Hillary Frey | The New York Observer

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:30:14 -0400

Ever notice that the NYTimes.com most-emailed list is slanted toward an older demographic? Maybe because only folks over a certain age—like our Aunt Mabel—still use the email tool. Here's a quick, annotated guide to what grandma and grandpa thought you might be interested in from NYTimes.com ...

1. Peter Singer applies his rational choice philosophy to health care in the magazine this week. More popular than when he argues why genetically modified food is a...

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:43:54 -0400

Note: Mabel took a vacation day yesterday! So we'll pick up the tally with today's list.

1. Dowd on Sotomayor, against white men.

2. History of the Gyro! Mabel's gonna...

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:52:59 -0400

1. We were surprised this one wasn't at the very top yesterday morning, since it's an issue close to Mabel's heart. Social Security, up from second place, claims...

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:00:12 -0400

1. Frank Rich doesn't think Sarah Palin will get to the White House. Mabel finds this reassuring.

2. Well, this one's no shocker. Tara Siegel Bernard's piece from Friday...

Aunt Mabel Suggests...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:55:37 -0400

An observation: Auntie still doesn’t care about Iran! Despite multiple stories and an op-ed ‘above the fold’ on the website, the disputed election is nowhere to be...

Week in DVR: Sam Rockwell Rocks, Michael J. Fox Keeps His Head Up, Miranda July's Super-Indie

Mon, 04 May 2009 07:52:05 -0400

Monday: Charlie’s Angels

We’ve had Sam Rockwell on the brain since a colleague of ours saw his new movie Moon at Tribeca and came back raving. We love pretty much everything the guy does—remember the Clooney-directed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind?—but his turn as the secret bad guy who romances Drew Barrymore (and dances!) might be our favorite. Plus, speaking of Drew … this one reminds you how good she is when she’s...

NYPD Bloopers

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:37:37 -0400

Bad Cop
By Paul Bacon
Bloomsbury. 260pp. $15.

Anyone who has ever considered (like me) becoming a New York City police officer would be well served by Paul Bacon’s Bad Cop. Especially if, also like me, one isn’t exactly the type of person others would expect to carry a badge, baton and gun.

Mr. Bacon’s title is not to convey that he was a bad cop à la Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant, but rather...

Arthur Carter: Sculpture and Drawings

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:50:38 -0400

In 1990, after decades spent working as an investment banker, entrepreneur and the founder and publisher of two newspapers, including The New York Observer, Arthur Carter began a new career: sculptor. This Thursday, New York University’s Grey Art Gallery will present a selection of his works with “Arthur Carter: Sculpture and Drawings,” the proceeds from which will benefit the exhibition space, which is right on Washington Square Park.

Created in his Roxbury, Conn., studio,...

Mary Gaitskill’s Monsters

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:24:51 -0400

Don’t Cry
By Mary Gaitskill
Pantheon, 226 pp., $23.95

A few seasons back on Showtime’s recently-wrapped lesbian soap opera The L Word, one of the main characters, an aspiring fiction writer named Jenny Schecter, decided to take some inspiration from Mary Gaitskill. This was never explicitly acknowledged on the show, but was obvious to anyone familiar with Ms. Gaitskill: There was Jenny, with her longish dark bangs, in a Peter Pan–collared blouse...

March Madness: Spring-a-Ding-Ding! Here’s the Seasonal Thaw Culture Alert

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:06:23 -0500

March rolled into New York like a fully grown, growling, rather unfriendly lion, with a blustery storm that left city dwellers tromping through knee-deep snow like prairie trappers. Like the stock market, temperatures seem lower on average than we’d like. And higher digits will bring puddles as deep as your knees at every intersection; dripping subway ceilings; damp ankles; and the requisite litter of busted umbrellas clustered around every corner waste can.

Broadway Bows Down to Power Dames Fonda, Sarandon, Lansbury

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:09:36 -0500

When it comes to star power, the cineplex has got nothing on Broadway this spring. Let’s start with 33 Variations, the new play by Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project) that brings Jane Fonda back to the stage after 46 years, God bless her. In it, Ms. Fonda plays an academic who’s obsessed with Beethoven’s 33 Variations, and who is also in the early stages of illness; Colin Hanks (son of Tom, see p. 15)...

