Sweet nothings
Pow! Roy Lichtenstein’s brightly colored enlargement of a fight scene from a comic strip in Sweet Dreams Baby (1965) smacks you right in the face. But the impact is purely visual. Pop Art rarely offers much more than this kind of immediate thrill, but that is its greatest strength. Sometimes you just don’t want to…
Henrietta’s passage to India
Makhan Singh, chef-owner of Thali of India, has traveled an interesting road. Originally a food inspector from Punjab in northern India, he spent time in an Italian restaurant in Germany before coming to New York City. There, he worked in Indian restaurants, eventually winning a prize in a Glastonbury, Connecticut, food competition for his chicken…
A voyage through Italian cinema
Ah, there’s where I left my sense of decency: A scene from ‘Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom.’ The administrators of the film program entitled “Your Voyage to Italy” — at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theatre this month and next — could scarcely have chosen two more distinctive works to initiate the series.…
The lies of the Godfather of reality
There are more than a handful of high-profile films in theaters right now, and they’re all vying for both Oscar attention and your hard-earned money. Two of them happen to be the directorial debut of even higher-profile, larger-than-life movie stars, and, coincidentally, both focus on real people and actual events. But that’s where the similarities…
Going to California
Will’s not dead. Though rumored to be taking a dirt nap, The Monty’s Krown (and Korner) owner is alive and well. It was his business partner who passed. Condolences to his family. So, I went to the Krown to see The Tyrones and Oceanside. I already knew what to expect from The Tyrones, and…
Can we talk?
This month, as you may have heard, Louisville, Kentucky, leaped from 67th to 16th on the list of the largest cities in the US. Well, it wasn’t exactly one fell swoop; the jump — which happened because the city and county governments merged — was the result of an election in 2000. Which was…
News Briefs 1.22.03
Peacefully resolved It seems Washington will thrust the country, and maybe a large part of the Middle East, into a dirty little war soon — or a big one. But not everybody is sitting still for this. For example, during the run-up to a large anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC, on January 18, local…
Reader Feedback 1.22.03
Doyle’s privacy I find myself in the rather unusual position of defending County Executive Jack Doyle in regards to the commentary by Chris Busby, “Mr. Doyle’s Neighborhood” (December 31). First, I am naive enough to think that Mr. Doyle, even as a public figure, should be allowed to have a private, candid conversation outside…
Old and new: abortion issues never die
It’s tempting to cram the many-sided Roe v. Wade controversy into a 30-year frame, 1973 to the present.
The XX files
Pregnant with my second child. Week 21. Routine ultrasound. The technician squirts goo onto my swelling belly and presses the ultrasound wand against me. I’m mesmerized by the ghostlike baby on the monitor. Gray pearls strung in a gentle curve form the spine. A blob of black is the bladder. “There’s the…” the technician…
Chipping away at Roe
Nearly 30 years after the Supreme Court recognized women’s constitutional right to end unwanted pregnancies through abortion in Roe v Wade, that right is facing what may prove to be its most serious challenge. Anti-choice activists have been rallying against Roe for decades, chipping away at the decision’s legal foundation with the help of…
