Tue - September 27, 2005
Don Adams, aka Agent 86, rest in peace
Many were the half hours of my youth wasted away in front of the TV set and many were the laughs I got from Don Adams, secret agent Maxwell Smart. The Mel Brooks comedy "Get Smart" never failed to amuse my pre-adolescent brain and many of the show's regular bits, like the shoe phone and the malfunctioning cone of silence, became staples of our family's humor. So long and thanks for all the fish, Don.
Subject tags: Culture, Television, Obit, Don Adams
Posted at 07:55 AM
Thu - August 18, 2005
LA Times in fine form
Reason number 4,327,119 to thank goodness for the
Internet: I remember when reading an out-of-town newspaper meant driving to the
one news stand in wherever and paying $5 for a daily, even more for a Sunday
edition. Now one and all can enjoy the best papers on the web. Today's
LA
Times is exhibit A, with interesting stories
on the decline of the city's jewish business district,
Dan Neil's entertaining review of the Chevy Cobalt SS, a quick hit on Dreyer's (maker
of Haagen Daz and other ice creams) noting that their "Frosty Paws" line of dog
ice cream treats has become their most profitable product, and a
winning profile of the idiots of major league baseball aka the Boston
Red Sox. And who knew that Snoop Dogg coached kids
football?
Subject tags: Culture, Journalism, LA, Redsox
Subject tags: Culture, Journalism, LA, Redsox
Posted at 10:17 AM
Thu - July 21, 2005
Rowling suffers from penultimate book in long series disease
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a
worthy addition to the J.K. Rowling oeuvre but only just. In hindsight, how
could the sixth book in a planned seven-book series that must culminate with a
deciding battle between good and evil be anything else? As many reviewers have
noted, the writing and dialogue are as witty and bright as ever but the story is
bogged down with loads of explanations addressing the many prior unanswered
questions raised in the first five books. So now we know.
But there is also a dearth of great inventive stuff that is, I think, what made these books so compelling for adults and children in the first place. Sadly, there's nothing here on par with Platform 9-3/4, the Dementors and the patronis spell that wards them off, Dobby the house elf or a world cup of quidditch, to name just of a few of my favorite Rowling-isms from prior novels. Instead we have the grand set-up for the glorious battle to come in two years or so when we can finally read the concluding piece. I envy those who will pick up the first Harry Potter novel after that seventh tome is already on the shelves, just as early readers of Frank Herbert's Dune series, Roger Zelazny's Amber series or Philip Jose Farmer's River World books probably envied me.
A selection of other reviewer's thoughts:
Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times -
"It is a novel that pulls together dozens of plot strands from previous volumes, underscoring how cleverly and carefully J. K. Rowling has assembled this giant jigsaw puzzle of an epic."
"...Indeed, the achievement of the Potter books is the same as that of the great classics of children's literature, from the Oz novels to "The Lord of the Rings": the creation of a richly imagined and utterly singular world, as detailed, as improbable and as mortal as our own."
Laura Miller in Salon -
This book "has the unenviable job of preparing the field for the final showdown, and for the first time, Rowling wobbles just a bit in pulling off the task she's set for herself. In the end, though, she regains her footing and "Half-Blood Prince" comes together, making it not quite the most graceful novel in the series, but perhaps the most impressive."
Emily Green, new to the series, in the L.A. Times -
"The rest of the world may have been following his progress since owls began flying by day in the first Harry Potter novel in 1997, but at least one person in the book-buying world resisted the bespectacled little wizard. Me."
Christopher Paolini, who grades the book A-, in Entertainment Weekly -
"It's heartening, both as an author and a reader, to see that J.K. Rowling is brave enough to experiment with her beloved series, and that she has remained true to the emotional and physical development of her characters."
David Kipen for the San Francisco Chronicle -
"No, the main problem is that J.K. Rowling has now written six of these bricks. Even if they were getting better, they're certainly not getting any fresher."
