"A Worldly Country" by John Ashbery
Region: New York
A Worldly Country. -- with that strange period in the title -- is John Ashbery's 24th book of poetry, published in 2007, when he was 79. It's hard to pan a book by a poet of 79, plus this is quite a good one -- or anyway, mostly it is. Do some of the poems "miss," or do I just miss them? It is the greatness of Ashbery that one is uncertain. (Are we the readers Ashbery deserves? Or are his True Readers a ... more
Views: 544"Monstro"
Region: New York
Much as I professionally despise the New Yorker, I must applaud Junot Diaz's short story, "Monstro," in the June 4 & 11 edition (of 2012), colloquially known as "the science fiction issue." (Incidentally, the illustration for it -- a photograph by Dan Winters -- sucks.) Told in Ivy League-inflected Dominican slang, with a killer plot, "Monstro" occurs on The Island (sometimes known as "D.R."). Junot is creating a... more
Views: 398A Fine Frenzy Suprises Fans with Personal Sentiments via justWink Cards
Region: New YorkWhen justWink wanted to find a song to cleverly communicate the excitement people feel about their new card line and celebrate its national launch, "Now is the Start" written and performed by A Fine Frenzy was the perfect fit! See what happened when fans got to hear an amazing performance by the band...and got a justWink card from Alison Sudol--one that she designed just for them – in this behind-the- scenes v... more
Views: 552Alzheimer's and a Healthy Lifestyle
Region: New YorkThe Importance of Dietary Changes: In a 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine findings indicate that people with high blood levels of a toxic amino acid known as homocysteine have twice the usual risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. (1) Elevated homocysteine levels tend to be higher in people whose diets are high in animal protein such as fried foods, fatty beef, fast foods, butter, ice crea... more
Views: 1103Latest Trends for 2013
Region: New York
As I sit here hunkered down on a cold New Year's Day, my thoughts turn to the balance of the year. Where are we headed and what can we expect? Fortunately, I was able to interview global futurist Frank Feather. Frank's track record is dead on...he forecast the last three recessions [1991, 2000, 2008] in his 1989 book G-Forces ...along with the next recession, which he still says will occur in 2019. Major companies... more
Views: 1622"Knowledge in a Nutshell" by Charles Reichblum
Region: New YorkThe loudest noise in recorded history was not an atom bomb, but an event that happened in 1883. An eighteen-square-mile volcanic island named Krakatoa in the South Pacific blew up. The explosion was so big that dirt from the island settled in all parts of the world -- and the explosion was so loud it could be heard 3000 miles away. One person in history was both an internationally famous pianist and the prime min... more
Views: 509"... If You Grew up with Abraham Lincoln" by Ann McGovern
Region: New York
I don't review every children's book I read, but this is a far-sighted work, written sometimes in the second person, sometimes in the third: Paper cost too much to use for practice. If you wanted to practice writing, you would do the same thing Abe Lincoln did. He wrote with a stick in the dirt. And he wrote on a wooden shovel with a burnt stick. When the shovel was covered with letters, Abe scraped them... more
Views: 509A Van Gogh at the Frick
Region: New York
I'd first seen van Gogh's "Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)" in the New York Times, where I immediately despised it. The work looked like a crude forgery of a van Gogh portrait: the bright yellows and greens were there, but the face was a mess -- full of ugly slanting lines with no visual purpose. "A museum will put any van Gogh on their wall, to attract all those women from Westchester," I silently calc... more
Views: 519News from "Rolling Stone"
Region: New York
I obsessively read the September 29, 2011 Rolling Stone, which I found at the free table of the Formerly Yours Thrift Shop, here in Phoenicia, New York. The most startling facts were: Mick Jagger has joined SuperHeavy, the first band he's ever been in besides the Rolling Stones. It consists of a son of Bob Marley (Damian), the less interesting member of the Eurythmics (Dave Stewart), a "soul diva" named Joss Ston... more
Views: 888Obama/Biden's Gun Control Approach Will Not Work
Region: New York
President Obama is a great communicator and strategist, but he is not a great negotiator. His handling of the fiscal cliff is a case in point. With respect to gun control, again, unfortunately, President Obama, a man I respect and admire, has set himself up for a suboptimal outcome. He needs to re-watch the movie Lincoln to get a sense of how hard you have to push to change something as big as the American... more
Views: 1334
