Scrabulous plea

Dear Electronic Arts and Hasbro,

Your new online Scrabble game is TERRIBLE.

I know Scrabulous is a totally infringing knockoff. And I know it's slow, and buggy, and sometimes when I start a game, it starts six of them. And you managed to make something far, far worse.

I do not want jumping tiles. I do not want any of the crappy features you probably think have "Wow! factor," because the only "Wow!" I feel when I play your new game is, "Wow! This sucks." For goodness sakes, couldn't you have even gotten the colors right? YOU OWN SCRABBLE.

Please buy Scrabulous from those two guys in India, and fix its bugs, and put your newly-launched version out of its misery. No one likes it.

Thanks,
The View From Fort Miley


UPDATE: Nice work, Hasbro. Way to win over the crowd. Thanks for nothing.

This boardwalk life for me is through

Madam Marie is dead.

The Madam's all-seeing eye had a strange allure, surviving the worst of Asbury Park's misery as the boardwalk around it literally crumbled into the sea. She never told my fortune -- I think you know how I feel about superstition and sorcery in general -- but a stroll by her little cottage never went without comment. My family spent a lot of summer evenings eating salt-water taffy from Criterion Candies and playing mini-golf on that boardwalk during my youth, and our amusement at Madame Marie was part of every visit.

She may have told fortunes better than the cops do, but she also outlasted most of them. RIP -- the Fourth won't be the same without you.

FMFM: Pure romance in song. "Say you will!"

Alternate take with different lyrics here.