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Daniel Edward Rosen

By Daniel Edward Rosen 4/09 8:15pm

books

Salter

Salter of the Earth: ‘Sport and a Pastime’ Author Gets Down and Dirty In New Novel

For James Salter, sex and love are noble conquests. But as with fighting MiG planes in the Korean War in his novel The Hunters or scaling the French Alps in Solo Faces, the thrill of the chase only temporarily supplants the inevitable disillusionment that follows once you’ve gotten what you thought you wanted.

Mr. Salter, then, portrays marriage as the hopeless attempt to rid oneself of loneliness. The slow and painful disintegration of Viri and Nedra Berland’s marriage in his 1975 novel Light Years is enough to forewarn any soul foolish enough to desire matrimony.

Such is the education of Philip Bowman, the romantic World War II veteran in Mr. Salter’s superb new book All That Is. Bowman’s longing for a cheerful domestic life gets him through the war, but back in civilian life, he grows increasingly disillusioned with each affair. As he learns from Enid Armour, a married woman whom he meets at a vulgar Halloween party in London (dressed as a buccaneer), marriage is nothing more than a tired routine of one spouse preventing the other from being unfaithful.

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By Patrick Clark and Daniel Edward Rosen 9/14/12 11:20am

Private Equity

McKeon Veritas

Veritas Capital Founder Robert B. McKeon Dead in Apparent Suicide

Robert B. McKeon, the founder and chairman of Veritas Capital, the private equity firm that invested in defense contractors, died Monday in an apparent suicide, The Observer has learned.

The state medical examiner’s office in Connecticut, where Mr. McKeon owned a home, said that a man of the same name and age died of “asphyxia due to neck compression,” and that the death was ruled a suicide. The examiner’s office wouldn’t give a time or place of death. The Darien, Conn., police department said in a written statement that a man named Robert McKeon was found dead in his Darien home on Monday, and that “the death is not considered suspicious, but the incident is under investigation pending the results of the scheduled autopsy.” Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 9/11/12 7:00pm

Comebacks

artielangecrop

Artie Lange’s Big Crack-Up

“If I had abs,” said the comedian Artie Lange as he held his medicine ball-sized paunch in his hands, “I would be dead.”

The former Howard Stern sidekick was sitting inside the new Varick Street studio that is home to The Nick & Artie Show, the sports-and-comedy talk show on Sirius Radio and DirecTV that he co-hosts with fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo. He was cradling his gut, pointing at the scars where nearly three years ago, in his Hoboken home, he took a 13-inch Wolfgang Puck kitchen knife and stabbed himself repeatedly: Six times with hesitation. Three times with conviction. Read More

By Foster Kamer and Daniel Edward Rosen 9/04/12 7:11pm

Punched! Out

Jim Windolf (Right) at a Rufus Wainwright Performance at Rose Bar in 2010 (photo courtesy of Patrickmcmullan.com)

Punch! Magazine Scraps Editorial Content … For Now

Punch!, a Spy-inspired iPad “appazine” that paired long-form journalism with short comedy segments and interactive games, has scrapped its editorial content to focus entirely on an authoring tool for apps.

With New York Observer alum Jim Windolf at the helm and featuring contributions from George Gurley and Mark Ames, Punch! put out three issues before announcing that it was going on hiatus on August 14.  Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 9/04/12 7:50am

Horace Mann

homann

Horace Mann Students Can Send Their Virtual Diplomas Back to School to Protest Handling of Sex Abuse Scandal

A Horace Mann alumni group has launched a new website allowing former students of the elite Bronx private school to send back a virtual copy of their diplomas to protest the school board’s reluctance to launch an independent investigation into claims of sexual abuse.

The Horace Mann Action Coalition–made up of graduates from Horace Mann classes in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s–has launched “Here’s My Diploma Back” to protest “the school’s refusal to investigate the incidents of sexual abuse inflicted upon our friends and classmates by Horace Mann teachers over decades,” the website reads.

“There is a growing feeling among HM [Horace Mann] alums that our degrees have been tarnished by the school’s unwillingness to acknowledge, apologize for and investigate the sexual abuse that was suffered by so many of our classmates,” said Robert Boynton, a 1981 graduate of Horace Mann and a member of the Horace Mann Action Coalition.

“So we are returning our diplomas–both metaphorically and literally–until which time they can be restored to their original values,” added Mr. Boynton, who is also a professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.  Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 8/29/12 7:50pm

Horace Mann

Former Poly Prep Football Coach Phil Foglietta

Federal Judge’s Ruling on Poly Prep Sex Abuse Case Buoys Horace Mann’s Accusers

Federal District Court judge Frederic Block ruled in a Brooklyn court Tuesday that private school Poly Prep could not use New York State’s statue of limitations to thwart a lawsuit levied by its former students who allege that a popular football coach had molested them.

The decision comes amid rumblings that a group of former Horace Mann students, who have accused the Bronx private school’s faculty of sexual abuse during the 1970s and 80s, had hired attorney Gloria Allred to pursue legal action against the school. Read More

By David Freedlander, Daniel Edward Rosen, Jonah Wolf, Hunter Walker and Patrick Clark 9:54am

Crime

The crowd outside the Empire State Building

Shooting at Empire State Building [Updated]

At least ten people have been shot at the Empire State Building this morning including an as-yet-unidentified shooter according to a spokesman for the New York City Police Department. The male shooter was killed, but the NYPD says further information about the gunman or his motivations is currently “unknown.”

We’ll update this post as soon as we know more. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 8/07/12 2:34pm

Doucherrari

Julien_Chabbott-490x277

Ferrari Snob Claims He Was Concussed by Cop Whose Foot He Did Not Crush, Lawyer Sez

Julien Chabbott, the co-founder of the now-defunct smartphone app Line Snob, was arrested and charged with felony assault after he allegedly drove over Police Officer Felix Recio‘s foot early Saturday evening.

“He had a concussion and some other injuries,” said Mr. Heller, who claimed Mr. Chabbott had to be taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment after his arrest. Read More