Brett & You

My latest story at cowbird.com: Last Man Standing

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:00:00 -0400

My latest story at cowbird.com: Last Man Standing

My first story shared at Cowbird.com, a mortifying tale of...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:45:52 -0400

My first story shared at Cowbird.com, a mortifying tale of adolescent awkwardness.

Boy, do I love Arlene Francis.

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:11:55 -0500

Boy, do I love Arlene Francis.

Chez embeedub: On not being middle class in New York City

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:24:22 -0500

Chez embeedub: On not being middle class in New York City:

embeedub:

On Friday, the New York Times ran a classically tunnel visioned New York Times feature, about what it means to be middle class in Manhattan. The Times would have you believe that to live in the Apple, you’re going to need about $235K a year to just hit that modest goal.

If you are defining…

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:10:47 -0500

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Opening day of the Empire State Building, photographed by Samuel...

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 22:50:44 -0400

Opening day of the Empire State Building, photographed by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1931.

Love this.

Ingrid Bergman would have been 97 years old today, and the crush...

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:02:53 -0400

Ingrid Bergman would have been 97 years old today, and the crush on her we acquired the first time we saw CASABLANCA back in 1978 continues unabated. Few, if any, actresses have been more radiantly beautiful on the silver screen.

Happy 104th birthday to photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson,...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:11:05 -0400

Happy 104th birthday to photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, wherever he may be.

Is your alarm (or, at the very least, your DVR) set for 6 am...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 00:12:01 -0400

Is your alarm (or, at the very least, your DVR) set for 6 am tomorrow? It should be, because Tuesday’s featured star for TCM’s Summer Under the Stars festival is Kay Francis, which means 24 hours of sublime melodrama and comedy as only Ms. Francis can deliver it.

David Rakoff died today, and the world is much the worse for his...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:47:30 -0400

David Rakoff died today, and the world is much the worse for his passing.

David and I were friends. Not close friends — a tick above acquaintance level, I would say. He was open to advising me when we first met, a time when I was trying to figure out how I might try to carve out a writing career, and we lunched together a few times. He also agreed to serve as guest lecturer at a humor workshop I used to teach, patiently and wisely answering every question my students threw at him.

And we teamed a couple of years later to guest-lecture at a mutual friend’s class in essay writing at a local university. To say that he was the highlight of our tag-team act that day would be to vastly understate. I was just trying in vain to keep up, to validate my mere presence alongside him.

He was clever and honest and insightful and whip-smart. And just as importantly, he was kind and generous and gentle. He was one hell of a writer and an even better human being. I miss him already, and I mourn the work of which we’ve been robbed, the passionate, acerbic, hilarious prose he would have given us.

He had surely had dozens — hundreds — of closer friends than me, but I treasured our connection and I loved him dearly. I’m glad he’s no longer suffering, but would give my left arm to have him back here with us. We need more people like David Rakoff in this world, not fewer.

I interviewed David in 2001 for Salon.com. I’ve been sharing the url all over the web today as my heartfelt but admittedly modest tribute to him. I hope you enjoy it.

It’s a conundrum…

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:14:00 -0400

It’s a conundrum…

Let ‘em eat cake, huh, Anne?

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:47:00 -0400

Let ‘em eat cake, huh, Anne?

The wife and I at Sunday’s Jazz Age Lawn Party at...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:09:00 -0400

The wife and I at Sunday’s Jazz Age Lawn Party at Governor’s Island. I really like this shot, which was taken by jwoodford35 / Flickr.

This weekend, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra will...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:12:00 -0400

This weekend, Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra will again be featured at the annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island. I’ll be there, will you?

A few years ago, I did a bit of strictly amateur “after”...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:43:53 -0400

A few years ago, I did a bit of strictly amateur “after” photography to contrast with Berenice Abbott’s 1930s “before” shots, just as her photographs were an updating of what had come before. Stroll through these NYC neighborhoods, all south of 23rd Street; treasure what remains from Abbott’s time and imagine what is still to come.

In 1935, the WPA supplied Abbott with money, a photographic assistant, and a team of nine research assistants. She spent the next four years documenting Depression-era New York. Read more…

Happy Hollingshead Day! It was 79 years ago tonight that...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:10:14 -0400

Happy Hollingshead Day! It was 79 years ago tonight that Richard Hollingshead Jr. opened the world’s first drive-in theater in Camden, New Jersey. Google’s marking the occasion with this delightful “doodle,” and we encourage you to celebrate by patronizing your nearest drive-in theatre! Read more…

I don’t know this artist’s name, but I’ve seen...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:53:14 -0400

I don’t know this artist’s name, but I’ve seen him around town a few times. I like his work.

I like this entryway to a residential building near my...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 23:43:00 -0400

I like this entryway to a residential building near my workplace. That sign would be nice to come home to on a daily basis, wouldn’t it?

Tornado season is serious business in my native state of...

Wed, 30 May 2012 15:18:50 -0400

Tornado season is serious business in my native state of Oklahoma. Photo by Brad Hurley, via Oklahoma Today.

My aunt just presented my siblings and me with a stack of...

Wed, 30 May 2012 13:03:00 -0400

My aunt just presented my siblings and me with a stack of photographs, letters and other documents that had belonged to her parents (our grandparents). This is the announcement my parents sent out on the occasion of my birth (to give it proper context, I should explain that my father, who’s still going strong at 83, was, for more than thirty years, a Volvo dealer).

This pleases me to no end, I have to say. It’s so clever, and I love imagining my folks, who were 29 and 25 at the time, working on this together.