January 2012
5 posts
3 tags
Oscars 2012: Wondering whether to catch up on some...
With the full Oscar nominee list just out, you may be glancing over it wondering whether some of the movies you missed are worth checking out on DVD or OnDemand via your cable channel. For instance, if you’re a guy, maybe you’re wondering whether The Help or Bridesmaids (which you ignored in the theaters) has any appeal for you. If you’re an adult without kids, maybe you’re now considering seeing...
Jan 25th
3 tags
Let’s hear it for "the Lonely Man"
Love this rousing 1967 retirement speech by adman Leo Burnett: http://bit.ly/xDnwpt Susan Cain, author of QUIET: The Power of Introverts has gotten a lot of attention for her recent article in the Times on groupthink. This particular section of Leo Burnett’s speech (the background music and crowd noise make me think of Mad Men) resonates with the thesis of her essay: “When you lose...
Jan 19th
3 tags
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: Chilly thrills →
Jan 4th
3 tags
Jan 2nd
3 tags
Saw 2 good movies this weekend: Tinker, Tailor &...
Reviews to come…
Jan 2nd
December 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Dec 21st
1 note
4 tags
Dec 9th
1 note
3 tags
THE ARTIST: Wordless charm →
Dec 7th
November 2011
9 posts
4 tags
THE DESCENDANTS and HUGO: Oscar bait? →
Nov 30th
3 tags
Think business cards are boring? A round-up of... →
Nov 27th
3 tags
Nov 18th
15 notes
6 tags
GLEE is still fun—if you just watch the music
I basically stopped watching GLEE because the storylines were so PC and ridiculous, but have been missing all the great musical bits by amazing B’way performers like Matthew Morrison, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, and Lea Michele. So was very happy to find that BroadwayWorld.com is featuring just the Glee musical highlights on their site. Of course, I miss the context of all the...
Nov 17th
2 notes
4 tags
We need to get more "Enlightened"
Loved this recent shout-out for HBO’s “Enlightened” in Entertainment Weekly: “Why ‘Enlightened is the best show nobody’s watching.” Here’s my two cents: This HBO show is a great example of how 30-minute television should be: quirky but complex characters (some of whom I feel I KNOW, but I’m not naming names), smart heart-felt...
Nov 16th
1 note
3 tags
Nov 6th
2 tags
Nov 4th
30 notes
1 tag
MARGIN CALL: High stakes thrills →
Nov 1st
2 tags
Nov 1st
1 note
October 2011
2 posts
7 tags
Civility? We could learn a lesson or two from...
It seems I’m up to my neck in civility these days. First, last month I packaged and published a new little paperback/ebook called CIVILITY IN AMERICA for The Dilenschneider Group. It features essays from various ‘thought leaders’ like Charles Osgood, Philip K. Howard, John Brademas, and Steve Forbes. Then I read and loved Amor Towles’s RULES OF CIVILITY (as reviewed in...
Oct 8th
12 notes
1 tag
A romantic & nostalgic read, with an edge
I saw RULES OF CIVILITY by first-time author Amor Towles dismissed by one reviewer as “The Great Gatsby meets Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as told by Mary McCarthy.” Is that a criticism? Quite a mashup, I say. And I also think this first novel is more original than that. I really enjoyed this romantic ride through an interesting year (1938) in the life of an independent young woman trying to...
Oct 2nd
September 2011
6 posts
1 tag
Sep 21st
3,449 notes
4 tags
Sep 21st
4 tags
Sep 15th
5 notes
CONTAGION: Infectious chiller →
Sep 13th
Did Amazon just make authors’ lives harder? →
My article on Amazon’s new @author feature, connecting Kindle readers to authors via Twitter, ran on HuffPost recently. You can go there to read it, and see the dozens of comments it sparked, or…
Sep 12th
3 tags
Sep 4th
10 notes
August 2011
13 posts
4 tags
Why architect Antonin Gaudi remains unmatched
P.J. O’Rourke in THE ATLANTIC goes to Barcelona to explore the great architect and his works. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/god-8217-s-engineer/8595/ (Nice work if you can get it.) Here’s an earlier post with a smattering of Gaudi and food photos from my October ‘11 trip to Barcelona and Madrid:...
Aug 25th
4 tags
Aug 24th
5 notes
1 tag
Aug 22nd
203 notes
1 tag
Aug 22nd
25 notes
3 tags
Top 12 viral videos that have defined the genre
This list accompanied the recent NYTimes story on the amazing success of The Gregory Brothers’ autotune songs. I was rather dismayed to find out how many of these “art forms” I’d already seen. They’re in our heads forever now…. Click here to see all the videos on the list below: Evolution of Dance Charlie Bit My Finger—Again The Shining Redux Dramatic Look ...
Aug 18th
THE HELP: Touching period drama →
Aug 17th
4 tags
Here’s my review of THE HELP
From my ReelAnswers.net site, in a Q&A format: What is The Help about? The adaptation of the breakout debut novel by Kathryn Stockett follows the book’s plot faithfully. It keeps an intimate focus on young college graduate Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), who comes home to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963 to figure out her future. She’s different from her friends and family, and ends up...
Aug 16th
2 notes
5 tags
Aug 10th
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Wild thrills →
Aug 9th
4 tags
Aug 7th
15 notes
3 tags
Aug 6th
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE: A bumpy ride →
Aug 2nd
5 tags
Aug 1st
July 2011
6 posts
Making the most of your digital reach →
Here’s an example of a successful author making the most of at least one new digital avenue. This inexpensive original e-story is designed to whet appetites for the new novel in September. “Lee…
Jul 21st
3 tags
Harry never loses or breaks his glasses
Saw the new Harry Potter. It’s as gray and violent as the previous one. But my biggest peeve is the acting. It mostly consists of lots of intense staring. When the older thespians do it, they convey strong emotions and it works. When the kid actors do it, you just get a big blank. The wooden acting along with the often-absurdly severe condensations of the books have always been for me the two...
Jul 16th
4 tags
“Cavorting” and “gamboling” embodied
While lethargically doing pull-ups on a machine at the health club this evening, I stared out the picture window onto a big empty soccer field as the tail end of a thunderstorm sprinkled down. Suddenly, across the field, a deer emerged from the surrounding bushes moving slowly onto the field, followed by two large fawns. While the mother stood there chewing her cud and looking around, the two...
Jul 8th
2 notes
Social marketing as a creative endeavor →
When it comes to social media, think self-expression not self-promotion. If you’re a successful author, you’ve probably already overcome any lingering fears about “putting yourself out there.” Yet,…
Jul 8th
4 tags
BUCK and A BETTER LIFE: Small films, big hearts →
Jul 6th
3 tags
Listenfred-wilson: Star Spangled Banner - Sufjan...
Jul 4th
57 notes
June 2011
9 posts
4 tags
Interesting take on introverts
I once had an idea for a website called “Introverts Unite!” but somehow that seemed like an oxymoron—and wasn’t helped by the exclamation point. This NYTimes link, though, would have appeared on that blog: “Shyness: Evolutionary Tactic?”  Will be looking forward to Susan Cain’s upcoming book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts, sometime in 2012.
Jun 30th
Are you comfortable with social media? →
Not everyone is. And to get the most out of it you have to be comfortable. Comfortable with putting yourself out there. Revealing your opinions. Asking people to help you by sharing tweets and…
Jun 29th
2 tags
Jun 28th
3 tags
Jun 27th
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS: A comedy of nostalgia →
Jun 9th
3 tags
Jun 8th
3 notes