Heidi's Cafe: January 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

Postcards from my recent web travels

How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read This article talk about Pierre Bayard's latest book. 'Because I teach literature at university level,' he says, regretfully, 'there is, in fact, no way to avoid commenting on books that most of the time I haven't even opened.' 'Non-reading' for Bayard, is 'a genuine activity'. It implies an engagement with literature and is different from mere 'absence of reading'. A 'true reader' is simply 'one who cares about being able to reflect on literature'. With so little time and so many books, he argues, it is better to spread the net wide and settle for a general sense of the multitude.

Panic in Detroit: Bob Stanley on Motown's great groove crisis.In the summer of 1967, Motown was at a creative and commercial peak. . . By the time athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave Black Power salutes at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Motown's slogan "The Sound of Young America", seemed laughable. What happened?

From the "didn't I see that on Seinfeld" category, a story of a long overdue book: When the book arrived at the Bedford (Mass.) Public Library in a battered cardboard box last November, the return name and address gave a few of the library staff a chuckle. “I. M. Layte” was the delinquent patron’s name. The address was just as humorous: “45 Rueful Way” in Los Angeles. But the mystery of the hardcover book, Du Barry, about the last of French monarch Louis XV’s mistresses, would deepen when Director Richard Callaghan realized the book was 48 years overdue.

Prisoners of Beckett is the meeting of two worlds that never usually converge. One is comprised of poetry and freedom, the other silence and obscurity. It's a true story, which begins in a high security prison in Sweden, where a young actor, Jan Jonson, decides to stage "Waiting for Godot" with a cast of five prisoners.

According to this story, Renowned Princeton writers join together to teach one class, 'Princeton University Reads'. Most universities offer events with the on-campus writers, but it's pretty cool to get so many of them to come to one class.

'Be generous with your diphthongs' Need to learn a Welsh or American accent in a hurry? Stephen Moss dons a Stetson and modulates his 'Oxford-in-the-50s' tones for a crash course that promises just that.

NPR's Top 10 Unknown Artists of 2007.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

NYC January 11-13, 2008: "So... What did you do?"

Well, we...
Saw amazing things such as:
--Allen Toussaint's warm and brilliant performance at the Blue Note

--The evocative and provocative Kara Walker Retrospective at the Whitney
--The seemingly endless sea of superlative art at the Met
--The stunning Pierpont Morgan Library that I've read about in the fascinating biography of Belle da Costa Greene that I'm reading now. In addition to the very interesting architectural setting, we saw an actual copy of the Gutenberg bible and the original ms of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a page of the Ulysses ms.
--The Seafarer which was very very good.

Ate fantastic meals such as:
--Dinner at Jane: Starter: Salmon and avocado tartare with soy wasabi citronette and wonton crisps; Main H: cod with fennel and white asparagus in a truffle oil and blood orange jus: Main D: Seared Diver Scallops with white corn pozole, apple smoked bacon and roasted poblano. Dessert: Cream puffs with pumpkin gelato, pumpkin seed brittle and caramel sauce.

--Lunch at Le Pain Quotidien: Soup, assorted cheeses and Marscapone, Honey and Fig Tartine
--Dinner at Le Madeleine: H: Grilled Atlantic Salmon with Sautéed Napa Cabbage, Potato Purée, Ginger-Soy-Lime Vinaigrette: D: Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop with Creamy Chorizo-Polenta, Broccoli Rabe, New York State Apple Glaze.
--Lunch at Grand Central Station Oyster Bar: New England style clam chowder and assorted east and west coast oysters

Got:

--To walk and walk and walk
--To spend a great few days with sweet babboo.
--To be regenerated, enlivened and inspired
--Reminded why we need go back very very soon...

More photos are on my flickr site

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Tres cool. Cool trays.

On the collaborative photo blog, I posted one photo of my latest purchase. While on some errands, I saw these lovely trays with vintage photographs. We ended up with two.
I particularly like the one of the two women; the woman on the left is scribbling something in a notebook; her delightfully impish grin makes me wonder what she's writing. I also love their shoes.