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All Hail Nora Ephron, Mostly

March 3, 2015 in Age Matters, Book Matters, Feminist Matters

In between gigs, I’ve been working through The Most of Nora Ephron, a posthumous collection of Ephron’s essays, scripts, blog posts, books. Mostly I love it. Even When Harry Met Sally is less cloying on the page, and her early work is so smart and acerbic that it makes me envious of a girl she left behind long before she died. Sure, her class biases are a bummer but in her writing (less in her films) she relishes so much–and with such a crisp specificity–that her pleasure is infectious. It hits me: Imagine what this woman would have accomplished had she lived to the age she’d assumed she would. (In early pieces she blithely refers to her 80s though she died at 71.) Once she’d achieved grand dame status, she’d likely have maintained her generosity of spirit while taking off the good girl gloves that never suited her anyway. Oh, how our spines would have straightened. The lesson is there for the taking: Let none of us assume we’ll achieve a ripe old age. Everything we do may duly suffer.

The Natural Assets of ‘Mozart in the Jungle’

February 28, 2015 in Book Matters, Reviews, TV Matters

Ever since she warbled “You Belong to Me” in 1979’s “The Jerk,” I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Bernadette Peters. With her cupid bow mouth and Mae West-on-helium delivery, the star of screen and stage boosts everything in which she appears, even the cruddy 1989 Clint Eastwood vehicle “Pink Cadillac.” So it speaks volumes that the Tony-awarded singer plays one of the few non-musicians in “Mozart in the Jungle,” the Amazon original series about New York’s classical music scene. Just talking about it converts me into an overbearing mother: Dear, you’d look so nice if you stood up straight and brushed the hair out of your eyes. Here is a show yet to capitalize on its natural assets.

A chief asset is the story behind the show: Blair Tindall’s 2005 eponymous memoir. After cutting her losses and getting a journalism degree, the professional oboist wrote this clear-eyed, white-knuckled account of the economic and emotional realities facing classical instrumentalists today. Both bleaker and more libidinous than the show, the book spares nothing and no one – from badly structured arts education initiatives to preening benefactors to the substance abuse, narcissistic injuries, and erotic misadventures of Tindall and her peers. Through her eyes, this seemingly austere subculture is as degenerate as a heroin den; she herself made headlines after dumping two bottles of weed killer in “science guy” Bill Nye’s garden when he left her after seven weeks of marriage. Continue Reading →

A ‘Parks and Recreation’ Bibliography

February 26, 2015 in Book Matters, Feminist Matters, TV Matters

Though nothing will ever fill the hole in our hearts left by “Parks and Recreation,” the fake books that appeared throughout the series may take the edge off the pain. Here I’ve assembled a “P&R” bibliography – complete with two in-office pamphlets and a handful of real books embraced by key characters.

A History of Pawnee, Indiana
In Season 3, the “Parks and Recreation” gang compiled a time capsule containing this handy pamphlet, complete with a list of the town’s former slogans. “Pawnee: The Paris of America.” “Pawnee: Welcome, German Soldiers.” “Pawnee: Engage With Zorp.” “Pawnee: Zorp Is Dead.” “Pawnee: Birthplace of Julia Roberts.” “Pawnee: Birthplace of the World-Famous Julia Roberts Lawsuit.” “Pawnee: First in Friendship, Fourth in Obesity.”

It’s Not the Size of the Boat: Embracing Life with a Micro Penis
When a Pawnee Public Library clerk announces Ron Swanson owes fines for this book, we know the “Parks and Recreation” director’s ex-wife, the nefarious Tammy 2, is once again on the prowl. Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy