“Indeed,” says Joe Klein of Time magazine, “as the weeks have passed since the election, I’ve felt — as an urban creature myself — less restricted, less defensive. Empowered, almost. Is it possible that, as a nation, we’re shedding our childlike, rural innocence and becoming more mature, urban, urbane . . . dare I say …
This may come as some surprise, but even in these times, when it’s all the vogue to lose your job and all the trendsetters are competing to see whose net worth can drop the fastest, some people still want to be rich. If you’re one of them, you may learn something about how to get …
A highly eclectic, hardly systematic accounting of what I liked best in 2008: 1.) THE ELECTION. What a tremendous drama. The characters were strong and well-drawn–too-good-to-be-true Barack Obama, the redoubtable Hillary Clinton, the indomitable and gracious John McCain, and the brilliantly imagined Sarah Palin, among others–plus the well-plotted series of upsets and comebacks, culminating in …
Here’s Bob Herbert, writing in today’s Times (Op-Ed Columnist – Add Up the Damage – NYTimes.com): When Mr. Bush officially takes his leave in three weeks (in reality, he checked out long ago), most Americans will be content to sigh good riddance. I disagree. I don’t think he should be allowed to slip quietly out …
Among the earliest things I ever knew about myself was that I was from Baltimore, home of the Colts. This was a matter of considerable pride, since the Colts were led by Johnny Unitas, the best quarterback in football and even at what would turn out to the early middle of his career (the years 1960, …
Since September Cara has been singing with the Lubin Singers, a group of talented vocalists under the direction of Susan Lubin. Last night at Susan’s beautiful home (which she calls The Opera House) we saw the fruits of their efforts. They sang a program of carols that was very lovely, and Susan laid out an …
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a 28-year-old unmarried Shiite reporter from a minor TV station, hurled a pair of shoes at President Bush to protest the U.S. military occupation of Iraq. “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” he said as he threw the first shoe. “This is from the widows, …
The holiday movie season is upon up. No, I don’t mean Four Christmases and Nothing Like the Holidays and the endless broadcasts of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. I’m talking about Valkyrie, the movie about the attempted assassination of Hitler, and The Spirit, Frank Miller’s blood-saturated comic book adaptation, and of …
Three cheers for Tina Brown! In her column in The Daily Beast this past week, she nailed the media business’s problem on the head: “The carnage in media jobs accelerated last week with hundreds getting whacked at Viacom, NBC, Time Inc., and my own esteemed publisher Doubleday. . . . We’re in the middle of …