Urban Kvetch: “Mediabistro.com”
Mediabistro.com Why don’t you ask my former intern, the one who used to fetch me lattes, to conduct a behind-the-scenes report on Heeb and fail to disclose in her “report” that she was, in fact, Heeb‘s former stamp-licker? Seriously, how low can you go? You’re getting a lecture on journalistic integrity from a magazine whose...
Urban Kvetch: Cupcakes
Cupcakes Must all our pleasures now be “luxe”? The humble iced cupcake used to give a cheap but satisfying thrill. No more. It’s had a grotesque and pricey makeover. Icing’s out, replaced by a thick, damp gob of buttercream. It sits like an absurd, top-heavy bonnet atop the squat and dowdy cake. And you just...
Urban Kvetch: Cabining
Cabining Cabining is like camping, but in little cabins. You separate from nature with paper-thin walls, have somewhere to run to when the animals get aggressive and look like a hero for working the fire pit. Would it have been too much to ask to put an air-conditioned lobby next to “Sycamore Village”? I guess...
Urban Kvetch: The WGA
The WGA I come from Russian-Jewish stock. I practically have socialism running in my veins. But when, in the wake of a nasty strike, the WGA leadership makes public the names of those who have opted out of the union and calls on the membership to “ostracize” (read: blacklist) those writers, it evokes bitter memories...
Urban Kvetch: The Star’s Producing Partner
The Star’s Producing Partner You grew up with him. Or went to acting class with her. Or were the first dude he met the day before finally getting cast on the show that Changed His Life. But because your name is right next to his on the bungalow, where, from your perch, you get to...
Urban Kvetch: Bad Nuts
Bad Nuts Once in a while, even when munchin’ on, say, a bag of high-end Bazzini cashews, you’ll come across a nut that tastes a li’l fruitier than the others. Disgusting. So, who in their right mind would have the gall to sell a bag of just those heinous nuts? I tried one of those...
Urban Kvetch: The WGA
The WGA I come from Russian-Jewish stock. I practically have socialism running in my veins. But when, in the wake of a nasty strike, the WGA leadership makes public the names of those who have opted out of the union and calls on the membership to “ostracize” (read: blacklist) those writers, it evokes bitter memories...
Urban Kvetch: The Star’s Producing Partner
The Star’s Producing Partner You grew up with him. Or went to acting class with her. Or were the first dude he met the day before finally getting cast on the show that Changed His Life. But because your name is right next to his on the bungalow, where, from your perch, you get to...
Urban Kvetch: Bad Nuts
Bad Nuts Once in a while, even when munchin’ on, say, a bag of high-end Bazzini cashews, you’ll come across a nut that tastes a li’l fruitier than the others. Disgusting. So, who in their right mind would have the gall to sell a bag of just those heinous nuts? I tried one of those...
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
In Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Marina Zenovich surveys the underreported details of Roman Polanski's rocky trial for statutory rape
Kosher Butchers
James Toback’s screenplays trail the depressing lives of an eccentric hit man (Fingers) or excessive gamblers (Black and White, Harvard Man, The Gambler) and capture the stories of the felonious titular subjects in Bugsy and Tyson, a documentary Toback also directed, which premiered at Cannes in the spring. Who better to riff on some of...
The Big Penis Book
The penises in The Big Penis Book may be of all colors and creeds, attached to owners of varying attractiveness and sometimes questionable costume choices, but they have one thing in common: they are all enormous. Lesser endowments need not apply. Through a dizzying selection of essays and well-chosen photographs (of all vintages, although overwhelming...
