Several weeks ago, I was sitting at lunch opposite my twenty-eight year old second cousin once removed, with a host of other family members. It being a reunion of sorts, the mood was jolly. I have always liked my cousin- she is smart, brassy, funny- extremely well spoken and well educated. The kind of person that gives you hope for … More Details

Imagine if in “It’s A Wonderful Life“, Mr. Potter had actually prevailed and George Bailey, a ruined man, had to relocate. That couldn’t happen in a Frank Capra movie, of course, but sadly it can and did happen in real life, at Carnegie Hall, and without that much fuss or fall-out. Photographer Josef Astor’s new documentary “Lost Bohemia”, which opens … More Details

Anyone who missed Matt Richtel’s piece in last Sunday’s New York Times (“Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction”) should lay hands on it now. It’s a sobering if not downright frightening report on eroding attention-skills among today’s high schoolers, who increasingly forsake their summer reading- and sustained reading of any sort- in favor of video games and sites like Facebook … More Details

On the first of this month, Walter Matthau, who left us just a decade ago, would have turned ninety. Ruminating on this unnoticed milestone made me consider anew what a unique and gifted screen actor he was. Matthau was never endowed with the superficial attributes of your typical Hollywood star: he had a pronounced New York accent, a stooping gait, … More Details