Poor Alessandra Stanley! The New York Times—apparently functioning in a serious hip on a budget mode these days—has assigned her the impossible task of writing amusing copy on the state of American sit-coms. After an obligatory nod to the one sit-com she actually wants to write about, the ever-cool, though rarely watched—certainly not by me—“30…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Paging Dr. Mankiw
Harvard Economaniac Greg Mankiw responds to those whipper-snappers at the Crimson who have some unkind things to say about Big Red’s econ department. According to the kids, “The economics department is perennially plagued with abysmal satisfaction ratings and high student-to-faculty ratios.” In the first place, Doctor Greg sez, “I have been told, however, that if…
Bemsha Swing, 2006
Tim Lapthorne on piano and Richard Spavens on drums, Ike Leo on bass.
Joe Lovano Nonet Live in Paris
Joe Lovano Nonet Live in Paris, at New Morning, February 19, 2001, featuring Joe Lovano, Steve Slagle, Ralph Lalama and Gary Smulyan, saxes; Barry Reis, trumpet; Larry Farrell, trombone; John Hicks, piano; Dennis Irwin, bass; and Lewis Nash on drums.
Chaplin v. Shatner: Who Was Greater?
Well, most of us are going to go with Charlie, but there are two sides to every story, after all, and I examine both in the current issue of the Bright Lights Film Journal. My take on Chaplin’s City Lights is here, while I review Robert Schnakenberg’s Encyclopedia Shatnerica here. The whole issue, not terribly…
In Walked Bud-o-mania!
Well, pretty much. Starting us off is an almost too hip vocal version featuring both Nnenna Freelon and Diana Krall (also on piano), with Clark Terry, flugelhorn, Jacky Terrasson, piano, Ron Carter, bass, and son of Thelonious T.S. Monk on drums.
The Daily Chew—All Brand New and Good for You!
Over at Slate magazine, William Saletan gives a rave review to the new world of smokeless tobacco, leaning heavily (very heavily) on an article by Kevin Helliker in the Wall Street Journal. Saletan had earlier derided the snuff stuff as “carcinogenic, addictive, and gross,” but now he’s starting to think that he was too hasty….
And I’ll bet it was served on “wry” bread, too!
There’s no doubt that Richard Feynman’s brain was about a dozen times as powerful as mine. And the odds are about 6.62 X 10^34 to 1 that Stanford physics professor Leonard Susskind is smarter than I am as well. But a little anecdote that Professor Leo tells in his new book The Black Hole War…
Since the Sixties: What’s It All About, Merriam?
For more than forty years now, Americans have been engaged in a furious culture war, disputing the significance and worth of that fast-receding decade, the “Sixties.” What were the Sixties about and what did they mean? Fortunately, the good folks at Merriam-Webster have been keeping track. Back in 1961, Merriam-Webster created a mini-culture war of…