RIP’S DREAM
RIP VAN WINKLE slept—and dreamt—from January 20, 2020, to January 20, 2021. When he awoke from this extended nap, he asked his daughter, “So, what’s new?” “Dad,” she said, “you … Continue reading
A BEAUTIFUL LOVE LETTER TO THE SIMPLE, SOULFUL FOODS OF JAPAN
MY TITLE HERE is taken from comments offered by American chef, restauranteur, and activist Alice Waters in describing Sonoko Sakai’s book Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors. Sakai says, … Continue reading
HELDENDIVAS OF WAGNER’S RING DES NIBELUNGEN
HELDENTENORS ARE RENOWNED for their heroic Wagnerian singing. But what about the divas? They’re typically portrayed as plumpish, large-bosomed ladies wearing cow-horned helmets. Tenors, Helden and Otherwise. Nick Slonimsky has … Continue reading
ERTÉ, MARION DAVIES, AND WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
A COIN TOSS linked Art Deco artist Erté with publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst. One result of the coin toss was a movie, The Restless Sex, all but forgotten—and for … Continue reading
ENTERTAINING ENGLISH HISTORY
SURE, WE HAVE our George Washington cutting down that apple tree and proving the law of gravity by throwing an apple across the Potomac. (Or do I have this wrong?) … Continue reading
HAS THE ELEPHANT GONE BATSHIT?? PART 2
YESTERDAY AND TODAY, I share tidbits from the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life and its January 2021 American Perspectives Survey. To provide balance of findings from this … Continue reading
HAS THE ELEPHANT GONE BATSHIT?? PART 1
I PONDERED MY wording for this title, but given a hit TV show parodizing the same word, I decided to keep it. The American Enterprise Institute is a respected conservative … Continue reading
THE LRB ON KISSINGER PART 1
“POLITICAL SATIRE BECAME obsolete,” Tom Lehrer quipped, “when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” That was years ago, 1972, though both of these guys are still around; Lehrer … Continue reading
LET US CELEBRATE!
TODAY, JANUARY 20, 2021, at noon Eastern Time, 9 a.m. for those of us on the Pacific side, 7 a.m. in Hawaii, we gratefully return to our democracy’s decency, honesty, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 
THE LRB ON KISSINGER PART 2
YESTERDAY, DAVID RUNCIMAN’S article in London Review of Books offered tidbits about Henry Kissinger, whose years of Realpolitik had significant influence on the world. Today’s Part 2 continues, with Kissinger … Continue reading →