If you saw “Five Easy Pieces” — and you can be forgiven if you haven’t; it was filmed in 1970 — you’ll recall that Jack Nicholson plays a piano prodigy who now works on oil rigs.
Act One: “The Best Broadway Memoir. Ever.”
I’m not the only one who says it.
I’m not the only one who says it.
Exit West: A Novel
“Exit West” is the best serious fiction I read about immigration in the last decade. I wasn’t the only one to think this. It made many 10 Best lists.
“Exit West” is the best serious fiction I read about immigration in the last decade. I wasn’t the only one to think this. It made many 10 Best lists.
Refugees and a Respite from Current Cruelty. Book Review: The Blood of My Mother
A family of refugees walks a thousand miles to a new home where they’ve been told they can find land to farm.
A family of refugees walks a thousand miles to a new home where they’ve been told they can find land to farm.
The Woman Who Beat the Klan
President Biden signed a proclamation to honor Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched in 1955. He was not the last Black boy to be lynched: that was Michael Donald, in Alabama, in 1981. I wrote that story for the NY Times Magazine. It’s the best, certainly the saddest story.
Last year President Biden signed a proclamation to honor Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched in 1955. He was not the last Black boy to be lynched: that was Michael Donald, in Alabama, in 1981. I wrote that story for the NY Times Magazine. It’s the best, certainly the saddest story
L’Atalante [Movie Review]
This is on almost every major critic’s list of the “best 100 movies of all time.”
This is on almost every major critic’s list of the “best 100 movies of all time.”
The Letter, with Bette Davis: A Taut and Insinuating Melodrama [Movie Review]
Well, there are sports. And something you could stream. Or this: a tense, Oscar-winning classic (and a second classic). My call? No contest.
Sunday/Monday Butler: Well, there are sports. And something you could stream. Or this: a tense, Oscar-winning classic (and a second classic). My call? No contest.
The Harder They Come: This Was and Is Some of the Most Sophisticated Music on the Planet
It's chilly in NYC. The day offers politics, war news, Us vs. Them, and, always, sports. Or you could come with me to Jamaica....
t’s chilly in NYC. The day offers politics, war news, Us vs. Them, and, always, sports. Or you could come with me to Jamaica….
Beatriz at Dinner
Mike White created “White Lotus,” the hugely popular series (10 Primetime Emmys and 2 Golden Globes) that’s funny and frothy. Mike White also created “Beatriz at Dinner.” It’s intermittently funny and frothy — but it’s about something serious that “White Lotus” carefully avoids. Be warned: it’s 90% protein.
Mike White created “White Lotus,” the hugely popular series (10 Primetime Emmys and 2 Golden Globes) that’s funny and frothy. Mike White also created “Beatriz at Dinner.” It’s intermittently funny and frothy — but it’s about something serious that “White Lotus” carefully avoids. Be warned: it’s 90% protein.
Buck Brannaman, the Horse Whisperer
As you read about Buck Brannaman’s work with horses, it will surely occur to you how much good he could do for recalcitrant humans — how he could tame the surly and the selfish without once using a whip.
As you read about Buck Brannaman’s work with horses, it will surely occur to you how much good he could do for recalcitrant humans — how he could tame the surly and the selfish without once using a whip.
Dolly Parton, Rockstar. Bradley Cooper, Actor/Director/Writer. Wisdom: Thich Nhat Hanh & David Hockney. e.b. White Defines Democracy. Marcella Hazan’s Carbonara.
Two celebrities, famous for a reason bigger than talent: massive intelligence. Don’t skip these interviews because you think you know them. You don’t.
An unusual week. Two celebrities, famous for a reason bigger than talent: massive intelligence. Don’t skip these interviews because you think you know them. You don’t.
Weekend Butler: Anthony Bourdain on Henry Kissinger. Acting Your Age. Help Wanted at the Met Museum (Gun Required). Making Paul Newman’s Day. One-Pan Chicken. And More.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be / Old bridges breaking between you and me / Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall / Confident that we have built our wall. -- Seamus Heaney
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be / Old bridges breaking between you and me / Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall / Confident that we have built our wall. — Seamus Heaney
Fifth Avenue, 5 a.m.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
What’s especially satisfying: where the story begins.
What’s especially satisfying: where the story begins.
My “Lunch” With Nora Ephron, Years After Her Death
“One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us” is a delicious collection that includes my complicated post-death lunch with Nora Ephron, my kind-of-friend-until-she-wasn’t
“One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us” is a delicious collection that includes my complicated post-death lunch with Nora Ephron, my kind-of-friend-until-she-wasn’t
Arthur Miller: Focus
The big news about recent reports of anti-Semitism in America is how extensive it is. University professors ripping down posters of missing Israeli children? College presidents making such carefully worded statements that it’s not clear they understand the difference between free speech and hate speech. Arthur Miller knew… in 1945. And he wrote a novel about it.
The big news about recent reports of anti-Semitism in America is how extensive it is. University professors ripping down posters of missing Israeli children? College presidents making such carefully worded statements that it’s not clear they understand the difference between free speech and hate speech. Arthur Miller knew… in 1945. And he wrote a novel about it.
“Is This the Beginning of the End?” Judi Dench Recites Shakespeare. Going to Paris: Meet Van Gogh. Mary Oliver. Garland Jeffreys Movie Online. Mmmm: Recipe for Mac and Cheese.
Joy is not meant to be a crumb. - Mary Oliver
Joy is not meant to be a crumb. – Mary Oliver