Sitting at my computer at this moment, my gaze wanders around the room to identify all the things that identify me as an anglophile. Queen Victoria has a mug and a bust, and there’s a smaller bust of her son, Edward VII. Behind me in the corner is a collection of figurines of Henry VIII and his six wives, plus […]
American ingenuity. American exceptionalism. But what about American precision? Does it even exist? Not when it comes to holidays, and seldom when it comes to language. While grade school children may be an exception, Valentine’s Day for adults is about lovers. Saturday Night Live did a funny bit earlier this year about how we have eroded this celebration of romance […]
Several years ago, I was excited to go to a party in California that was to be attended by Ben Mankiewicz. He is one of my nerdy hot crushes, doing for movies what Steve Kornacki does for politics and Chuck Rosenberg does for the law. After we met, I told Ben that I was pleased to have spelled his name […]
“. . . a wonderful dream, Papa.” See what those four words can do? “I had a dream” is the key to unlocking one’s inner Ethel Merman. Say those four words in my hearing, and I may spontaneously finish your thought in my Best Broadway Belting voice “a dream about you, baby.” And you’ll be lucky if I run out […]
For as long as I can remember, there have been rock bands. Beatles and Stones and Monkees, oh my. Some grew somewhat organically out of key associations—Jagger/Richards, Lennon/McCartney—that began when band members were in their teens. The Monkees’ origination, on the other hand, was totally synthetic and straight out of Hollywood. Usually, the bands boiled down to four guys—one on […]
Something just isn’t right. And by not right, I’m talking about something is rotten in the state of Denmark—except this isn’t Denmark, and I’m not Marcellus. It’s that same queasy feeling one gets from opening the door to the refrigerator and knowing something in there has gone bad. Take for example a dinner I had recently at one of Dallas’ […]
The experience of watching movies on television, by definition, is not the same as seeing one in a theater as it was originally intended to be seen. This is particularly true for epic movies like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, and Lawrence of Arabia. Viewing Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, on the big screen demonstrates just why this notorious film won four […]
On a lovely spring day, I was meeting a girlfriend for my favorite kind of lunch— chicken salad, martinis and a healthy dollop of gossip. Driving through a neighborhood replete with newly constructed high-end apartments, I slowed down as I approached an intersection. Two cars had reached the four way stop before me—one to my left and one directly in […]
I’ve always liked to play games. Board games, card games, dominoes, you name it. Even today, I’m much more likely to play Monopoly or Risk online than any of the current crop of video games. One of my favorites from my teenage years was one called Masterpiece. Do you remember it? It was an art auction game with a variety […]
Watching television in the 21st century is sure different than it was back in the 20th century. And I’m not talking about the plethora of viewing options that are available—that is, not what we watch but how we watch. Television used to be in the driver’s seat. If you needed to use the bathroom, you waited until the commercial. If […]
