, waiting almost a full eight minutes before going on Larry King.

I can’t help but wonder, though, if garnering juicy comments to be kept secret until the source is buried is a new journalistic trend (which would give an entirely new meaning to the term “deep background”). And more importantly, what other tidbits does Bob Woodward have stored away in his files?

For the rest of this week's AT LARGE by Peter Chianca, click here.

And we suppose he also expects us to believe everything we hear about this so-called 'eye-pod'

Just as I suspected ... Steve Jobs is full of it!

And for crying out loud, would it kill him to put on a tie?

But what are her feelings on troop proliferation?

Madonna has spoken! For those of you who forgot to take notes, here is a summary:

1. Not wearing underwear -- bad.
2. Proliferation of African orphans -- bad.
3. Adopting African orphans -- good.
4. Rosie O'Donnell -- good.
5. Standing naked in traffic -- still good.

That about sums it up.

This week's column:Well, that was predictable

It’s time once again for me to look back on my predictions from 12 months ago, in order to see whether my keen journalistic insight served me well in prognosticating the major events for the coming year, or if I was, as usual, talking out of an opening not typically equipped for human speech. So let’s see what I had to say about 2006:

• “Buoyed by their own high moral standards and public support for the president, Republicans will easily stave off Democratic challengers come November. Let’s face it, is there anything conservatives can’t do?”

A little off on this one … But how was I supposed to know the entire Republican Congress would self-destruct? A year ago I would have thought “macaca” was a type of Volkswagen.

For the rest of this week's AT LARGE by Peter Chianca, click here.

Lucky '07: Your guide to what's in and what's out as another year kicks off

No, it's not that cold medicine you're taking — you really are in a fog. It's because you've lost track of what's in and what's out when it comes to society, politics, fashion, the arts and life in general. Don't be embarrassed, it happens to the best of us.

And the good news is, you have our annual roundup to fall back on as you enter 2007. But if any of the following falls flat at your next cocktail party, please don't blame us. Blaming is out.

For this year's What's In/What's Out, click here.

For a PDF version, click here.

This week's column:Top stories just tip of the iceberg

As you may have noticed, now's the time when newspapers like to announce their top stories of the year. This provides an important service, particularly to those readers with short-term memory loss.

Here, of course, we like to look past the obvious and point out the important stories that should have gotten more coverage from major media outlets. (Not that Ananova.com shouldn't be considered a major media outlet just because it has an entire section devoted to "Bad Taste Quirkies.") With that in mind, here are the top five At Large actual news stories from 2006:

5.) International Space Station considers allowing alcohol. And you know what that means: much better parties! ("Dude! Watch me float upside down again!")

For the rest of this week's AT LARGE by Peter Chianca, click here.