Newmark's Door

Clip of Kevin Spacey doing his thing.

Kevin Pollack doing his.

William Shatner doing his.

The 2007 edition of the UCLA Undie Run. (From a handful of kids to hundreds, possibly thousands, in five short years; the parents must be so proud.)

"27 Skills Your Child Needs to Know That She's Not Getting in School".

I wouldn't argue that every one of these items is properly the responsibility of public schools. But it's a good list to begin a discussion, and the schools could do--and have done--far, far worse.

• Investing. What is investing and why is it necessary? How do you do it and what are different ways of doing it? How do you research an investment? How does it compound over time? This is a good conversation to have with your teen. . . .
• Reading. Sure, we’re taught to read. But schools most often make this boring. Show your child the wonderful imaginative worlds there are out there. And show them how to find out about stuff in the world through the Internet, and how to evaluate what they read for credibility, logic, factualness. . . .
• Auto. Why cars are needed (no, not to look cool), how to buy a practical car, how to take care of it. How the engine works, what might break down, and how it’s fixed. Should be taught to both boys and girls (that should be obvious, but I had to say it).

An academic article co-authored by Door reader Brian Guenzel is discussed in the UK Guardian. (A free version of the article is here.)

I'm with Brian: sloppy language both begets and manifests sloppy thinking, and it should be expunged.

I always knew the food on TV ads looked too good to be true. Here's photographic evidence.

Still super: "Cindy Crawford 2007".

The rush of "knowing for one moment, for one season, that you are the very best at something": a nice story about the Lucas-Walton '77 Portland NBA Championship team.

The Detroit Free Press celebrates the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest pop songs of my lifetime: Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect".

UPDATE: Link is now fixed. I apologize to those of you who wasted your time clicking on the wrong link. The head of quality control at the Door has been fired and other changes will be made as necessary.

"That young lady didn't need a microphone."

"She was chosen--from birth--to sing."

In the Onion's famous funny-but-uncomfortably-close-to-the-truth style: "Greenspan Comes Out Of Retirement For One More Interest Rate Hike". (Thanks to Andrew for the link.)

Weddings: expensive and inexpensive

A review of One Perfect Day: more on the strange business that is the modern American wedding.

And courtesy of faithful reader Chris M., this news on how some couples are saving a little money on their weddings. Once again, one can only marvel at the creativity of capitalism.