And Liz Rosenberg for the Boston Globe -
"All the same, there has been a sea-change over the past few Potter books, beginning with the opening scene of the fourth, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." It is the difference between fantasy, which was the territory of the first, second, and most of the third books, and horror, the new territory now entered in earnest."
Subject tags: Culture, Books, Review, Harry Potter
But there is also a dearth of great inventive stuff that is, I think, what made these books so compelling for adults and children in the first place. Sadly, there's nothing here on par with Platform 9-3/4, the Dementors and the patronis spell that wards them off, Dobby the house elf or a world cup of quidditch, to name just of a few of my favorite Rowling-isms from prior novels. Instead we have the grand set-up for the glorious battle to come in two years or so when we can finally read the concluding piece. I envy those who will pick up the first Harry Potter novel after that seventh tome is already on the shelves, just as early readers of Frank Herbert's Dune series, Roger Zelazny's Amber series or Philip Jose Farmer's River World books probably envied me.
A selection of other reviewer's thoughts:
Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times -
"It is a novel that pulls together dozens of plot strands from previous volumes, underscoring how cleverly and carefully J. K. Rowling has assembled this giant jigsaw puzzle of an epic."
"...Indeed, the achievement of the Potter books is the same as that of the great classics of children's literature, from the Oz novels to "The Lord of the Rings": the creation of a richly imagined and utterly singular world, as detailed, as improbable and as mortal as our own."
Laura Miller in Salon -
This book "has the unenviable job of preparing the field for the final showdown, and for the first time, Rowling wobbles just a bit in pulling off the task she's set for herself. In the end, though, she regains her footing and "Half-Blood Prince" comes together, making it not quite the most graceful novel in the series, but perhaps the most impressive."
Emily Green, new to the series, in the L.A. Times -
"The rest of the world may have been following his progress since owls began flying by day in the first Harry Potter novel in 1997, but at least one person in the book-buying world resisted the bespectacled little wizard. Me."
Christopher Paolini, who grades the book A-, in Entertainment Weekly -
"It's heartening, both as an author and a reader, to see that J.K. Rowling is brave enough to experiment with her beloved series, and that she has remained true to the emotional and physical development of her characters."
David Kipen for the San Francisco Chronicle -
"No, the main problem is that J.K. Rowling has now written six of these bricks. Even if they were getting better, they're certainly not getting any fresher."
And Liz Rosenberg for the Boston Globe -
"All the same, there has been a sea-change over the past few Potter books, beginning with the opening scene of the fourth, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." It is the difference between fantasy, which was the territory of the first, second, and most of the third books, and horror, the new territory now entered in earnest."
Subject tags: Culture, Books, Review, Harry Potter
Posted at 10:12 PM
Tue - July 19, 2005
In the zone -- the reading zone
(updated
7/21)
I've been on quite a roll lately as far as picking good books to read. Here's a chronological list of recent reads and not a bad egg among them:
Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan - Well, you already knew he could write but, man, can he write. I don't have the background in all things Dylan to tell you how accurate this memoir may be but suffice it to say that it gives great insight into the Dylan's life specifically, the creative process more generally and the 60s overall.
The First Crusade: A New History by Thomas Asbridge - Ignore the silly cover blurb claiming that this book is somehow revealing on the current conflict between radical Islam and the west, but dive into to a richly woven narrative of how the powers of Europe forged the crusades from a religion that was ostensibly non-violent.
(update) The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco - I somehow egregiously left off this excellent and moving novel of memory and aging when I first wrote this post. Perhaps I am becoming forgetful in my old age? Eco takes you through the pop culture and history of his youth in the story of a 60-year-old Italian rare book merchant who loses his memory.
Ghost Wars: the Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden by Steve Coll - Again, a winning narrative that brings history to life, in this case history of recent vintage and highly disturbing as well. Coll knows the inside baseball but is largely successful at keeping his prose jargon free. What happened in Afghanistan after the Soviets left could happen again in Iraq, if hasn't already.
