Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear , by Paul Fussell. Houghton Mifflin, 204 pages, $22.
How Paul Fussell managed to pound out an entire book on the subject of uniforms without once addressingthe Catholic-schoolgirl issue is utterlybeyondthisreviewer-but he has. If the girleens in plaid kilts and knee socks who prowl the Upper East Read More
Senior Moment: Old Man Robs Bank, Then Goes Back For More
It makes sense that, as the population keeps aging (and especially if Social Security does indeed go the way of the buffalo), we’ll start seeing older crooks, just like you sometimes see seniors manning the fry machine at places like McDonald’s. In fact, there Read More
WhenMcDonald’sCorp.announced earlier this month that it would switch cooking oils to reduce the amount of unhealthy fat in its French fries, I decided to call John Banzhaf. I hadn’t spoken to him in several years, but I still remembered our first interview, in the early 1990′s.
Mr. Banzhaf was-and still is-an entrepreneur of litigation, a Read More
We didn’t talk much politics here before Jean-Marie Le Pen’s victory. Afterward, we could tell who voted for him: those who didn’t want to talk. Our local butcher tried to satisfy my curiosity, but he only got as far as explaining that in America, he would vote Republican. Then another customer entered and he went Read More
Wednesday 8th
Cannes on Canal? Or voyage to hell ? You make the call! Stuyvesant kids fire up their light sabers ( bzzzz! ) as the Tribeca Film Festival -Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Valentine to terrorist-ravaged downtown-begins today with far too many screenings, panels and parties for one lone columnist to get Read More
Decade of ‘Buzz’ Forgotten; The Chatterati Get ‘Serious’
The city is engulfed in emotion. Principal among the feelings that pervade the community are grief, anger, shock-these need no further words from me. But there are other feelings at work as well, and these perhaps bear a bit more thinking about than has so far Read More
There is no sign hanging outside Tappo in the East Village. Instead, you’ll find two antique wooden toys–a green delivery van and a red French fire truck with “Pompier” emblazoned on it–displayed in one window, a couple of wheels of Parmesan in the other. The effect is oddly comical, like those Little Italy storefronts where Read More
Those Glory Days
New York baseball is in crisis. Attendance is down. An owner tells fans to stay away from the ballpark because the neighborhood is unsafe. Another owner says he will move his team unless the city forks over a huge check to make him stay. Beloved ball players are regularly traded away for Read More
Rumors have been orbiting the Internet (and burgers have been frying up at McDonald’s!) that Pavement is about to split. Now, I ain’t no Kreskin, but doesn’t that sound about right to you? Everyone at Matador assures this critic that no break-up is imminent (label head Gerard Cosloy didn’t name his own band the Air Read More
My Father’s Gun: One Family, Three Badges, 100 Years in the N.Y.P.D. , by Brian McDonald. Dutton, 309 pages, $24.95.
Brian McDonald tells the tale of his family’s centurylong relationship with the New York Police Department, and by doing so grabs a piece of a much larger story. When he traces his family’s journey from Read More
