We’re pathetic. Brian Williams is in Africa for NBC Nightly News to report on the AIDS crisis and the focus of his piece is Bono of U2, his visit. What a great man he is, what an investment he’s made…
What hath Annie (Proulx) wrought? The gay Vito subplot on The Sopranos, now concluded with his beating death, seems an homage to Proulx’s landmark New Yorker story of 1997—and the Ang Lee movie that was based on it. How many…
In a lot of media outfits, when a big guy retires they put together some sort of festschrift, a fake front page, a book of testimonials, and give it to the guy at his retirement dinner. On 60 Minutes they…
Having watched Barbaro’s unbelievable run in the Derby and his terrifying start in the Preakness, I’m of course pulling for the horse to recover from the phenomenal operation he had today—but I’m wondering whether I should give up watching horseracing,…
It struck me today (i.e., I heard someone else saying) that the controversy over The Da Vinci Code only demonstrates the religious need that people feel, how unsecular most of us are. The book is hugely successful not because it…
After the rock I went for a walk yesterday and when I got back to the trail head some s.o.b. had knocked out my window with a rock, then pulled the emergency brake. I’d put a block under the back…
As devoted readers may recall, I promised to continue to look into the question of why women prefer baths and men prefer showers (yes—of course, by and large; there are exceptions). The latest info comes from a male, age 42:…
Everyone hates Barry Bonds. If you need me to hate him, I’ll hate him too. He has supposedly disgraced baseball. Though, no, we have no idea how many guys were using steroids. Probably just about everyone, I imagine. It seems…
A friend invited me to row up the Hudson yesterday and I met Rob and his mates at Croton Point—very pretty, and dominated by a massive landfill now covered in grass, with a plant to burn off the methane. A…