Meeting: Saturday, December 1, 2007

November 5, 2007

NOVEMBER 5, 2007

ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS
Future Reading
Anthony Grafton
Dreams of a universal library.
Q. What's the upside/downside of digital libraries? If reading is an anti-social act, what does it matter if it's on a screen (a computer or a "Kindle" device) or on paper? Are books and bits complementing or conflicting?

Q. Does enforcing law as a civilian always make you a criminal? When the body that makes the law refuses to enforce? Watson's motives and methods are troublesome if not problematic. How is he different from fundamentalists? U.N. enforcers of WMD resolutions?

November 12, 2007

NOVEMBER 12, 2007

Q. If the purpose of profiling is to find criminals, what's the danger if it's inaccurate? In some disciplines, half-right is as bad as completely-wrong. Does that apply here?

ON TELEVISION
“Pushing Daisies.”
Nancy Franklin

Q. Is television a good medium for complex narrative? If it's free can it be good? What's the purpose of serial network television? Its value? Are there any good zingers in this review?

November 19, 2007

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

THE TALK OF THE TOWN
James Surowiecki on the writers’ strike.
Q. Is fairness a quantifiable measure? Or is it a game, as the economists believe? Does a strike have value?

ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS
The Player Kings
Claudia Roth Pierpont
Welles and Olivier take on Shakespeare.
Q. Which man had more success with Shakespeare as an actor? a director? on the stage? in film? How are their lives similar? different?

THE CRITICS
THE THEATRE
“Young Frankenstein,” “Peter and Jerry.”
John Lahr
Q. A movie made into a musical again. Has Mel Brooks gone to the well one time too many? Should we wait for the movie version? Or just rent the original? Why do the horses whinny at the mention of "Frau Blucher"?

THE CURRENT CINEMA
“Redacted,” “Love in the Time of Cholera,” “Margot at the Wedding.”
David Denby
Q. Do we really have too much media information? Or is there too much "data" to sift to find information? Is this Denby's point or does he mean something else?

Meeting: Saturday, November 3, 2007

October 22, 2007

The Corrections
Adam Gopnik
Of abridgments, commentaries, and art.

Q. Would you read an abridged book for pleasure? What book(s) would
you like to see abridged? What DVD commentaries have you experienced
that rate with Gopnik's examples?

A CRITIC AT LARGE

The Well-Tempered Web
Alex Ross
Why the Internet is good for classical music.

Q.

ANNALS OF LETTERS

Age of Reason
Arthur Krystal
Jacques Barzun at one hundred.

Q.

DEPT. OF POPULAR CULTURE

Fallen Idols
David Denby
Have movie stars lost their magic?

Q.

OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS

Man Behind the Curtain
Rebecca Mead
Peter Gelb at the Met.

Q.

PROFILES

Stealing Life
Margaret Talbot
David Simon and "The Wire."
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_talbot/?printable=true

Q.

October 29, 2007

THE SPORTING SCENE

The Extortionist
Ben McGrath
Scott Boras's plans for baseball.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/29/071029fa_fact_mcgrath?printable=true

Q.

Notes of A Gastronome

Extreme Chocolate
Bill Buford
Searching for the perfect bean, in Bahia.

Q.