LAFAYETTE, THEY WERE THERE
IT WAS just about 100 years ago that American pilots transferred their service from the Escadrille Lafayette to the newly formed U.S. Army Air Service. In addition to the 38 … Continue reading
“AN AMERICAN CAR WITH THE EUROPEAN LOOK”
R&T MAGAZINE nailed it with this headline announcing its road test of the Studebaker Commander Coupe in the September 1953 issue. Early in the road test, they wrote, “Although not … Continue reading
BORRONI-BIRD’S AFREECAR
CHRIS BORRONI-BIRD has proposed an innovative means of personal mobility and mobile power particularly optimized for sub-Sahara Africa. The Afreecar, a play on “Africa Car,” is an advanced bike-trailer system. … Continue reading
FERRARI 4.1 VIGNALE COUPE
“THE FABULOUS Ferrari,” R&T wrote in a September 1953 road test, “lives up to all the thousands of words which have been written about it.” This particular road test subject … Continue reading
I AM EMBARRASSED
IN MY continuing series of Etymology for our Times, today I examine the word “embarrass.” Merriam-Webster defines its first meaning as “to cause to experience a state of self-conscious distress.” … Continue reading
HOLMES’ FUTURE SHOCK
ALVIN TOFFLER wrote Future Shock in 1970, but certainly Sherlock Holmes experienced the late-Victorian/Edwardian equivalent of this disruption caused by accelerated change. Here are several examples. The Telephone. During much … Continue reading
THE $1.3 MILLION VODKA BOTTLE CAPER
AT FIRST, it sounded like fake news, or maybe a 21st-century version of Dada art: The New York Times, January 6, 2018, reported, “It was meant to be a collector’s … Continue reading
LEONTYNE PRICE—DIVA EXTRAORDINAIRE; THE MET—OPERA HOUSE DITTO
THE OPERA HOUSE is an award-winning documentary by Susan Froemke about the Metropolitan Opera’s Lincoln Center home and its mid-1960s construction. One of its stars is diva extraordinaire Leontyne Price, … Continue reading
ON FUNKY MOTORING
I SUPPOSE my love affair with space-efficient Mondrian-rectilinear funky motoring began with the 21-window Volkswagen Transporter Microbus, aka the Samba, built 1964 through 1967. Alas, this love was, and will … Continue reading
DAVID HOCKNEY AT THE MET
NEW YORK’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is celebrating the career of David Hockney. The exhibit runs through February 25, 2018, and has a preview, complete with short video, at David … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 