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Pop Culture

Pop Culture


Bill DeVoe is the managing editor of Spotlight Newspapers, a six-time New York Press Association award winner, and an all-around nice guy.
Here, he throws all of that out the window and talks about the struggles of being a young parent.


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Rating: 3.1/5 (9 votes cast)


Dec
31

DIY tips from a person who might know


wdevoe, Pop Culture

Hello and welcome to a very special post-Christmas edition of Pop Culture, America’s No. 1 resource for ice sculpture and animal training tips.
Of course, you and I know that these claims are made in jest, but a few months ago, I signed off a column by saying that Pop Culture is America’s No. 1 resource for watch and small appliance repair, and since then I’ve received a handful of letters asking my advice on those topics.
Admittedly, my knowledge of watches and small appliances is conducive mostly to breaking them, but I’d feel as though I were shirking some sort of solemn columnly duty by not answering those letters. So, here they are. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and all that jazz... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: Humor

TAGS: Pop, Culture, DIY, DeVoe, spotlight

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Dec
22

All I want for Christmas is ... plumbing


wdevoe, Pop Culture

Hello, and welcome to a special Christmas edition of Pop Culture.
This year has been a crazy one for my family and me — we purchased our first home, a foreclosure that was pretty well neglected, and are in the process of fixing it up. With that foremost in my mind, and not being content to let a Christmas classic like Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit From St... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Christmas, pop culture, plumbing, house, disaster

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Dec
03

Dad hits boiling point when temperature drops


wdevoe, Pop Culture


If there has ever been any doubt in your mind as to whether or not the DeVoe family is paying to heat the outside, let me clear it up for you: No. No, we are not.
One of my earliest memories is of my older brother, Dan, throwing a football to me in the backyard of the home we grew up in. The football was a real leather one from the ’60s, brown laces and absolutely no foam or — God forbid — an aerodynamically engineered tail fin that you see on a lot of those mega-mart balls.
We have a picture in one our family albums of that day... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: heat, dad, pop, culture, DeVoe

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Dec
03

A swine time was had this Halloween


wdevoe, Pop Culture
The other day I was making a 20-foot, UFO-shaped helium balloon — you know, just something for the kids to play around in — when my 6-year-old son, Kevin, comes up to me to tell me some disturbing news:
“Dad,” he says, “I don’t want to be a superhero for Halloween.”
My heart stopped. What had I done wrong as a parent? Not enough television? I could get him subscriptions to all of Marvel and DC’s best sellers, but I doubt they’d get here in time for me to change his mind.
“I want to be something scary,” he says.
“Spiderman’s scary.”
“I’ve been Spiderman three times,” he said, and it was true. One year, I purposely told him it was Halloween a few months early so I could dress like Dr. Octopus and chase him around the neighborhood... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: swine, flu, Halloween, pop, culture

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Aug
06

A bad case of the claps


wdevoe, Pop Culture
No one applauds anymore.
I was at the circus with my family a couple of months ago, and virtually no one clapped for anything.
A woman fired herself out of a cannon. Nothing.
A man walked upside-down along the rafters of the stadium we were in by hooking his feet into tiny ropes. Not one round of applause.
A performer balanced a running chainsaw on his chin while juggling household appliances. I looked over and saw a man playing Tetris on his cell phone.
I made it a point of compensating for the lack of claptitude by applauding as loudly and for as long as I could... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Clap, spotlight, applause, parade,

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Jul
24

Beyond the sea


wdevoe, Pop Culture
bobby.jpg
This column was written just after my son, Nathan, was born in September 2007. There were some difficulties during his birth that had us pretty scared. My wife was so scared she couldn't stop screaming until our son was finally born. She's very emotional.
So, that was two years ago — why post this now?
Because my wife asked me to, and the key to a successful marriage is doing exactly what your wife asks you to do.
Most marriage counselors call that compromise.
that being said, Here we go:


Bobby Darin.
For some reason that was the first thing that went through my mind when the nurse told me and my wife that our unborn child had a considerably pronounced arrhythmia.
Bobby Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14, 1936... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Spotlight, Pop culture, bobby Darin, sea

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Jul
01

Fathers are as weird as the day is long


wdevoe, Pop Culture
Father’s Day is a largely useless holiday. Along with Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, it is a holiday that exists solely to market greeting cards and holiday-specific gifts under the guise that there should be a single day that should embody the sentiment we should express to the important people in our lives on every day of the year.
In fact, I’m a big proponent of the Anti-Holiday-Day. Instead of having a single day during the year where we show our husbands/wives/fathers/mothers/kids/receptionists how much they’re appreciated, why don’t we do that all year except for one day— a day when we can disregard everyone around us. Think of how liberating the selfish indulgence would be... Continue Reading


CATEGORY: General Society


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