start blabber: I watched Dog Day Afternoon last night for the first time and have to say I was very impressed; it falls within the late-70s camp of New York films that are well-made, well-written, and bizarrely forgotten by today’s serious directors and writers whose veer
For the second time I spent the first part of a week in D.C. and – for the first time – I rode the Amtrak Acela, perhaps best described as the Eastern seaboard’s very own Bullet Train. My thoughts of the Acela: nice seats, ho-hum lighting, (same) awful food,
A very interesting guide to writing systems, Omniglot; my favorites, for now, are Lontara and Makasar, Gujarti, and Ol’ Reliable Mayan. There is also the numbers 1 to 10 in 4500 languages, grouped by region. Amazing so many languages are still preserved; some countries make this preservation a priority, like
It’s that time of year again, it’s probably sometime this week, and, rest assured, you’re going to make an ass of yourself: the office holiday party. Consider these Office Party Tips from Christmas.com that range from the logical Select an alternative location for the party if
He wore sunglasses, a black puffy jacket, brown pants, and a pair of deck shoes. He was smoking, something with a brown filter – ruling out Parliaments – and his hair came down to his chin. He was walking slowly East with a FedEx package under his arm. His face was wider
‘Man charged in $2m theft of rare books from Yale’ The 21-year-old from Hamden, Conn., was in court last month on charges he stole $2 million worth of rare books and historic documents from Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where he held a summer job.
Yesterday on my way to work I saw a man, possibly in his seventies, helping someone dressed in a full chicken costume out of the back of a van. After the ‘chicken’ was safely removed from the truck, the man looked to this teenager, presumably knowing him, said, ‘See?’ and
There were three crowds today at Strawberry Fields, Central Park: one around the dial that was built for Lennon’s memorial, another around a group of four guitar players, and a third, disparate, sadder crowd on a grassy hill. There were hundreds of people, of all types and ages, carrying
We had a large party for Andrew’s engagement last night and let me tell you, he was surprised. He and M. came up the stairs at BQE and stood shell-shocked as twenty of us clapped and hooted, then gave cards, presents, free drinks and handshakes that they accepted
It was a long, long trip on a long, long train back from Pennsylvania today. Got home – famished and exhausted – dropped the bags, walked deliriously to a favorite restaurant, and dined. A glass of wine in my tired brain later, I heard from an accompanying table: No, no, get this
