I can’t get this song out of my head:"I'll sing you one, OGreen grow the rushes, OWhat is your one, O?One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so!I'll sing you a two, OGreen grow the rushes, OWhat is your two, O?Two, two, the lilly white boys, clothed all in green, ho ho One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so!"Steed is accompanying me to a house party at the estate of a famous book...
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Oh My Stars . . . .
I cannot get over the list of birthdays for December 18:Keith RichardsBrad PittSteven SpielbergKatie Holmes Christina Aguileraas well as Ramsey Clark, Gillian Armstrong (I just saw Mrs. Soffel again),and Leonard Maltin.Yes, and many, many other people, I know. But there is quite a confluence of something going on for that one birth d...
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Waaay Behind the TIMEs
Is it even news any more who the TIME person of the year is? Can you name last year's cover? (I couldn’t—it is a strange mix of an Irish rock star inserted between a very wealthy couple. Very odd.) I have never been a TIME or Newsweek reader, but the Person of the Year cover used to make some interesting noise in the ritual of the year’s closing.This year, “TIME Person of the Year: You” feels like...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Does Your Mother Know You're Out, Rufus Wainwright?
I went to the Met the other evening to see Rigoletto (thank you fabulous neighbors). I had never seen that opera, but on the walk over to Lincoln Center I remembered the classic Odd Couple episode when Richard Fredericks guest stars as a friend of Oscar’s. He has agreed to star in a little opera that Felix is producing, when he gets hurt during a softball game with Oscar. “You broke my Rigoletto,”...
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Q.Q.F. File: New Orleans King Cake
This week Q.Q.F. is ordering a King Cake from the famous Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans. It is a sumptuous, festive, traditional King Cake, with purple, green, and yellow fondant icing, Mardi Gras beads and doubloons, “the baby in the cake,” and a porcelain trinket. It will brighten any holiday dessert table, and it is a way to help the recovering NO economy. They ship overnight almost anywhe...
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Artful Moments
Steed is just back from London (very hush hush) in time to accompany me to the opening of the Whitney’s group show at Altria, “Burgeoning Geometries: Constructed Abstractions.” We are not of the New York art world, although I have dabbled in sculpture and oils. But we are happy to exercise our fine...
Monday, December 4, 2006
Travels with Cadfael: Images Regained
(continued from TWC:The Camera, below.)Roman cab rides, unlike their London counterparts, are one of the great cheap thrills still around. Cad and I were back at Santa Sabine in a flash. Running back to the cloister, I really thought I would see my camera sitting in the far corner of that ageless enclosure. But no. It wasn’t there. My disposable camera was gone. There was a caretaker of sorts lurking...
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Q.Q.F. File
That would be “Quite, Quite, Fantastic,” of course. This week's entry is the live blogging party for Studio 60 over at Lance Mannion. The regular commenters (scroll way to down to see) took some issue with the guest blogger’s lack of knowledge about the show. But the layered bon mots—-minute by minute, if you refresh your browser often enough—-add a layer of actual witticism that is missing from...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Travels with Cadfael: The Camera
Steed was off visiting one of his many Aunties when I met up with Cadfael in Rome. We headed for the Cimetero acattolico so I could pay respects to Keats and Shelley. It was extremely hot for September, and when we came upon the a.k.a Protestant Cemetery we made a deeply unfortunate miscalculation of direction: we were just down the block from the main entrance, but we thought it was around the corner....
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Anthony Minghella and Morse
Most serious TV watchers Tivo to control their video destiny. I much prefer the chance of coming upon something. I don’t need to control every facet of my life—I like letting the universe have some sway.By chance I surfed over Channel 13 running a completely random Inspector Morse episode the other night. It is an exquisite series: Oxford as character; decent mystery plotting; unabashed use of classical...
Monday, November 27, 2006
Travels with Cadfael
Meet Cadfael—a Benedictine monk I have traveled with from time to time. (My monk isn’t really named Cadfael—that’s the nom de blog I have given him. Although there are similarities to Ellis Peters/Pargeter’s creation, especially the worldliness.) Because he is studying for an advanced degree in Rome, he is often at leisure between terms and free to travel. And we became great travel partners--it...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
No More Apologies
Longtime friends know what a fan I am of the first 2 seasons of Miami Vice. Since Michael Mann hit the big time, I no longer feel the need to apologize for it. I’m thrilled that SleuthTV is replaying them in order. I have just stumbled on an episode that guest stars Viggo Mortensen, Annette Bening, and Lou-Diamond Phillips, and PHILLIPS is given the place of honor as the last guest star with that...
Saturday, November 25, 2006
A New York Left Slugfest
Steed and I recently went to the Atlantic Monthly’s reception for the New York leg of their Ideas Tour celebrating their 150th year. It was at the New York Public Library, and the proceedings were elegant and festive, as you would want, including a proper toast with champagne (which, to Steed’s delight, was not overchilled). Revelers were also invited to go to the panels the next day. These events...
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