A large swath of New England is expecting a big snowstorm this weekend, and that includes me. I’ve got a lot of food in the fridge, my place is warm, and I’m hoping for no power outage so that it … Continue reading →
Instant hit: …[The Bee Gees’ tech guy Karl Richardson] also has a clear recollection of how he first came to hear ‘Stayin’ Alive’: “I distinctly remember Barry saying ‘Boy, Karl, have I got a song for you,’ and sitting down … Continue reading →
Here’s another death of a celebrity in the arts, the actor and singer who adopted the memorable moniker Meat Loaf. He was 74 and no cause of death was given, and although COVID is rumored, I don’t know whether or … Continue reading →
Here’s a companion piece to the video in yesterday’s open thread: Hey, why not sneak in a Bee Gees tune, who with 1000+ songs have one for everything? Originally released in 1975, this is a slightly later live version (and … Continue reading →
The subject of the Tolstoy marriage came up in this thread, in the context of a discussion about Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina. In that book, Tolstoy presents a thinly-disguised more idealized version of his own marriage to his wife Sonya, … Continue reading →
Another person connected with the arts has died. This time it’s WSJ drama critic and playwright Terry Teachout, who died unexpectedly at the age of sixty-five. Teachout wasn’t just a drama critic and playwright, either; he was “an acclaimed author, … Continue reading →
On Monday I mentioned that it seems as though there have been a lot of celebrity deaths lately. And now I see that pop singer Ronnie Spector has died: Like burning magnesium, the Ronettes flared hot, brightly and quickly: Their … Continue reading →
Kevin McCarthy shows some of it: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told Breitbart News that as speaker of the House he would strip Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of their assignments on the House Permanent Select Committee … Continue reading →
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting was the first book I ever read by Milan Kundera back when it was first published in 1980, and it probably is still my favorite work of his. It’s a very strange but wonderful … Continue reading →
Betty White died just a couple of weeks short of her 100th birthday, and as far as I can tell she was healthy to the end and died in her sleep. Here’s a fairly comprehensive piece about her life. White … Continue reading →
Oh how I detest autotune. Rick Beato doesn’t detest it quite as much as I do, but he’s not the least bit fond of the way it’s commonly used today:
Continue reading →[NOTE: The topic of the two-volume graphic novel Maus came up in a recent thread, and I’ve decided to republish a review that I first wrote in 2009. So here it is.] I recently reread the two-volume graphic novel Maus, … Continue reading →