So, you want to learn how to make a book with Steidl? First, you have to make sure you have the right DVD in order to do that. Second, it helps if you’re artist Ed Ruscha or photographer Joel Sternfeld, both of whom are profiled…
Every foreign film is fodder for my favorite game, “Who Does He/She Look Like?” It’s very American, I know, and it doesn’t work for every movie, such as The Intouchables and Run Lola Run, but it’s great shorthand for conveying the essence of an actor…
Where have I seen The Intouchables before? Why, in The Fabulous Baker Boys and 84 Charing Cross Road, two of my all-time favorite movies. While The Intouchables and 84 Charing Cross Road have the closer connection, being that they are both based on true stories,…
Out of all the restaurants reviewed in the internationally-renowned Michelin Guide (with posts haughtily maintained in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, since those are all the cities the United States has), 72 chefs have been awarded three stars, the highest rating…
Two Saturdays ago, I finally got to read The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway, after reserving it at my local library two weeks prior since my library card was at its 50-item limit (95-100% books, depending on the week). I…
The reviewer paces back and forth in front of the table on which Hazel: The Complete Fourth Season rests, trying to come to terms with the continuing atrocities from this series. He is not a war veteran, he has never been through a war, but…
The Clinton administration was the major administration in my formative years, as dominant as the Reagan administration was when I was born. I remember hearing about Kosovo, and a little bit about Bosnia, the Democrats losing control of Congress, and, of course, “I did not…
Look at all the meat dumplings, shrimp dumplings, shrimp itself; pig’s liver, vegetarian dishes with yams, spinach, ginger, and other ingredients that together become culinary art. All this in Taiwan, making it tempting to hum Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Red roses are here…
You should always keep childish things and childhood memories close by as a barometer of who are you as you get older. I’ll give you an example inspired by one of the year’s best DVD sets, the massive, comprehensive Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete…
Blame IKEA, with its Swedish meatballs and odd, but amusing-sounding names for bookcases that require a degree in civil engineering to put together, and the softest towels that melt away that frustration. All that is what got me interested in Sweden recently, mainly because Las…