Author Archives: admin

Tomato Time?

July 23, 2008 – 10:24 am

“You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook’s year. I get more excited by that than anything else. “

Iron Chef Mario Batali should know. I’m still waiting for that defining moment. Sure we’ve picked a couple sungolds off our vines so far but what I want is a caprese-worthy basket full of the sun-riped red jewels. Botanically speaking, the tomato is a fruit; in the culinary world, it’s used as a vegetable. However, it’s classified, I’m ready!

Permalink | Comment (1)

An Englishman in New York

July 22, 2008 – 8:05 am

If, “Manners maketh man” as someone said
Then he’s the hero of the day
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say

Sting wrote An English in New York in honor of Quentin Crisp, the gay writer known for his outlandish dress and witty quotes. Yet, without knowing the background, you can apply Sting’s sentiment to any way of being which is against the tide. Sting is one songwrier who can write the stunning sentence.

Permalink | Comment (0)

McCain’s Money ‘Wisdom’

July 21, 2008 – 7:49 am

“Beltway wisdom has it that the addition of such a corporate star will remedy Mr. McCain’s fiscal flatulence.”

It’s not really funny that a political candidate knows so little about the economy — but I did have to laugh at this “turn of phrase” in Frank Rich’s column in The New York Times titled “It’s the Economic Stupidity, Stupid.” Rich goes on to write that John McCain vows to read Greenspan’s book as a tutorial and is thinking he’ll learn to get online one of these days. Oh dear. The “right” vice president won’t fix what’s wrong with McCain. Along with his lack of fiscal know-how, I can’t imagine him ever uttering a stunning sentence.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Weekend Words: Pickens Plan

July 19, 2008 – 9:09 am

“I’ve been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.”

Said as only a Texas billionaire can. That’s T. Boone Pickens talking about his plan to stop America’s “addiction to foreign oil” and built wind turbines. His site is full of grand sentences such as “The Pickens Plan is a bridge to the future.” The head of the Sierra Club said “…Pickens is out to save America.” Pickens is taking his message directly to the people through a massive ad campaign. That, he says, will make energy a top problem to solve by the next President. Do his sentences resonate with you?

Permalink | Comment (0)

Tunick’s Bodies

July 18, 2008 – 9:03 am

“A body is a living entity. It represents life, freedom, sensuality, and it is a mechanism to carry out our thoughts. A body is always beautiful to me. It depends on the individual work and what I do with it and what kind of idea lies behind it – if age matters or not. But in my group works, the only difference is how far people can go if it rains, snows etc.”

New Yorker Spencer Tunick is known for his photographs of large numbers of nude people. Tunick has photographed thousands of nude people in public places all over the world, including 18,000 people in Mexico City’s main square. In 2007, Tunick posed hundreds of nude volunteers at Aletsch Glacier to draw attention to global warming. It was not warm however, as the volunteers braved 10 degree temperatures at the time of the photograph. See his work on his site.

While our society places such high value on having the “perfect” body, we’d be wise to remember Tunick’s words about all bodies being beautiful. He ought to know.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Gore’s Energy Message

July 17, 2008 – 12:02 pm

“We should tax what we burn, not what we earn.”

Al Gore is calling for Americans to end our reliance on fossil fuels and embrace greener sources of energy. His plan would include taxes on carbon dioxide production which he refers to in this sentence. Gore spoke at an energy conference today saying our future is at stake.

Gore is using his unique position for the greater good. By being so knowledgeable about energy and by speaking out, I’m sure he’ll have more influence on our country than he would have as president. Being independent has the advantage of saying the words he needs to say without worrying about the political impact. Let’s listen.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Erik Satie’s Music

July 16, 2008 – 8:07 am

Satie slipped into his scores such weird performance instructions as “on yellowed velvet,” “without pride,” “with the tip of the back teeth” — all aimed at destablishing the player’s traditional logic and good sense, and better preparing them to accept the unusual combinations of notes that he offered them.

What amazing ways to describe sound! I love The Magic of Satie played by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet – so moody. This sentence is from the CD’s jacket. The liner goes on to say that Satie was an “odd composer” whose music appeals to a state of mind and speaks to one listener at a time. Erik Satie lived mostly in Paris, wasn’t much appreciated in his lifetime and led a lonely life. I hear French melancholy in his hauntingly beautiful compositions.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Three Cups of Tea

July 15, 2008 – 8:25 am

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” Persian proverb

Everyone I know has read Three Cups of Tea – now I’m finally getting to it. I like the seeming incongruity in this quote which opens the true story of a mountaineer who failed to climb K2 and instead built 55 schools in the villages around Taliban country. I wonder how many people going about their ordinary lives can find the motivation to do extraordinary things.

You can read much more about Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin’s mission at the tea Web site.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Le Mariage in Fragments

July 14, 2008 – 7:42 am

I’m having a hard time. With a summer book. Phrases masquerading as sentences. Without verbs.

“She had felt love before, though not often, but this was different and holy. (new paragraph!) Which was how she knew something had gone wrong, some problem, he wouldn’t just disappear like this leaving her stranded in this French hotel without explanation.”

I wanted a fun read and Le Mariage by Diane Johnson promised “a lively romp.” However the use of sentence fragments, some even broken by separate paragraphs, is bothering the part of my brain which pays attention to grammar. It’s an intrusion on what the jacket touted as “playful, a splendid entertianment.” So far, Johnson seems like a great storyteller and the setting is Paris – so I’ll stick with it a bit longer.

Do you mind. Sentence fragments? Standards for “beach” books different than literature. Which lends a breezy quality or bothers us wordsmiths.

Permalink | Comment (0)

Elsie de Wolfe

July 11, 2008 – 7:58 am

“Long before I could understand why, I reacted against the rigidity of the Victorian era, with its uncomfortable chairs and sofas on which one could do nothing but sit upright, and its red, green, or saffron upholstery — all invariably arranged against a background of wallpaper on which colors that should never be allowed out together made faces at one another.”

Of course, if Elsie de Wolfe had simply said the colors didn’t go together, it would have been a boring sentence. Instead de Wolfe, sometimes called the First Lady of American decorating, showed her sense of the dramatic in speech as well as her rooms. De Wolfe made her mark on interior design with pale colors, by using her signature leopard fabric, and by embroidering taffeta pillows with the motto, “Never complain, Never explain.” De Wolfe dyed her hair blue, carried her Pekingese everywhere, tossed off witty quips to the press, wowed Paris with her fashionable clothes and once entered a fancy ball turning handsprings (a stunt Cole Porter included in his lyrics). She published The House in Good Taste in 1913. Never a dull moment!

Permalink | Comment (0)

« Previous Page — Next Page »

« Previous Page — Next Page »