David Sedaris, our favorite expatriate, quirky, self-deprecating funny man, has penned a new collection of short stories. The issues and tone are certainly classic Sedaris, but this time his subjects…mor will enjoy this wonderful collection….
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A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney
Critic Martin Gayford has been interviewing David Hockney for many years and the two have developed a warm friendship that extends past their professional relationship. In A Bigger Message, Gayford…olors. These pieces along with massive painted landscapes, stills of video installations and photographs of Hockney at work are weaved in and out of Gayford’s brief biographical information and extensive dialog with the tireless artist. Like many innovative, creative people, he is also very much a student of art. Hockney, and here I’ll sound redundant, is a thoughtful thinker and his meditations on artistic movements, motivation and life are extre…
That is All
Previously I reviewed John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise, his first volume of complete world knowledge. Now, I’ll take a moment to give more of the same praise to…I’ll take a moment to give more of the same praise to the third and final installment, That is All. Again, Hodgman provides fake historical information and hysterically terrible advice (including the necessary tools to become a deranged millionaire). In addition, he continues the page after page factoid calendar that appeared in More Information Than You Require; only this time he decides to predict the FUTURE right up to the coming apocalypse sc…
Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag
This very short memoir of the association between Ingrid Nunez and Susan Sontag recounts their friendship/mentorship during the time that Sontag was writing “On Photography” and New York literary life…e of them lived in the same apartment. There are many glimpses into Sontag’s writing life and habits which I found very interesting. Susan Sontag is often portrayed as a very difficult person and Nunez does show some instances of how that was true but she also rounds out the portrait with other details that showed Sontag as a complicated person with many aspects including vulnerability, conflicted and humorous and loving….
Starting From Happy
Patricia Marx, a regular contributor to the New Yorker and a former Saturday Night Live writer, had me convulsing in fits of laughter on the sofa with her new book…mor. This storytelling device not only helps usher the plot along with vigor, it also gives the author the opportunity to deliver some sublimely meta moments. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite instances: 318. “One more question,” said Wally. “Do you think we’ll be in this book long enough for them to hear me stop pleading with you?” 319. Enough Horsing Around….
Henning Goes to the Movies
Please excuse the following burst of textual immodesty… Ahem. As founder and president (not to mention CEO, secretary, vice president & mascot) of the Forbes Film Club, I can safely…hool For the Dead, is the architect (perhaps I should use director in this instance?) behind this wonderful album. He sings about the hilariously raunchy Super Bad, David Lynch’s quiet drama the Straight Story, the horror classic Poltergeist, the coming of age classic the Year My Voice Broke and more. His approach to these pieces is not a highlight of important plot points; rather he shares his personal experience with each film. Through introduci…
Twentieth Century
John Barrymore and Carole Lombard star in, what some site as the first screwball comedy, Twentieth Century. The film’s director, Howard Hawks, who delivered several box office smashes in the…his life for professional reasons, he discovers that he’s madly in love with the starlet! His crusade, at times devious, to win back her favor knows no bounds. Barrymore’s portrayal of Jaffe, which is grandiose in one instant and hilariously pathetic the next, propels the story at a breakneck pace. Filled with slapstick gags and wild monologues, the actor gives one of the most memorable comedic performances committed to film….
One of our Thursdays is missing
Jasper Fforde’s latest offering in the Thursday Next series is a metafictional tour de farce. The original Thursday — literary police Special Operations Agent (ret.) and the star of her…uel refers back to things that happened (or didn’t) in previous titles in the series, and it might help to start with the first installment, The Eyre Affair….
The Last Days of Disco
Whit Stillman’s third feature, The Last Days of Disco, is set in New York City the early 1980’s. Here we find a group of young professionals who are all, whether…m his days hanging out at the famed Studio 54. Chris Eigeman, a Stillman mainstay, is cast as Des McGrath. McGrath is a sardonic manager at the said Manhattan club and he ultimately realizes that the owner has some sort of a shady operation going on. When viewing The Last Days of Disco, one can’t help appreciating the dedication in creating such memorable characters and the overall writing in general. The film is filled with quick and witty dialog…
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party
In the latest installment of the popular No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, Mma Grace Makutsi gets married, Mma Precious Ramotswe deals with a complicated case of attacks on a farmer’s cattle, and the tiny white van takes on a metaphysical dimension. McCall Smith’s characters handle the large and small dilemmas of life with a realistic mix of (mostly) good intentions and human vulnerability. His prose is charming and the loving portrait of Bot…
Forbes Library Accessibility Advisory Board – Minutes for January 12, 2024
Minutes Forbes Library Accessibility Advisory BoardDate 12 January 2024Time 3PMAttending: Dorothy Baker, Linda White, Ben Kalish, Molly Moss, Mary Biddle Public Comment Ben Kalish, on behalf of Anne Gancarz: The…to Covid. Before that, there were improvements to the sound system and the installation of sound-dampening panels on the ceiling. It is a difficult space since additional sounds are coming from other places (elevator, mechanical room, etc.) A new portable assistive listening system is available for loan. So far only the advisory board and the City’s Disability Comission have been informed–promotion will begin once more library staff have been trai…
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