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Archive
For those of you who missed what all has happened since Semiuseful launched on April 1, 2008 (not kidding), we have provided a comprehensive catalog. May our archives keep you occupied at work and help you avoid getting sucked into yet another Bravo marathon at home.
Craft Service & Catering
After a while, strange things started showing up on the Crafty table…things like bottles of clam juice or what looked to be items from the International aisle that no one ever bought…ever.
Mystery Jobs Explained
If you’ve ever sat through credits at the end of a film, maybe you’ve noticed titles such as Best Boy Grip, Key Grip, Dolly Grip, etc. and wondered, what the hell is that?
Key Tips, Tools, Terms & Etiquette
Lock it up: The A.D.’s will call this before the director is ready to shoot. It’s the P.A.s’ cue to start getting everyone quiet and to stop foot traffic.
On Set Or As An Extra
The most important skill you need as a P.A. is likeability. If you have to spend 14 hours a day, five days a week with anybody, you’re going to make sure you hire someone you can stand for that long.
Backstory on the Backlot
Aside from grave fires, I’ve seen semi trucks flip end over end, a building explode, streets transformed back to 1933, cars blown up, crashed through buildings and driven into rivers.
I was 16 and searching for a position for my then dream job: a cabin boy on a tropical cruise ship.
Premature Aging vs. Persistent Immaturity
I flipped out when I turned 25. “I’m a quarter-century old," I hyperventilated. "A third of the way to being dead!”
Iconic Musicians Face-Off on Style, Songs & Cinema
Tom Jones had the swagger in his voice, but Neil Diamond was a bit more of a renaissance man. While Tom Jones seemed to spend most of his time on a Vegas stage dodging panties, Diamond was singing duets with Streisand at the Grammys and starring in “The Jazz Singer.”
Discount Dinner Parties for Dummies
It IS possible to have a houseful of friends gather around something other than the silver bullet steel of a cooling keg. Like, you know, a table.
An Aspiring Senior Citizen's Take On Aging
The aging process is supposed to prep us for the final outcome, but it’s scary at times and a bit uncomfortable throughout—like a colostomy with partial sedation.
A Kick In The Sandbox
From roundhouse kicks to pay-per-view and Latin slander and Qdoba burritos, here is what our readers recollect about the most notable (and usually only) fight they’ve ever been in.
Top 10 Fight Scenes
It’s impossible to have an issue on fighting without a sidebar on the best fight sequences on film.
One Man’s Battle With Battles
I may be an anachronism in my affinity for physical altercation.
Writer Loses 210 Pounds
I will sometimes reflect on my situation, my 200 pounds of excess, and shamefully wonder "How did I let it go this far?"
Tapeworm, Syrup, Citrus & Cayenne—Delicious AND Nutritious!
This diet promises to give you clearer skin, shinier hair and stronger nails, but drinking nothing but sugar water for two weeks will surely make you constipated.
Muffin Tops: Fat — The New Unnecessary Accessory
If you are older than 21, quit trying to buy the cheapie low-rise jeans from the Juniors section.
Pointless toys worth more than your entire car
As it turns out, many outfitters can hook you up with everything you need to make your car bounce, shimmy, and even drive on two wheels—who hasn't wanted to do that?
Do's And Don'ts Of Writing An Internet Profile
The 21st century's way of window shopping with a $20 cover charge.
Featuring Man on the Street Interviews
The answers were peppered with a lot of swears, and some were so embarrassing that we listed the respondents by their middle name.
Surviving the Midwest: A Cheat Sheet
Contrary to popular opinion and the beliefs of dubious politicians, we're complex people that are just itching to punch you in the mouth with knowledge and opinion.
Torontonian addresses American inquiries & stereotypes
Q: Are there moose (meese) everyone?
From Pong to Power Glove to PlayStation
The rush created by immersive interactivity unrivaled in any other aspect of life fuels the popularity, obsession and outright addiction for video games.
A Chronological Cheatsheet of Consoles + Games
The Dark Ages (1982-1984): The market was saturated with awful consoles and over-hyped, low-quality games. This sparked a run on arcades that led to the crash of the video game market in 1983. Offering games on floppy disks, the Commodore 64 became one of the highest selling PC's in history.
A Life Long Obsession With Weezer
Anything Jason played in his car cassette player, I loved. Not because I loved it, but because Jason did—that's how much I idolized my older brother's best friend. And today, Jason was playing Weezer.
The Flipside of a Parent Teacher Conference
A teacher's goal in a parent/teacher conference depends on the type of parent that awkwardly sits in the student desk in front of them.
Pull-Ups & Put-Downs
Few times as a child do we feel as impotent as when we're dangling from that wretched metal bar while our coed classmates look up at us first expectantly, then pityingly.
By a Recovering Band-aholic
Maybe your BG is genetic as, like your parents, you don't have an athletic bone in your body (or if you just snickered at the word "bone")…
Plus: Have You Seen Me? The Milk Carton
When the monthly school menu was distributed, I got to circle three days: Pizza Day, Nacho Day, and Spaghettios + Bread Roll Day.
Featuring Staff School Pictures
Picture day arrives, but you don't realize this until you pass the auditorium on your way to class and see a mess of spotlights, black umbrellas and professional-looking people. Your heart sinks when you also realize you're in a No Fear or Looney Tunes t-shirt because your parents inevitably forgot to dress you in the tasteful pre-determined outfit that matches your selected background...
Keeping Kids Presentable Since, Um, Somewhere Between 1922 and 1938
Everyone remembers the little black comb we received, raked through our tangled hair then discarded on school picture day, but tracking down the history of the portrait:comb union was an amateur investigative reporter's worst nightmare...
Prom: The Most Anticlimagical Night of Your Life
Everybody gets a date to their senior prom. It's just a fact. No Hollywood dramatization of high school life has ever included a kid that didn't go to prom. And they would never lie. So as April blossomed into an opportunity for me to make a lame metaphor, we all set our sights on the girl that we would bring to the big dance. It seems we may have overestimated our abilities...
Stag At A Sadie Hawkins Dance
Once the ticket takers finally showed up, Eric and I formed the front of the line. Tickets were $15 for couples and $10 apiece if you were going as a single. They sold us the couple's rate. Since we were in the front of the line, people seemed to take notice of this development...
Cell phones, homelines, voicemails, emails, text messages, pagers, letters, blogs, IMs, web cams, MySpace, Facebook, online gaming and now this column - the constant barrage of new...
Essential '90s alternative
Reflecting on my journey as a music enthusiast being raised in the Midwest, the road bobs and weaves through genres, girlfriends and radio stations. Whenever I hear Foreigner, REO...
Many of us twenty-somethings still eat macaroni and cheese but never experience the same euphoria we did as kids-probably because it now includes an ingredient we didn't have back then:...
The key to golf is to relax, and I'm about as relaxed as that time an ER nurse tried to administer my first (and last) ever suppository after an ill-conceived bender on Spaghettios and Pay...
As our first-ever 101 guide, we have a two-part feature on golf: the first, an expert's explanation (qualifications: belonging to a fraternity for scholastic caddies)-the second, a...
We here at semiuseful have concluded the reason we can't retain new information is because our brains are already occupied by useless (albeit awesome) knowledge fed to us in our youth.
Val Kilmer: From Chris Knight to Knight Rider
On New Year's Eve of 1959-while everyone else was preoccupied with cheap champagne and obligatory kisses-the world was given a truly special gift/curse: Val Edward Kilmer, an infant that would…
Your Skin: The Final Frontier
Either ad agencies are poring through Ray Bradbury for inspiration or retired astrophysicists have been doing pro bono consulting in Madison Avenue.
