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
THE DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT, ME, AND JOHN CLEESE
IT SOUNDS like a Grade-B sci-fi theme, but the Dunning-Kruger Effect is, alas, as timely as today’s headlines, rings true with my own intellectual life, and, what’s more, has an … Continue reading
THE MEAL/LE REPAS/DIE MAHLZEIT/IL PASTO
OF COURSE, even jingoistic world travelers need sustenance. And, indeed, mealtimes are part of the pleasure of mixing with foreigners, especially if you know how to order them around. Have … Continue reading
TOADY, pl. TOADIES (THERE’S NO LACK OF THEM)
I FIND it odd that the word “toady” dates from not quite 200 years ago. One would have thought such “flatterers in hope of gaining favors” had been around long … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 