THE ENGLISH JOHNSONS: DEFT OR JUST DAFT?
TO SUMMARIZE ENGLAND’S new Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his family, imagine the Trump clan, including in-laws and hangers-on, all as Donald J.’s brothers and sisters. Oh, and toss in … Continue reading
NOSTALGIA? NOT!
A VINTAGE AD on Sirius XM’s “Radio Classics” reminds us of things not missed: The ad advised making sure we had enough flash bulbs for vacation. Flash Bulbs. What’s a … Continue reading
OPERATIC DEATHS
OPERA IS DRAMATIC. There’s little reason to expect operatic deaths to be anything resembling natural causes. Here are tidbits of demise from several operas, the plots described in Sir Denis … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: TINHORN, TIN-POT
FOR A WHILE there, I thought I had completed my Etymology for Our Times series. (Google “SimanaitisSays Etymology” for a sampling.) However, on July 4, the bone-spur-challenged president’s reality TV … Continue reading
ON OPIOIDS PART 2
OPIOID ADDICTION IS plaguing the country. Tidbits on this epidemic are gleaned at SimanaitisSays yesterday and today from “A Blizzard of Prescriptions,” by Emily Witt in the London Review of … Continue reading
ON OPIOIDS PART 1
IN 1984 I suffered from an extruded disc. The extreme pain of this malady introduced me to hydrocodone-based Vicodin, a painkiller that helped me through the problem. A standup art … Continue reading
GETTING EVEN—THEATRICALLY PART 2
WHEN WE LEFT Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, his life of French polymath/entrepreneur was complicated by a court case involving business dealings with the late Joseph Paris Duverney. Today in Part … Continue reading
GETTING EVEN—THEATRICALLY PART 1
APART FROM BEING a spy, diplomat, arms dealer, and revolutionary (French and American), playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais sure know how to get even. His means of revenge? His theatrical … Continue reading
THE END OF AMERICAN WORLD ORDER?
OCCASIONALLY THE London Review of Books baffles me with (its understandable) focus on British matters. It reminds me of “Fog Shrouds Channel; Continent Isolated.” Most times, though, I find the … Continue reading
A TALE OF TWO BOUQUINISTES
I’VE ENJOYED encounters with bouquinistes, booksellers offering their wares along the Seine in Paris. One result is a kid’s magazine, titled Tintin—Le Journal des Jeunes de 7 à 77 ans. … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 