This Christmas season, is there any better way to say “I love you” than to make someone watch a 300-pound transvestite eat dog excrement? The only honest answer here is “yes.” We joke, because we love. But if you’ve got a strong stomach or need to buy a gift for someone who does, feast on … Read more
Just about the only thing these three films have in common, besides starring William Holden and beginning with the letter S, is director Billy Wilder. He was a director equally at home with chilling psychological breakdowns and sunny romantic comedies, and had a rare aptitude for coaxing just the right tone from his lead actors … Read more
A Harry Potter book is that rare children’s title we’ll read in public without shame, not even hiding the cover under a Thomas Pynchon dust jacket nor claiming loudly that we’re “just holding it for someone else.” Truth be told, we’re looking forward to Book Five more than Film Two. But while J.K. Rowling continues … Read more
They were the Mr. Show of their day—sarcastic, wildly inventive, and a hit with the college crowd, but sometimes almost a little too smart for their own good. And that’s why Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and sometimes Zeppo have stood the test of time, while Charlie Chaplin now seems mawkish and Laurel and Hardy seem quaint. … Read more
I hope the writer who penned the concert announcement for Paul McCartney’s appearance at the Xcel Energy Center [The Broken Clock, September] was able to attend the event. A rare opportunity was available for the writer to broaden his/her horizons. If the writer attended, s/he would have heard three songs from a new album written … Read more
I relocated to these barren wastes in April ’01, and spent my first year searching—mostly in vain—for anything remotely stimulating, or even interesting. Imagine my delight when, on my first anniversary, I stumbled across your magazine. (And imagine my disappointment when the very next issue featured that lame “Top 50” list [“Our Brightest Stars,” June]. … Read more
Stephanie March asks why New York is called “the Big Apple” [Down the Hatch, October] and notes that “one theory is that the nickname was coined by jazz greats like Charlie Parker.” While this is a popular theory, it’s been disproven. I’m attaching a research note by Yale librarian Fred Shapiro: “The Random House Historical … Read more
Despite your accusation [“The Puppetmaster at Rest,” October], I planned to vote for Wellstone from the get-go, and I never saw one of Hillsman’s famous ads. And I sure as hell didn’t vote for Jesse (The Numbskull) Ventura, a man more interested in holding asinine grudges than in actual governance. Paul Wellstone’s success in 1990 … Read more
Thanks for the fine “Happy Anniversary” item last month [Good Intentions, September]. What an elegant expression of the mix of concern, anger, and hurt I live with as a result of the attacks, and the inadequacy, to put it mildly, of most of the public debate and actions that have followed. The juxtaposition of the … Read more
I’ve been a waitress for seventeen years. That’s pre-pepper grinder, fusion cuisine, touch screen, and “Sparkling, still, or tap?” If you look me up on the chronology of food-service evolution, I’m right there close to the beginning, walking upright and sporting thumbs, but with a hump on my back and a heavy, weighted brow indicating … Read more