RENAVIGATING WITH CAPTAIN JAMES COOK PART 1
AS A KID, I picked up lots of misinformation. For instance, that the famed British explorer James Cook discovered a bunch of Pacific islands and, on his return trip, got … Continue reading
CHINA’S NEW SILK ROAD
THE SILK ROAD was a classic trade route connecting the East and the West. From about 115 B.C. to the 1450s, this trade by land and sea involved China, the … Continue reading
MOVING HOUSE TO THE HUNTINGTON
IT’S SORT OF Meiji-Mura with the vast Pacific in between. Readers may recall Meiji-Mura (“Meiji Village”), consisting of more than 60 Japanese buildings from the Meiji Era (1868–1912) relocated to … 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
OUTSOARING THE RING
I HAVE FOUND something more outre than Wagner’s Die Ring des Nibelungen. True, The Ring Cycle is 17 unique hours filled with Valhalla’s Gods and Goddesses, the Nibelung underground’s evil … Continue reading
THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK CLICKS ITS HEELS PART 1
A RECENT London Review of Books article celebrates Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in three of their ten classic movies: Top Hat, 1935; Swing Time, 1936; and Shall We Dance, … Continue reading
RACING PEUGEOTS, 1912–1913 PART 2
YESTERDAY, LAURENCE POMEROY’S book The Grand Prix Car and William Court’s piece in Classic Cars in Profile, Volume 4 offered introduction to the racing Peugeots of 1912–1913. Here in Part … Continue reading