When I began writing tremble in 1998 (veteran status brag), I used to update the site maybe once every two or three weeks instead of today's more feverish pace, once every 10 days. Back then I would write longer, self-contained pieces, often without any reference to the immediate here and now, or any link to a quick cultural moment or the rest of the Internet.

Now, I'm constantly torn between long, slightly considered (and sometimes even proofread) entries that I suspect only eight people will care about, and quick little stabs about Nanny 911 or Diet Coke with Splenda or the new Noah Baumbach movie (which should be called The Squid and the First Truly Excellent Noah Baumbach Movie That Doesn't Rip Off Whit Stillman) that I think only eight people should care about.

At the same time, my improved attention to this site might depreciate my voice a little bit, but it also gives me enough room to get long-winded and sentimental (see: previous post) and also inform readers of this very important piece of information: Brach's Autumn Mix needs to take it easy on those little pumpkins. Biting into one of those makes you realize why many people hate candy corn. For people who hate candy corn, and haven't built up a tolerance for it, each single sliver of it probably gives them the same thick and sickening sugar grenade feeling I get when I bite into one of those morbidly plump candy pumpkins. I wish Brach's made a bag containing only pumpkins, so I could walk into a drug store and, when no one's looking, crush each bag in my fists. That intense sense of touch would be far superior to the sense of taste Brach's Halloween pumpkins produce.