REDUCED SHAKESPEARE—WHAT A JOY!
THIS CHARMING book was actually a birthday present from Wife Dottie, and it has easily become a Christmas recommendation to anyone loving someone who reads, be that someone a spouse, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING ALL THE CODE TALKERS
SEVERAL DAYS ago in celebrating Thanksgiving here at SimanaitisSays, I cited “more than a dollop of respect for Navajo, Cherokee, and Choctaw code talkers,” World War II communications personnel whose … Continue reading
ON GRANGERIZING AND OTHER FUN WITH PRINTS
IMAGES SHARED before photography were typically prints of one sort or another. As its name suggests, a woodblock print has its image chiseled into the block. An intaglio print is … Continue reading
JAGUAR C-TYPE
By 1953, JAGUAR had a real success story in its C-Type. This British racing sports car was introduced in 1951 and won that year’s Le Mans 24-hour race in its … Continue reading
CULTURAL BITS—SOME CORRECT, OTHERS POSSIBLY MISLABELED
“FRANZ SCHUBERT was just making up those Impromptu piano pieces as he went along.” “Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 is really pathetic.” “And so is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.” “Cinderella’s … Continue reading
THANKS, MR. AVAKIAN
ANOTHER THING for which I can be thankful is the life so richly lived by George Avakian, who died November 22, 2017, at age 98 in New York City. Over … Continue reading
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, WHOMEVER YOU ARE
AN OLDER relative used to sit us down at holiday time and tell us family tales. He invariably prefaced them with, “Now listen carefully, because some of the things I’m … Continue reading
XI JINPING—MAKING CHINA GREAT AGAIN
“SPOKE TO President Xi of China to congratulate him on his extraordinary elevation.” This, from his American counterpart, Donald Trump, reacting to actions of the 2017 Communist Party Congress that … Continue reading
HOW LUIS BUÑUEL PREPARES ME FOR DONALD TRUMP
LUIS BUÑUEL, Spain-born Mexican filmmaker, was the father of cinematic Surrealism, a genre that attracted me during my Cleveland art-theatre 20s. And just two days ago, Daughter Suz and I … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PART 2
BY THE 1870s, the Associated Press had expanded considerably from five New York City daily papers protecting themselves against a potential telegraph monopoly on news. Today, we pick up the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 