Friday, February 29, 2008

A Leap Day Special: Le Morte de Cadfael

ONCE upon a time. . . No, that’s not quite right.IN the beginning. . . No, that’s just asking for trouble.TO everything there is a season. . . Yes, that’s it. I enjoyed a very special season of travels with Cadfael. In the TV version of our story, this is a second season, flashback episode:Scene...
              

Sunday, February 24, 2008

My One Oscar Tidbit: We Saw the Horses in Realm & Conquest, Too

The only big film I have seen is Michael Clayton, which I liked a lot. There is quite a strong blog presence against it, particularly against its structure.ALL SPOILERSAt the beginning of the film we see MC survive a car bomb, and then we get the “4 days earlier” message that resets the time frame....
              

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Goosed by the Grasshopper

Our favorite fiction writer, Kathleen Maher (aka grasshopper), has memed me (duck, duck, duck, goose) for “go to a page in the nearest book.” The rules are this:• look up page 123 in the nearest book• look for the fifth sentence• then post the three sentences that follow that fifth sentence on page...
              

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Meditation on Hallmark's Prime Day

Valentine’s day is unappealing from most angles. The Hallmark hearts that pop up after New Year’s are crass commercialism at its worst. The best we can hope for is that the day puts us in mind of all the kinds of love we experience in our lives. Lives and loves—they are so entirely the same thing,...
              

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A Jew and an Irishman walk into a psychiatrist's office . . .

"There is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." Sigmund Freud, speaking about the Irish.This sentiment is paraphrased in The Departed, the great Italian’s look at the dark complexities of Boston Irish. Seems the quote is apocryphal, although not entirely unfounded, as...
              

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Ashes to Ashes

I get called to jury duty every three to four years like clockwork. One time I was even sequestered on a jury. That’s a tale for another time.A few years ago I was in a different room than my usual at 110 Centre street. This room had a white marker board behind the officers’ desk. On it were written...
              

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Obama for Mardi Gras

It is quite a confluence of events here in Gotham: Super Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Giants Victory Parade.I voted for Obama. I worry about his inexperience, and I am not at all attracted by the sappy JFK analogies. But I do not want Hilary. And Obama may be able to attract some new, smart people into government. That is my hope.If you have not done so already, go to the polls. This one really coun...
              

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Big Blue Re-sil-i-en-cy

I haven’t been to Giants Stadium since my father took me to see Lawrence Taylor play, but if they are in the Super Bowl, I’m with them. I’ve got an uncle who has been betting not inconsiderable sums of money on generations of these guys going back forty years, so it’s in the blood.I liked the pregame...
              
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