The Astonished Tamale! is pleased to introduce a new service for its readers. We’re calling it Heart to Heart HD. You can test-drive it here. (Or simply click the “Heart to Heart HD” item on the black menu bar above.)
A bit of history:
Heart to Heart (without the HD) is an omnibus slideshow addressing more than 700 important and frequently asked questions about the Baha’i Faith. These are grouped into 18 major topics (or “tracks”), each constituting Continue reading
Did you know? You can greatly shorten the perceived duration of an aerobic workout by slightly increasing the length of songs you play while exercising.
Your Astonished Tamale! editor is pretty buzzed about this new Jedi mind trick. New to me, anyway — and it works like magic: Exercise time flies by so fast that a long, hard workout is over when it still feels as if it’s just getting started.
Here’s the scoop:
Being a long-time health-and-fitness buff doesn’t keep me from Continue reading
Just what is an “astonished tamale”, anyway?
Several people have asked me what the name means and why I chose it for this blog. There are several answers. The first two were promptly pegged by my friend Patricia Visser, in her thoughtful comments on the first article:
1. I love to be astonished! It’s one of my favorite feelings (and I’m easily astonished). I love a good magic trick (and I’m easily fooled). In books and movies, I love a stunning, perhaps even diabolical plot twist (and I’m easily caught off guard). I love divine grace and divine providence, especially when Continue reading
Sultana Gulbeyez (played by Jo Champa): “Undress!”
Don Juan (played by Johnny Depp): “Kill me if you must! I am prepared to die, for I cannot go on living, knowing that I defiled the memory of the woman who brought my manhood alive, and made it sing.”
Sultana Gulbeyez (breathlessly): “It SINGS?”
– from the movie “Don Juan DeMarco” (1994)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeNcBwdEskA
“So is your blog going to be only about sex?”
The lady quizzing me — and no, it wasn’t Sultana Gulbeyez — had noticed that every single article on The Astonished Tamale! was at that point Continue reading
Can America’s most geriatric city top our nation’s “hot to trot” list? Yes, we can!
Let’s contrast two hot-off-the-press news flashes:
ITEM ONE: It’s official: During the run-up to Valentine’s Day 2012, we learn that America’s most romantic city is Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the famous Astonished Tamale! (Also the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, manytime national champions under basketball’s amazing Coach Pat Summitt. Plus we used to play a little football.)
Our “most romantic” ranking is bestowed by Amazon.com, presumably the last word on such questions. Amazon’s Feb. 9 press release cites Knoxville’s purchases of romance novels, relationship books, romantic comedy movies, Barry White albums, and Continue reading