The Week in DVR: Medium's Magic, Tilda's Thriller, Football Friday

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:02:00 -0500

Monday: Medium
For reasons we can’t explain, we don’t know a single other person who watches Medium. It’s especially weird because the show, now in its fifth season, is one of the best domestic dramas on television. Sure, Patricia Arquette plays the psychically-talented Alison DuBois, and yes, she sees dead people (sometimes she even is dead people!). But the heart of Medium is the utterly realistic family dynamic between Alison, her husband Joe (a...

Becoming Julia: West Village Flips for Jaksic’s Croatian Creations

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:28:00 -0500

If you were to walk into Employees Only, the four-year-old West Village bar-slash-restaurant on Hudson at West 10th, around 8 or 9 on any given night, you might be inclined to turn on your heels and walk right back out. Twenty-something bankerish guys who you’d expect to be out of work, or at least exercising thrift, content themselves with pricey artisan cocktails and conversation with skinny girls with blowouts, cooing in European-ish accents. Older,...

Being Steve Martin

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:13:01 -0500

Out of My Skin
By John Haskell
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 224 pages, $14

John Haskell’s first book, a collection of stories published six years ago called I Am Not Jackson Pollock, was a weird little work that almost seemed to take fiction in a new direction, by being based in fact. Each piece was a psychological exploration of a real-life character (a person or an animal), a...

The Week in DVR: Remembering Heath, Old Ladies We Love, The New World

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:09:00 -0500

Monday: The Big Bang Theory

Everyone complains about the lack of decent sitcoms on television right now, but there are a few winners out there: How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, 30 Rock. We aren't totally prepared to bump The Big Bang Theory into the all-star category yet, but with a little more time, it may just get there. Four nerds, a beautiful woman, lots of science puns: it's...

Thinking Inside the Box

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:21:07 -0500

The Sky BelowBy Stacey D’ErasmoHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 271 pages, $24

What’s funny about Gabriel Collins, the narrator of Stacey D’Erasmo’s The Sky Below, is that even though he does many bizarre or risky things (as a teenager, he pilfers trinkets from neighbors’ homes, deals drugs and accepts blow jobs for cash; as an adult, he refuses a much-needed blood transfusion, sets up house on a Mexican commune and wears a giant pair of feathered wings...

The Week in DVR: French Fluff, Friday Night Lights Shine, Billy Wilder's 'Best Picture'

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:55:43 -0500

Monday: How I Met Your Mother

We were a little disappointed by Saturday Night Live this weekend when Neil Patrick Harris hosted. Not because he wasn't hilarious-he was!-but because they did too much Doogie and not enough Barney, Mr. Harris' slimy, yet weirdly charming womanizer on HIMYM. Over the last few years, this Friends-ish pal comedy has gained a healthy following, but it hasn't yet become the breakout we think it should be. So tune in...

Legendary! Neil Patrick Harris to Host SNL

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:05:12 -0500

Some bright news on an otherwise gray Monday afternoon: this coming weekend, Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting Saturday Night Live! We used to dream about Mr. Harris when he played Doogie (in fact, yours truly mentioned this in print a few years ago). We loved his speed-freak cameos in Harold and Kumar. These days we laugh so hard we cry at his portrayal of Barney Stinson, the over-the-top-but-still-believable womanizing scotch-swiller-catchphrase-maker on CBS's...

New Doctor Who Announced, British Folks Rage, Most Americans Shrug, and We Are A Little Disappointed

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:02:08 -0500

We have a well-documented love of Doctor Who here at the Observer, so we'd be remiss if we didn't comment on the announcement from this weekend that a replacement for beloved fop David Tennant, who will leave the show after filming a few specials this year, has finally been found. And the winner is.....26-year-old Matt Smith, a young man with a suitably angular face and slender frame to take over from Mr. Tennant (might...

The Week in DVR: A Dose of Reality, Brad Pitt's Bad Boy, Our Favorite Working Girls

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:09:52 -0500

Monday: Confessions of a Teen Idol

So it's a little more lowbrow than we usually recommend, but we're feeling like watching Confessions of a Teen Idol might actually count as charity work. The eight-episode reality series focuses on a handful of 80s was-beens-including Christopher Atkins (remember The Blue Lagoon?), Jamie Walters (90210 crooner turned fireman), and Eric Nies (he of the original Real World and The Grind)-as they deal publicly with their status as...

