Once a year I pull out my VHS set of the 1981 miniseries Brideshead Revisited based [almost to the letter] on the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh. I have no idea why I love this series. Maybe it was the excellent writing, acting, costuming, setting and characters who would have absolutely nothing to do with [...]
I read Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir of her year off to reset her senses and sense in Italy, India, Bali, but I didn’t finish the book. I picked it up right after finishing Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea. His quest raised the stakes; so a self-help travelogue was probably not the best [...]
John T. Edge’s Fried Chicken: An American Story has to be one of the best pleasure reads I’ve had all year. Edge is director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, educator and contributor to the New York Times, Savour, Gourmet, Oxford American. For Fried Chicken, Edged traveled the country (north AND south) collecting stories and configuring [...]
Just for laughs, I thought I’d try out this on-line writing analysis program created by 27-year-old software developer Dmitry Chestnykh. BTW Chestnykh speaks English as a second language. He is Russian and lives in Montenegro. Seems both Margaret Atwood and I write like Stephen King. Though I haven’t read King because I don’t like being [...]
Pam Grier‘s going to be in the neighborhood. She’s making a DC stop at Busboys and Poets (2021 14th Street, NW) June 13th at 6 PM to discuss and sign her new book Foxy…My Life In Three Acts. The title of the second act makes me chuckle – “Fros and Freaks.” This comes in between [...]
Next Tuesday, June 8 (6:30 PM) Eatonville Restaurant‘s Food & Folklore dinner series is focusing on Moonshine! I’ve been talking with Max Watman, author of Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw’s Adventures in Moonshine, the special guest speaker for the evening. [Books will be available for sale and for signing.] I’ve never been big [...]
CAN, DO, TEACH, READ The Big Read cranks up in DC this week. Under the chairmanship of Dana Gioia, the National Endowment for the Arts decided to launch an initiative to support local efforts to present community reads and address what they sited as a declining readership among American adults. D.C.’s been hosting Big Read [...]
Is Reading Rainbow really coming back?! [Tweet from host LeVar Burton.]
Anyone who keeps up with the artifact and art market or have seen at least one “Indiana Jones” movie, is familiar with the underground and sophisticated ring of curatorial thieves waiting for an opportunity (natural or man-made) to pounce on valuable artifacts for very wealthy clients. Oh, let me not forget – to feature on [...]
Here’s the next Food and Folklore event for January: Here’s the menu: Passed Hors D’ouevres Mojito Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers Tostones topped with Black Bean Puree and Habanera-Lime Sour Cream Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche Empanadas de Queso First Course Avocado-Mango Salad with Jalapeno Lime Vinaigrette Entrée Grilled Pork Tenderloin or Red Snapper with Guava Glaze [...]