Jonathan Strange & Mister Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Pitched as Harry Potter for adults, which is just silly since Rowlings work is fine for grown-ups too. Then again, if J.K. Rowling's success brings us more Susanna Clarke's, I have no complaints. I maybe could have done without the footnotes, though.
Which of course brings us to the most recent read, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price by the aforementioned Ms. Rowling. A worthwhile read for those who have followed the Potter adventures this far but I'll post a fuller review shortly.
Subject tags: Culture, Books, Review
I've been on quite a roll lately as far as picking good books to read. Here's a chronological list of recent reads and not a bad egg among them:
Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan - Well, you already knew he could write but, man, can he write. I don't have the background in all things Dylan to tell you how accurate this memoir may be but suffice it to say that it gives great insight into the Dylan's life specifically, the creative process more generally and the 60s overall.
The First Crusade: A New History by Thomas Asbridge - Ignore the silly cover blurb claiming that this book is somehow revealing on the current conflict between radical Islam and the west, but dive into to a richly woven narrative of how the powers of Europe forged the crusades from a religion that was ostensibly non-violent.
(update) The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco - I somehow egregiously left off this excellent and moving novel of memory and aging when I first wrote this post. Perhaps I am becoming forgetful in my old age? Eco takes you through the pop culture and history of his youth in the story of a 60-year-old Italian rare book merchant who loses his memory.
Ghost Wars: the Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden by Steve Coll - Again, a winning narrative that brings history to life, in this case history of recent vintage and highly disturbing as well. Coll knows the inside baseball but is largely successful at keeping his prose jargon free. What happened in Afghanistan after the Soviets left could happen again in Iraq, if hasn't already.
Jonathan Strange & Mister Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Pitched as Harry Potter for adults, which is just silly since Rowlings work is fine for grown-ups too. Then again, if J.K. Rowling's success brings us more Susanna Clarke's, I have no complaints. I maybe could have done without the footnotes, though.
Which of course brings us to the most recent read, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price by the aforementioned Ms. Rowling. A worthwhile read for those who have followed the Potter adventures this far but I'll post a fuller review shortly.
Subject tags: Culture, Books, Review
Posted at 03:30 PM
Thu - May 19, 2005
It's not you, it's me - or I'm just not that into you, Zaphod
Something like 10 to 15 years ago, I first
stumbled across the original BBC radio version of
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy. I'd previously read a couple of books
in the series by Douglas Adams, but the radio play seemed better - funnier,
wittier, just better. I listened to the series so many times over the next few
years, I practically wore the tapes down to dust. But time passed and memories
faded and it was with some excitement, you may recall, that I learned the guide was
finally going Hollywood and with a pretty good cast, too. Alas, either this is
one of the most boring movies ever made or, more likely,
The Hitchhikers
Guide has passed me by. I may have laughed out
loud three or four times, at most, during the whole movie. The ravenous
bugblatter beast of Trall, the infinite improbability drive on the Heart of
Gold, the mice who run the earth...it's not you, it's me. I'm just not into you
-- anymore. Sorry but so long and thanks for all the
fish.
Subject tags: Culture, Scifi, Movies, Review
Subject tags: Culture, Scifi, Movies, Review
Posted at 08:33 AM
Wed - April 27, 2005
Astor Place Wrecked by Ugliness and Wealth
I lived for some years on the Lower East Side of
New York City back in the late 80s and early 90s when Alphabet City was sort of
gritty, sort of dangerous and sort of low-rent. My how times have changed. It's
depressing to go back at this point. Paul Goldberger, writing in this week's
New
Yorker, has a viciously accurate critique of the misfit,
ultra-over-the-top modernist apartment building that's been built at Astor
Place. If you haven't seen this monstrosity yet, avert your
eyes.
"By designing a tower with such a self-conscious shimmer, the architect has destroyed the illusion that this neighborhood, which underwent gentrification long ago, is now anything other than a place for the rich. The thirty-nine apartments inside the Gwathmey building start at two million dollars."