The Week in DVR: Charlie Brown Gets His Tree, Frosty's Back, and Timothy Hutton, Too

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:54:58 -0500

Monday: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Oh, what can we say? It's perfect. Perfect! The Peanuts gang shows us every possible way to screw up the holiday: Snoopy decorates his dog house like it's Atlantic City; Sally asks Santa to send cash money; Charlie Brown, that blockhead, mopes, sulks, overanalyzes, expects too much, and then settles on a terrible crappy little tree simply to test the Christian patience of everybody else. Thank God for Linus, who...

Dinner Parties Are for Suckers

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:34:31 -0500

If you’re looking to save money during this recession, you may have considered quitting those date night cocktails-that-turn-into-meals at Craftbar ($100-plus) or those Saturday meat-extravaganzas with pals at Employees Only ($200-plus) or the special occasion (I didn’t get laid off!) tasting menu events at WD-50 (with drinks, $300-plus). (All numbers cited here, by the way, are based on personal experience.) And you might think, “Hey, I can always have people to my house, right?”...

Art Stars on Parade

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:10:43 -0500

Lives of the ArtistsBy Calvin TomkinsHenry Holt and Company, 272 pages, $26

Calvin Tomkins’ new book, Lives of the Artists, is pure entertainment. Never mind the bland and even ugly jacket (a shame, since the Oxford edition of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, from which this book takes its name, features Vasari’s own Saint Luke Painting the Madonna, a lush and relevant choice of illustration)—Mr. Tomkins’ essays, all profiles from The New Yorker, are...

The Week in DVR: Dreamy Dreyfuss, Chappelle's Show, Opening Night

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:32:26 -0500

Monday: Inside the Actor's Studio

Like most everyone else, we're iffy on James Lipton, who hosts Inside the Actor's Studio. Or maybe we're just jealous, because he has the best job in the world. Either way, we'll be recording tonight when he talks to comedian Dave Chappelle for the show's 200th episode. Or rather, Mr. Chappelle talks to Mr. Lipton. In celebration of the big anniversary, the tables will turn for the...

John Leonard, With Admiration

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:57:42 -0500

When I heard this afternoon that the great culture critic John Leonard had passed away at the age of 69, I was reminded again of some small but significant exchanges I had with him seven years ago, when I was the assistant literary editor of The Nation.

I was 26, had barely published anything, let alone a piece of criticism that could be considered "serious." I was a somewhat newly affirmed,...

No More Fashion Diktats—Cuddly Couturier Says: D.I.Y., Gals!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:41:49 -0500

The funny thing about designer Nathan McCarthy is that he doesn’t care how you wear his clothes. The flowing silk charmeuse dress with the kimono sleeves? You decide which is the front or the back. The drapey cashmere crisscross sweater with the sheer trim? Hey, make it a dress! And when you get sick of it, cut off the sleeves, or chop it in half. Why not?

“My whole thing is that I’m...

Week in DVR: Ladies Who Lunch (and Work), Van Sant's Saddest, Roman Holiday

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:14:49 -0400

Monday: Roman Holiday
Ok, we know: you've probably seen Roman Holiday before. It's one of those classics that hasn't totally slipped through the cracks; it's easy to find on DVD, and it gets semi-frequent play on cable. But since we only saw this film for the first time recently, we wanted to urge all of you who have not seen the Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn Italian romp to do so, immediately. Hepburn-in her debut, Oscar-winning...

Enduring Love

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:01:41 -0400

To Love What Is
By Alix Kates Shulman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 180 pages, $22

The most remarkable and memorable part of the story Alix Kates Shulman tells in her latest memoir, To Love What Is, comes early on, before the main event. The book is mostly about what happened after Ms. Shulman’s 75-year-old husband had a terrible fall from a sleeping loft in her rural Maine retreat: He suffered significant and lasting brain...

Lennon Art On Display for Benefit of Hungry Folks

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:07:04 -0400

Hey, here’s a good way to spend $2. Starting tomorrow, and showing through the weekend, Open House Gallery on Mulberry Street will display a collection of John Lennon’s artworks in honor of the Beatle’s would-have-been 68th birthday. “Imagine Peace: A Look Into John Lennon’s Life Through His Artwork,” according to the press release, “features Lennon’s characteristic drawings in hand-signed pieces and limited edition prints, as well as serigraphs, lithographs, copper etchings and aqua tints;...

FX Renews Motorcycle Gang Drama

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:21:53 -0400

We were surprised recently when on vacation in South Carolina we met a guy who, during a brief conversation about television, asked if we watched the FX drama Sons of Anarchy-surprised, because we worried that we might be the only ones who did! Well, not so, and we're happy to hear that the cable network just picked up a second season of the show about a motorcycle gang in a small California town.

