Author Archives: Greg Olear

About Greg Olear

Greg Olear (@gregolear) is a founding editor of The Weeklings and the author of the novels Totally Killer and Fathermucker, an L.A. Times bestseller.

Bill Simmons Meets the Fockers. Will He Defeat Them?

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Greg Olear

How the Sports Guy, the ESPN columnist turned NBA Countdown commentator, is a lot like Ben Stiller. Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Sports | Tagged Ben Stiller, Bill Simmons, ESPN, Grantland, Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents, Reality Bites, The Book of Basketball, The Reggie Cleveland All-Stars, The Sports Guy, Zero Effect | 2 Comments

Rejected Aaron Sorkin TV Show Pitches

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Greg Olear

Aaron Sorkin came to HBO two years ago with six fully-formed shows for them to choose from. They picked “The Newsroom.” Here are the five they passed on. Continue reading →

Posted in The Arts | Tagged Aaron Sorkin, HBO, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Syracuse theater, The Newsroom, The Social Network, The West Wing | 2 Comments

Gender, Genius, Genesis & James Woods

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Greg Olear

Why is it so much more difficult to make a list of the smartest women than the smartest men? Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Adrienne Rich, Angela Davis, Anna Komnene, Betty Friedan, Carol Gilligan, Caroline Herschel, Catherine the Great, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Elizabeth I, Emmeline Pankhurst, Fermat's Last Theorem, Florence Nightingale, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, George Eliot, Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, Hedy LaMarr, Helen Keller, Henrietta Leavitt, IQ 190, James Woods, Jane Austen, Jill Johnston, Judit Polgár, Madeleine Pelletier, Margaret Mead, Marguerite Durand, Marie de Gourney, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Marilyn vos Savant, Mary Somerville, Mary Wollstonecraft, Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi, Olympe de Gouges, Rachel Carson, Shirley Ann Jackson, Susan B. Anthony, Táhirih, the Brontë sisters, the Grimké sisters, Theodora, Ti-Grace Atkinson, Victoria Woodhull, Virginia Woolf | 9 Comments

Only One Cure For Pain: Morphine and Mark Sandman, 14 Years Gone

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Greg Olear

Fourteen years ago, Morphine’s Mark Sandman died of a heart attack while playing a show in Italy. Greg Olear recalls the best live show he’s ever seen. Continue reading →