John Easter used to look at abstract paintings with a sarcastic and skeptical eye, seeing little more than a mess of color hastily splashed across a canvas. Where others were inspired to praise, he was inspired only to patronize.His perspective – on that and most everything else – has understandably changed.A life-threatening work accident about three years ago flipped…

 Over the last few years, Ben Affleck quietly transitioned from a decent actor to an excellent director. His debut, Gone Baby Gone, was a dark look into the seedy underbelly of his hometown, Boston, with Affleck’s brother Casey playing surrogate for Ben in front of the camera. In his follow-up, 2010’s The Town, Ben pulled double duty, directing and starring. While the action-packed Boston bank heist…

 Hey Concord, do you want to find the next Ryan Seacrest? Good, neither do we. If he’s out there, let’s just leave him be. But how about finding the first ever junior TV host for ConcordTV? Now that’s more like it! ConcordTV is seeking a Concord-area student between the ages of nine and 14 to become the station’s inaugural junior TV host and have his or her debut during the live April 14 broadcast of Concord On Air. Auditions will be held Feb. 2 beginning at 10 a.m.  If the winner goes on to host American Idol, don’t blame us. “It’s…

This week the Grammarmatrix answers the never-ending question, “How do you know whether you should use the word affect or effect in a sentence?” If you look up the words affect and effect in the dictionary, the Oxford American Dictionary says those two words “have totally different meanings and should not be confused.” The American Heritage Dictionary states “the tendency to confuse the words must be guarded against closely.” We have never seen a dictionary warn against the wrong usage of words! A very ominous sign! There’s no warning in the definitions of affable and effable, or…

A few weeks ago the Grammarnatrix did a column on semi-colons. I never thought that the Concord Monitor would provide such a superb follow-up as it did the day after the Patriots’ victory over Houston in the divisional playoff game, but there is was, an entire paragraph explaining the superiority of the New England team: “They don’t have to rely completely on the offense, the defense can actually make plays. The offense doesn’t have to rely completely on Tom Brady, the running game actually works. And Brady doesn’t have to rely on a few select weapons, he has a bristling arsenal.” Now,…

Reader Jane Toumpas sent us in these pictures of her valley bulldog, Moosilauke Jones. As you can see, he has what appears to be a map of New Hampshire on his forehead and a broomstick-riding witch on the back of his head. Pretty cool stuff, Moosilauke! If you have cool pet photos like these, send them to us at news@theconcordinsider.com. Thanks a lot!