My friend Caroline, a fellow Law & Order addict, can pinpoint the precise moment when Jack McCoy's assistant D.A.'s begin to "evolve" (we think the word is "regress") from law-book grinds into glamour babes, preparing to depart from the show for the greener pastures of higher-paying roles, stardom, a celebrity marriage. Suddenly, they're burnished to Read More
Why is there no CSI: Kansas, where they need it?
My friend Caroline, a fellow Law & Order addict, can pinpoint the precise moment when Jack McCoy's assistant D.A.'s begin to "evolve" (we think the word is "regress") from law-book grinds into glamour babes, preparing to depart from the show for the greener pastures of higher-paying Read MoreEverybody's choice for villain of the year, beating out even Charlize Theron's brilliant and ghastly portrayal of a serial murderer in Monster , is the unseen wife in Lost in Translation . She's perceived as a domestic witch, obsessed with redecorating her husband's study while the poor guy is having an existential meltdown halfway around Read More
I went to see Frida more out of duty to the sisterhood than genuine curiosity, and found myself both smitten and inspired. Having never responded to the feminist cult of St. Frida, and being put off by the folkloric art and self-dramatizing imagery of the doom-laden Mexican spitfire with that accusing monobrow look, I expected Read More
Riding the Madison Avenue uptown bus recently, I sat next to a man reading W.G. Sebald. I would have liked to be reading W.G. Sebald. Or even M.C. Beaton. Instead, I was making a list of things I had to buy and do: two wedding presents, one baby present, two sympathy notes, a humorous birthday Read More
I never thought the sight of wild and wayward women parading across the screen would gladden my heart, but oh, it does! By "wayward" I mean not just cute eccentrics or heavy-lidded vamps, but worse: girlfriends who contemplate murdering their lovers; wives who prefer their fathers-in-law to their husbands; mothers whose first instinct is to Read More
In what passed for news this summer, it was the season of bread and circuses, girl-in-the-well stories, sex in St. Patrick's. But even corporate and shock-jock scoundrelism and blowhard columnists tilting at straw men couldn't keep up with the sensational baby and animal photographs that dominated print and television. Freak-show humans alternated with cuddly and Read More
The parties I go to are not the sort of affairs where people exchange stock tips or lay the groundwork for insider trading; we're more likely to compare restaurants and argue over movies and books. But this summer, there has been furtive chortling over bull-market bulimia and each week's fresh revelation of corporate malfeasance.
With our Read MoreTravel that involves the consultation of maps, avid sightseeing and strenuous culture-vulture activity is enough like work that it absorbs the mind and waylays introspection and despond. It's the "mindless" vacation, the idyll, that poses a problem. I can endure unalloyed pleasure for only a few days, and then the alloy begins to creep in-the Read More
A few years ago, some of us leaving a party were standing in the foyer when we got onto the subject of adultery. Maybe another couple had just gotten divorced-always a slightly terrifying occurrence-and we began to ask each other, "What would you do if you found out your spouse was cheating?" Most of us Read More
I never realized my husband was so attached to our living-room rug-or could even have told you what color it was-until I brought a new one home on trial. All of a sudden, he was waxing nostalgic-practically teary-eyed-over the now-fraying and threadbare red carpet we'd had made when we bought the apartment in 1975. It Read More
In 1976, with a certain trepidation, I went to Iran as part of a female American delegation invited to participate in a women's film festival. There was the feeling in some quarters that Americans shouldn't lend their "prestige" to the Shah's dubious campaign to impress the West with the social and cultural advances of his Read More
Trying to defeat the terrorists in my own small way, I've gone about my business, traveling a good deal since Sept. 11. The first few trips were uneventful, but then I ran into a blitzkrieg of perturbations on land and air. The airlines in particular–having done their best to make the skies unfriendly even before Read More
I recently sat on a hush-hush committee of 13 that met in L.A. to nominate the year's outstanding films and filmmakers for the American Film Institute, which just inaugurated its own awards ceremony. The setting was California-cool, the group adrenaline-high rowdy, full of passionate discussions and violent arguments. Having signed a confidentiality agreement, I am Read More
In the rash of trend articles in the wake of Sept. 11, a New Man is being envisaged. Of course, a New Man is always being envisaged–ditto a New Woman–by editors and writers desperate to fill pages and help their readers to "make sense of it all," if not actually polish up their luster in Read More
