SIDNEY LUMET, 1924-2011
Sidney Lumet, the great film director, died on Saturday. He made some of the greatest movies of all time–dramatic, entertaining, thought-provoking, Here are scenes from three of the best: Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict and the peerless Network.
“RESPECT THE LOSS”
Words of wisdom show up in the oddest places. Watching the Yankee game Friday, announcer Michael Kay was talking about a conversation he had with the manager of the Red Sox, Terry Francona, whose team has started the season a lamentable 0 and 6. According to Kay, Francona was saying that no, the team wan’t …
GIVE ‘EM HELL, JOE!
Essential reading from the excellent Joseph Stiglitz in Vanity Fair: “It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control …
REDFORD ON THE ENVIRONMENT
In my interview with Robert Redford for Parade, the noted environmental activist had some pointed words about the current state of the environment: On how America is dealing with environmental issues. “Sadly, not well. The attempts of the previous administration to do away with all the laws and regulations that were put into place over …
`THE CONSPIRATOR’ CONSPIRATORS
Thanks to good luck and good connections, I got to write not one but two articles about The Conspirator, the new firm opening this week about the trial before a military tribunal of Mary Surratt, one of the alleged conspirators who joined with John Wilkes Booth to kill Abraham Lincoln and attack other high government …
US VS. THEM
When ABC News’s Jonathan Karl asked Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republicans’ exciting new Budget Action Hero, “What do you say to nervous Republicans who say that this is a political Kamizake mission?”, Ryan replied, “They didn’t come here for a political career. They came for a cause.” Having just completed a new installment of the …
TALKING IS BETTER THAN FIGHTING. . .
. . .although talking about fighting might be best of all. I had a great time last night moderating a TimesTalk discussion at, natch, The New York Times, on the subject of Disunion and the Civil War. I had an excellent panel to work with–Adam Goodheart, a Disunion series mainstay and author of a new …
GARDNERTOWN GALLOP
I don’t think Cara and her horse actually ever gallop in these shows, but neither walk nor trot nor canter works with Gardnertown in a headline. It doesn’t matter; she looked great. Cara will be off to Kentucky in the fall with a half-scholarship in her pocket, and we are very proud.
ON THE ONE HAND, ON THE OTHER. . .
On the one hand, the Daily Mail reports that the Education Secretary of the UK says that classic literature is dying out in schools. Michael Gove says that “barely one in 100 studied books published before 1900.” The article says that only 1,236 of the 300,000 pupils who took the most popular English literature exam …