Cultural Caviar

Lee Friedlander Hits The Whitney, Max’s Kansas City Gets Well-Deserved Tribute

Plus, hot springs in Germany, Paris Autumn Festival, and the latest greatest art scene in Beijing Inhotim Cultural Institute, Brazil An idyllic cultural haven located in the ...

Under Siege: On Emma Williams

In October 2000 most of the children invited by Dr. Emma Williams to her son Archie’s seventh birthday party failed to turn up. Distance was not the issue, given that her ...

Get Low: Stellar Cast, Shoddy Screenplay

Get Low, a dramedy starring venerable elders Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Cissy Spacek, is promisingly based on a prime slab of Old, Weird Americana: the true 1938 story of an ...

Catalonia Bullfighting Ban: Purely Political and Totally Impractical

At the end of the film Little Caesar, the gangster Enrico Bandello, played by Edward G. Robinson, is shot down by the police. As he dies in the gutter, he asks, "€œMother of ...

Laura Linney Stars in “€˜The Big C”€™ and a Gainsbourg Biopic Takes Off

Plus, a new book about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor’s torrid love affair, Best Coast’s latest and greatest LP, and non-traditional vacations involving tree ...

10 Things About Turning 40

After 39 years of not being 40, I decided to give it a try. Being two score is unlike anything before it so I feel it would be prudent to warn you about a few things... 1) YOU ...

Farewell, A Vaguely Accurate Portrayal of the Cold War

We won the Cold War two decades ago. Do we yet know why? As T.S. Eliot noted in Gerontion, “History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors…” In 1945, ...

Why Kate Middleton is Prince William’s Only Option

It goes without saying that Prince William is considered by many to be the most eligible bachelor in the world. He's handsome; he"€™ll inherit the Crown Jewels; the Queen is his ...

When Parenting Fails

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” So King Solomon told us (Proverbs 22.vi). A great many parents, down ...

Solving for Y

The first time we spoke she walked past me, pointed at my feet without breaking her stride, and sternly said, "€œGood shoes."€ By the time I thought of something to say back ...

Cracking Croquet

Judging by the hijinks and makeup on display at the recently-concluded World Cup, soccer, of all sports, certainly has the most crazed fans. Good for them. But I find it almost as ...

Viva Le Donne di Berlusconi, Viva Italia!

In April, I noted that television ratings indicate that sports audiences skew Republican and entertainment audiences Democratic. "€œWhich is more useful to control for ...

AskMen.com’s Top Babes: Ravishing or Roadkill?

Every year, AskMen.com comes out with a list of the “top 99 most desirable women.” They are allegedly chosen democratically: they claim six million votes were tallied ...

Panda Bear’s Newest Album on Vinyl, Matisse’s Radical Invention at MoMA

Plus, Australian crime thriller Animal Kingdom, The Bolshoi Ballet, Talking to Girls About Duran, and more culture to devour this week Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of ...

The Kids Are… Totally Overrated

The limited-release comedy The Kids Are All Right has driven critics into paroxysms of praise. For instance, the normally low-key A.O. Scott enthused in the New York Times as ...

Chomsky’s Inner Conservative

Noam Chomsky's new book, Hopes and Prospects, leads me to a conclusion that will startle his admirers and critics alike: Chomsky is a conservative. It might surprise him as well. ...

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