Charleston, S.C.: At Charleston Church, a Czech checked a cheeky Chechen in the Charleston Chapter Chess and Checker Championships.   As children cheered and chanted from their chairs, Charlie Chladek (the Czech) chatted cheerily with Chechnya’s Czeslaw Chernov and chewed Cheerios.   Suddenly, choosing a checker, Chladek charged like a chariot, chipping away at cherry-cheeked Czeslaw’s checkers—thus,  Czeslaw was chastened by the cheery chastisement by the Chief of Checkers.  The cherubic children chanted, and from chimney, chills chased down Czeslaw’s chest.  Finally, in the chiaroscuro of

 HBO executives are reconsidering a decision to broadcast the third season of their popular fantasy series, Game of Thrones, using solely American accents, following record-low ratings for the season premiere. The show’s actors, who until recently interpreted their roles mainly with various accents of the British Isles, were instructed by HBO’s higher-ups to employ more American, less formal voices during filming, in an attempt to give the franchise wider appeal to its U.S. audience. The move was met with disapproval by fans at home and abroad, including Cambridge local Devin Rodgers.

After a five-month captivity in a Wellesley POW camp, Joe Mazur has returned to Satire V’s sweet embrace.

“I’m so cold,” said Mazur, shivering in Satire V’s arms.  “But I…I never stopped thinking about you.”

Soon after Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign by the end of February, the College of Cardinals immediately geared up for what is shaping up to be the best March Madness since the famous “Crazy Conclave” of 1963 that ended with the come-from-behind win of the surprise underdog, Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, who after his victory celebrations took on the name Paul da Sixth.