Subject tags: Culture, Architecture, NYC
"By designing a tower with such a self-conscious shimmer, the architect has destroyed the illusion that this neighborhood, which underwent gentrification long ago, is now anything other than a place for the rich. The thirty-nine apartments inside the Gwathmey building start at two million dollars."
Subject tags: Culture, Architecture, NYC
Posted at 09:21 PM
Thu - April 14, 2005
What's wrong with strawberries
Feel like those year-round, bright strawberries
lack the succulent flavor you remember from youth (or maybe from your own berry
patch)? You're correct. David Karp, aka the fruit detective, explains why.
Subject tags: Culture, Food, Fruit
Subject tags: Culture, Food, Fruit
Posted at 07:54 AM
Tue - March 15, 2005
Traveling without blogging with a good Japanese find
Been traveling and not blogging of late. To make
amends, I'll reveal an otherwise hidden gem of New York's Japanese restaurant
scene: Sakagura. The address is 211 East 43rd Street
but when you arrive at the Japanese restaurant at that address, a brightly lit
place with green walls called Hapon, you'll be in the wrong place.
Step away from the bright lights and look for a door to enter the main building at 211, the home of Cambridge Schools where a weary looking security guard sits in an empty hallway. Pass the guard and look for the stairs on the left. Go down two flights, ignore the junk heaps in the stairwell, and head to the sub-sub basement where you'll find a door labeled "Sakagura."
As you enter, behold the splendid room filled with mostly Japanese people eating all manner of Japanese food but not sushi. Sashimi and sake are the order of the day, as well as a variety of other delectables. The eggplant with three sauces, tuna tartar with cavier and salmon with salmon roe sashimi were all big hits. Oh yeah, the desserts were great too.
Subject tags: Culture, Restaurant, Review
Step away from the bright lights and look for a door to enter the main building at 211, the home of Cambridge Schools where a weary looking security guard sits in an empty hallway. Pass the guard and look for the stairs on the left. Go down two flights, ignore the junk heaps in the stairwell, and head to the sub-sub basement where you'll find a door labeled "Sakagura."
As you enter, behold the splendid room filled with mostly Japanese people eating all manner of Japanese food but not sushi. Sashimi and sake are the order of the day, as well as a variety of other delectables. The eggplant with three sauces, tuna tartar with cavier and salmon with salmon roe sashimi were all big hits. Oh yeah, the desserts were great too.
Subject tags: Culture, Restaurant, Review
Posted at 06:44 PM
Fri - February 18, 2005
Good essay promises tempting book to come
Ivan Goldman was a newspaper reporter for years,
starting at the Kansas City
Star and working his way up to the
Washington
Post. But the talented feature writer (who
once impersonated an ex-con to see how hard it was to get a job after serving
time) walked away from the Post, as he explains in a fascinating essay in the Jan/Feb issue of the
Columbia Journalism
Review. Goldman now writes about boxing -- timely given the hype
around the Oscar-nominated flick Million Dollar Baby -- and has a book coming out
according to CJR (Amazon and Barnes & Noble seem to think it came out last
year and is already out of print but that must be a computer snafu). Based just
on the essay, the book, Crazy Money: My
Trip Through the Galaxy with Investor's Business Daily,
goes on my must-read list -- once I can find
it, that is.
Subject tags: Culture, Journalism, Books
Subject tags: Culture, Journalism, Books
Posted at 10:33 AM
Wed - February 16, 2005
"Mostly harmless" movie arriving on my birthday
I have to admit I was more than a little
concerned when I heard that the geniuses in Hollywood had decided to make a
movie out of one of the great comic scif-fi
novels of all time -- Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy. I've been a big fan of the book for decades, it
seems, and I actually wore out an old cassette tape collection of the BBC radio
drama version.
But over time, I've gotten increasingly optimistic. The filmmakers seem to be channeling the spirit of Adams and I liked the casting of Martin Freeman, who was tremendous in the BBC sitcom The Office, as Arthur Dent. Now comes the first official trailer (hosted at Amazon.com) and word that the movie will premiere on April 29 -- my birthday. Sweet.
