Fred Astaire
By Joseph Epstein
Yale University Press, 198 pages, $22
You know you’re in trouble when the author of a book on a popular artist drags in lofty literary references to justify what he clearly regards as his own intellectual slumming. In this case, Joseph Epstein, the author of Snobbery (2002) and the former Read More
McSweeney’s Fun(ny) Facts
Ever wondered about Lou Pearlman’s insider secrets to making a muscle-ripped boy band? Curious about the various reasons to despise the musical Rent? How about some tips on defeating a 500-pound sumo wrestler?
Those erudite fellas from publishing prodigy McSweeney’s will address these urgent queries and more at The World, Explained, a Read More
The screen persona of Fred Astaire is more enduringly charismatic than that of any other musical performer in the history of the medium. Yet, the now-celebrated report on his
Hollywood screen test gave little indication of things to come: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.”
Then along came a magical sprite named Read More
Wafting in a stupor between Hulk s and Matrix es and Terminator 3 ‘s, movie critics in the summer of 2003 are living in a state of suspended animation. Searching each week for new ways to make the trash I’m sitting through sound bearable, endurable or even humorously disposable is a pretend game of debilitating Read More
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film , by David Thomson. Alfred A. Knopf, 963 pages, $35.
It looks unassuming enough, just like any other reference book: weighty, blockish and solid as a brick. The author, too, sounds foursquare: a couple of film biographies under his belt, now occasionally writes for The New York Times ; Read More
Wednesday 22th
Get out your paddles, ladies! The personal effects of the late Carrie Donovan ( New York Times fashion journalist turned Old Navy spokeswoman who was, by all accounts, just a big old hoot ) go on the block today at the scandal-free William Doyle Galleries. “As Karl Lagerfeld said, she was 100 percent Read More
What a difference a month makes. From mid-January through mid-February, the Danese Gallery mounted an overview of contemporary abstract painting and sculpture titled Abstract Redux . On the evening of Valentine’s Day, Danese opened its current exhibition. Titled Fei Fei Drawings , it features the recent works on paper of Bill Jensen, the American abstract Read More
George Butler’s The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, from a screenplay by Caroline Alexander and Joseph Dorman, based on the book by Caroline Alexander and narrated by Liam Neeson, should move you even if you’re not familiar with the extensive literature and museum exhibition on the subject produced over the past few years. Who is Read More
Wednesday, May 5
National TV Turn-Off Week is finally over, and thank goodness! It was easily the longest week we’ve ever spent. It was sponsored by TV-Free America, a group that claims to be nonpartisan. A group that is against everything decent people hold dear is “nonpartisan?” Ha! Write your Congressional representative or e-mail TV-Free Read More