...

Broadway to Honor Newman

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:02:17 -0400

Tonight, in honor of Paul Newman, Broadway will dim its lights for one minute at 8 p.m. While best known for his many Hollywood star turns, Newman was also an accomplished stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1953 in the original New York production of William Inge's Picnic, in which he met and fell in love with his future wife, Joanne Woodward, the Broadway League tells Reuters. In 2003 he was nominated...

Phish Swims Back From the Deep

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:17:09 -0400

We'd be surprised if this news truly genuinely delights any of our readers, but we do like to keep you in the know around here, and give you a little laugh occasionally, so, here goes! After four years of separation, Phish, that 90s jam band as beloved by some as it was reviled by others--like us, who never made the leap over from the Grateful Dead (who we saw 13 times)--will reunite. But only...

Shrek Comes to Broadway With New Donkey Friend

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:03:19 -0400

For all you fans of giant green ogres out there, some news today about Shrek The Musical, which is gearing up for its November 8 Broadway previews. The show, which has been having a trail run in Seattle, will get a new donkey for its New York run. The Associated Press reports (via the NYT) that Tony nominee Daniel Breaker, who dazzled last season in Passing Strange, will be taking over the...

True Blood Gets Renewed After Second Go

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:58:36 -0400

Hey, good news for HBO's True Blood! After just two episodes-and a 24% spike in viewership with the second installment-Alan Ball's vampire drama has been renewed for a second season. We're thrilled.

...

Tony Kushner Wins $200,000 Prize

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:46:38 -0400

Playwright Tony Kushner has a big reason to smile this morning, as he's been named the first recipient of the ‘Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award,' aka the Mimi, which carries with it a $200K prize. The award, which was established earlier this year by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and which honors and promotes artistic achievement in the theater, will be presented at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 21, at 620 Loft &...

The Forever Reporter

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:49:21 -0400

The Forever War
By Dexter Filkins
Alfred A. Knopf, 368 pages, $25

Dexter Filkins is a runner. During his three and a half years in Iraq, he’d regularly lace up his shoes, don his short shorts and stride along the Tigris River even in unbearable, 100-degree-plus heat. At first it was a simple, there-and-back, five-mile course, past waving children and friendly folks, past a field of green the Americans had laid by the riverbank...

TRL Celebrates 10th Birthday by Going Off the Air

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:37:44 -0400

MTV announced yesterday that its afternoon video countdown show, Total Request Live, will be going off air in November after ten years on the air. The AP, via the NYT, reports that the show "will conclude in a two-hour special on a Saturday afternoon in November." Dave Sirulnick, executive producer of TRL, also "stressed that the show wasn't ending for good, but [MTV] felt now was the right time to give it a break...

Savage Grace Makers Get Sued for Making Straight Man Bi and Into Incest

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:54:58 -0400

On a recent day off, we decided (against all sane advice) to watch the indie movie Savage Grace. It stars Julianne Moore as Barbara Baekeland, the wealthy wife of the Bakelite plastics heir and demented mother of Tony Baekeland (Eddie Redmayne), who later murdered her because she was constantly trying to turn him straight. Got all that? No, seriously, this movie is twisted (and also kind of long and boring, even though the acting...

Week in DVR: Maxed Out, Anarchy, and... Lost!

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:23:02 -0400

Monday: Lost
It's a tradition for Lost fans to re-watch the previous season before a new season airs. But it's probably been a while since any of us have revisited the two-part pilot that sent us all down the rabbit hole of the Dharma Initiative, the black smoke monster, Ben Linus, Jack/Kate/Sawyer and everything else. (Similarly, if you never gave the show a chance, try it now! Please!) The Sci-Fi channel will air both...

Dark Knight Returns for Oscar Run

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:56:05 -0400

Ok, so we loved The Dark Knight like everyone else. We saw it at the IMAX at an ungodly hour and all that. And we agree with all the early Oscar blather for Heath Ledger as the Joker, etc. But, just in case anyone missed it, or if certain people might forget it, Warner Bros. will be re-releasing Christopher Nolan's second Batman feature in January, at prime Oscar voting season, Reuters reports (via...

