Snooki: The Evolution of a Goddess
Region: New York
I know very little about American culture, because I don't have a TV, and I stopped listening to Howard Stern in 1993. Occasionally, I find a copy of In Style magazine in the garbage, which I pore over like an English plan... more
Views: 487In Defense of the Dead Helen Frankenthaler
Region: New York
I've been holding back for a year and 27 days, but now I must speak. Grace Glueck, in her New York Times obituary for Helen Frankenthaler, subtitled "Abstract Painter Who Shaped a Movement, Dies at 83," inclu... more
Views: 504Ralph Nader Is a CIA Agent
Region: New York
This is the only explanation for the election of 2000. George W. Bush would not have been elected without the help of Ralph, who convinced numerous progressives to abandon Al Gore, one of the most liberal candidates ... more
Views: 647The 10 Best Films of 2012
Region: New York
1) Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, Directed by Timur Bekmambetov 2) Native American flash mob hits Tacoma Mall, submitted by Marisa Petrich 3) Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Directed by Bruce Sinofsky & Joe Berlinger... more
Views: 831Tony Kushner, Lincoln & Me
Region: New York
I saw Tony Kushner at Temple Emanuel in Kingston, New York, on November 18. He was interviewed by the playwright Rinne Groff. Kushner worships Lincoln, almost literally. Nonetheless, he consistently refused ... more
Views: 716"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 an... more
Views: 545"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 illustr... more
Views: 398"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 ... more
Views: 510"... 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... more
Views: 515A 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... more
Views: 522
Member Since: December 2006
Location: New York
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# of Articles: 247
Website: www.softskull.com
Sparrow avoids refined sugar and National Geographic magazine, but he enjoys all jokes, including:
Tourist: Excuse me, but do you have a pumpkin patch?
Farmer: Why, do you have a leaky pumpkin?
His latest book is America: A Prophecy -- The Sparrow Reader (www.softskull.com).
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