Subject tags: Culture, Scifi, Movies
But over time, I've gotten increasingly optimistic. The filmmakers seem to be channeling the spirit of Adams and I liked the casting of Martin Freeman, who was tremendous in the BBC sitcom The Office, as Arthur Dent. Now comes the first official trailer (hosted at Amazon.com) and word that the movie will premiere on April 29 -- my birthday. Sweet.
Subject tags: Culture, Scifi, Movies
Posted at 04:25 PM
Wed - February 2, 2005
"If life gives us lemons, we'll grow lemonades"
I dearly love the writings of David Karp, aka the
"Fruit Detective" as he was called in a 2002
New
Yorker profile. He's a man obsessed with
fruits (and vegetables sometimes) and he has a writing gig with the
New York
Times Dining section. Today's article is about new varieties of lemons
becoming available in the United States but also goes on a global and historical
tour of the sour yellow fellow.
The big zing:
Subject tags: Culture, Food
The big zing:
Subject tags: Culture, Food
Posted at 12:03 PM
Tue - February 1, 2005
Neuromancer's left out
Sci-fi author William Gibson, who is credited with inventing the term "cyberspace" in
his groundbreaking 1984 novel Neuromancer,
says on his blog that he's bummed to be left out of a
funky auction at Christie's called "Origins of Cyberspace."
It's funny to think that the idea came to him (well before the World Wide Web existed) as a result of using a Sony walkman. The private sound space between the headphones gave him the idea for a virtual world that would exist only inside of computers and peoples' minds. I saw him speak a few years ago and he was a. damn tall and b. damn impressive. Although I liked his most recent book, Pattern Recognition, I found in his talk an explanation for why -- in my opinion -- the quality of his work has gone downhill over the years. He was, he explained, no longer a Canadian hippie exploring late night danger zones. He had become a suburban dad and some of his edge was lost. So much for the powers of the imagination. I'm still a big fan.
Subject tags: Culture, scifi, books
It's funny to think that the idea came to him (well before the World Wide Web existed) as a result of using a Sony walkman. The private sound space between the headphones gave him the idea for a virtual world that would exist only inside of computers and peoples' minds. I saw him speak a few years ago and he was a. damn tall and b. damn impressive. Although I liked his most recent book, Pattern Recognition, I found in his talk an explanation for why -- in my opinion -- the quality of his work has gone downhill over the years. He was, he explained, no longer a Canadian hippie exploring late night danger zones. He had become a suburban dad and some of his edge was lost. So much for the powers of the imagination. I'm still a big fan.
Subject tags: Culture, scifi, books
Posted at 05:12 PM
Thu - January 20, 2005
Wes Anderson's ultra-disappointing Life Aquatic
I'm a big fan of movie director/writer Wes
Anderson, especially Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Both of those movies
featured a winning mix of comedic surrealism and emotionally true characters.
That is, there's silly, crazy and bizarre stuff going on but the people in the
story express real feelings that you can empathize with. Both of those movies
also featured Owen Wilson as co-writer.
I don't know what happened on the new Anderson flick, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which is co-written by Noah Baumbach instead of Wilson, but what a disaster. I never thought I'd ever have to say that Wes Anderson has made a movie where all the funniest lines are in the trailer, but he has and I so I must. It's not even worth renting (except maybe, maybe for Cate Blanchett's performance). In a reference that only parents of toddlers may get, it was just a mess.
Subject tags: Culture, Movies, Review
I don't know what happened on the new Anderson flick, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which is co-written by Noah Baumbach instead of Wilson, but what a disaster. I never thought I'd ever have to say that Wes Anderson has made a movie where all the funniest lines are in the trailer, but he has and I so I must. It's not even worth renting (except maybe, maybe for Cate Blanchett's performance). In a reference that only parents of toddlers may get, it was just a mess.
Subject tags: Culture, Movies, Review
Posted at 02:03 PM
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Published On: Dec 12, 2005 10:56 AM
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Published On: Dec 12, 2005 10:56 AM