The Class

March 8, 2009

I saw “The Class” last night and thought it was extremely good. Not “Milk” or “Waltz with Bashir” good, mind you, but good. The film is a pseudo-documentary set at a Paris junior high school, and portrays the tensions that arise as a young French teacher, François Marin (played adroitly by François Bégaudeau, the author [...]

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Towards the End of the Morning

January 31, 2009

When they sat down at the table she couldn’t manage to eat anything. She held Bob’s left hand in both of hers under the corner of the table and gazed at him.
‘Oh, Bob!’ she said.
‘Oh, Tessa!’ said Bob, taking a forkful of stew with his disengaged hand. . . .
. . .’To us, Tess’ he [...]

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Thoughts on Milk + Q/A with Van Sant, Black, and Franco

January 21, 2009

J and I saw Milk last Saturday at its first London screening, followed by a question and answer session with Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black. In an unexpected bonus, James Franco also joined the fun. I absolutely loved the movie–Sean Penn was amazing. I don’t think I’ve cried that much at a movie [...]

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Tidbit: Yeats Reading The Lake Isle of Innisfree

January 18, 2009

Probably only news to me, but was pleased to find this on You Tube. You can also hear his 1936 National Lecture on Poetry here (RealPlayer required, sadly).

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Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney

December 28, 2008

My reading time these days consists primarily of two 30 minute stints each week day on the Tube and three or four hours I cobble together most week-ends, so choosing a book is something I do with a reasonable amount of care. (For the same reasons, don’t expect eloquence here–this blog amounts to [...]

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The Aura of Failure?

December 21, 2008

Conspicuous consumption might seem to be one of those areas to come under pressure given the state of the economy. Tell that to Motorola. With another example of the exquisite business sense that has helped the firm descend into the ranks of technology also-rans, the firm has come out with a $2,000 phone. The Aura, [...]

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Text as Music

December 1, 2008

I am insanely busy at the day job, so haven’t much time to post here. However, did come across this little audio gem. Enjoy.

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Eliot on Parade

November 16, 2008

For those of you in the neighborhood, the TS Eliot festival is about to get underway in London. I haven’t revisited Eliot in years, but reading The Wasteland was an early transformational experience for me. Should be ample incentive to dust off the old facsimile editon.
Festival details can be found here. It consists of a [...]

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The Art of Eating Ortolans

November 15, 2008

“Ortolans are one of France’s smallest birds of passage. They are brownish-grayish, gregarious buntings; but the peasants have always affectionately called them sparrows . . . The method of their capture and the subsequent stuffing of them to the limit of corpulence within their small measure has not changed since they figured as dainties on [...]

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The White Tiger-Yay or Nay?

November 9, 2008

Was thinking of grabbing a copy of Andiga’s Booker prize winning “The White Tiger,” but have been a bit put off by some of the criticism I’ve seen. The Irish Times’ Eileen Battersby lives up to her name:

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