Van Sant To Be Honored at Gotham Awards

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:08:31 -0400

The 18th annual Gotham Awards, to be held December 2nd at downtown Cipriani, will honor Gus Van Sant with a tribute, Variety reports. The director's forthcoming film Milk (which we're mildly obsessed with) opens November 26th. Spanish stunner Penelope Cruz will also be feted. More details below:

The IFP will fete the indie film stalwart alongside previously announced honoree Penelope Cruz on Dec. 2 at the Wall Street Cipriani. Van Sant's latest, "Milk,"...

So Far, Fall Shows Have Stinky Ratings

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:36:25 -0400

More evidence that this fall season of TV is weak: no one is watching anything!

Despite our tremendous affection for HBO's vampire drama True Blood, it tanked in the ratings. We suggested it might be Alan Ball's own personal John From Cincinnati, but it may even be worse: True Blood had fewer than half of John's viewers watch its premiere, or 1.4 million total. Fingers crossed that rebroadcasts and On...

Met Chooses Tapestries Curator as Director

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:50:09 -0400

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced yesterday that Thomas P. Campbell would be successor to Met director and chief executive Philippe de Montebello, ending a search that lasted eight months. Mr. Campbell is a 46-year old, English-born tapestries curator, who has been at the Met since 1995. More after the jump from the New York Times:

Reached by telephone, James R. Houghton, the board chairman, said, "Clearly we wanted...

So, Did Disturbia Rip Off Rear Window Or What?

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:15:12 -0400

We're feeling a little ‘duh' this afternoon after reading news that a lawsuit has been brought against Stephen Spielberg, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures claiming that their film Disturbia (the surprise 2007 hit starring Shia LaBoeuf as a teen voyeur) ripped off the Hitchcock masterpiece Rear Window. The L.A. Times (via the AP) reports that "The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed Monday in Manhattan, says "Disturbia" copied a short story Cornell Woolrich wrote in 1942 and...

Booker Shortlist Announced; Griping Begins

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:13:30 -0400

The Booker Prize shortlist was announced this afternoon, and, no surprise, people are already pissed about it. Industry newsletter Publisher's Lunch (sub. required) noted: "What a 'shock.' As usual, manufactured 'surprise' is the fuel of the Booker publicity machine, as the 'longlist' turns out to be a head fake for the real shortlist."

The New York Times, though in a thinly veiled way, seems to be upset too, pointing out that "this year, as...

Dawson's Eek! Pacey’s Back, Flesh Melts in J.J. Abrams' Latest

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:12:14 -0400

When it comes to casting leading women, J. J. Abrams may be the smartest person working in television. For his first show, Felicity, he plucked an unknown Keri Russell from the land of extras and made her an instant star, with her signature mass of kinky hair and antique visage. For Alias, he cast a barely known Jennifer Garner—she’d appeared on Felicity, and had also briefly played second-string to Jennifer Love Hewitt on a...

The Week in DVR: Winterbottom's Claim, 13 Going on 30, and Margaret Cho!

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:10:17 -0400

Monday: 13 Going on 30
Though we try to recommend a classic straightaway, this week we're going with a bubblegum hit. A 13-year-old girl, Jenna, makes a wish on her birthday to bypass adolescence and just be 30, which of course happens. (It's Big, gone girly!) She wakes up to discover that she's got an incredible body, a fab job as a magazine editor, a hot boyfriend, and a wardrobe to die for—but she's...

Thanks for the Memories, YCDTOTV!

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:33:56 -0400

When we occasionally have downtime at work, there are a few activities that we enjoy engaging in, with a little help from the old Internet. Like everyone else, we can kill hours on Facebook, looking at friends' friends, then friends' friends' friends. We Google our lost friends, or that sophomore we once drove to a Grateful Dead concert. But we also enjoy more innocent activities, like looking up those lost crushes from our...

MoMA Names New Curator

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Ann Temkin, a member of the curatorial team in painting and sculpture at MoMA, has been named the new head curator of that institution after a six month search. The post is considered the most prestigious gig in contemporary art, and Ms. Temkin has already announced some of her big plans for the museum, which is expanding its galleries into the tower that stands next door to the museum. “I plan to take a...

Hey, Look Who's on Entourage!

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:11:38 -0400

Given the continuing dearth of primetime options, we're pretty excited for Entourage to come back on the air this Sunday. So we couldn't help take a sneak peak at some of this season's guest stars, courtesy show creator Doug Ellin. In a chat with Broadcasting and Cable, Ellin notes that Mark Wahlberg (aka Entourage inspiration) will be back, and also that Tony Bennett and Phil Mickelson will make appearances. However, we're probably most looking...