Liars and Saints

My desert-island cast album is "Red," by Taylor Swift. This isn't actually a cast album--it isn't paired with a musical--but, then, wait. "Red" is sneaky; it does work as a musical. When she met Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor met the nemesis of a lifetime; I'd argue no one else, in Ms. Swift's vast galaxy of characters, seems quite as interesting. Gyllenhaal is the Joker, or Lex Luthor. Yes--the Penguin is out there, as well--but no one can really compete with the Joker. Who wants to hear about love? We're all here to get the details on the breakup. Young Taylor Swift knew this instinctively; she wastes very little time on the happy period. We move very quickly toward the pain. Take "All Too Well," Taylor's most celebrated number, and a kind of thesis statement for the album. The very first line: "I walked through the door with you; the air was cold; but something about it felt like home somehow...." THE AIR IS A...

My husband and I very much liked "The Ladies who Lunch." A recap: This song is meant for one woman. But Audra et al. split up the duties. The first verse went to Christine Baranski--reasonably poised, with perfect hair and makeup. The second verse went to a more-beleaguered Meryl Streep--letting some of the rage show. The third verse went to Audra, who was like the ungoverned id--just full craziness, with wild hair and some drunken leering at the camera. A smart move. Also, it was great to make Audra the punchline, since we tend not to focus on Audra's comedic chops. I always like surprise casting. (Another example would be the opposite trick: when a comedian gets to be dramatic. Ted Danson on "Damages." Kristen Wiig in "Skeleton Twins.") I think Gemignani and Elizabeth Stanley were also stand-outs, and they're not getting the attention they deserve. I could have done without Josh Groban and Lin-Manuel. (The less said.....) And I'm de...

Sometimes, reading "Frog and Toad," I worry that I'm giving my son terrible lessons about co-dependence. Take "The List." This is a story in which--predictably--Toad loses his mind. Like any neurotic, Toad struggles with the concept of time. (Time has to do with boundaries, and a neurotic can't really handle time, or money, or any other "boundary thing.") You'll notice that time comes up again and again in the Lobel works: the one about mail, the one about springtime, the one about Christmas. (Time--and falling asleep. Toad--deeply-depressed--is often shown as falling asleep, or deep in sleep.)   To manage his time obsession, Toad structures his day with a to-do list. It's ridiculous. It's like: "Take a shower. Have a walk. Clean ears. Skip through meadow. See Frog. Fly a kite. Drink tea. Go to sleep." Toad gets to Frog, but his list flies away, and, unlike a normal person, he can't function. He has a f...

My husband and I loved Brad Pitt as Anthony Fauci this weekend. The joke is that Fauci must repress his rage and encourage us to "keep an open mind" while he himself struggles with exasperation. Donald Trump once suggested that a cure would pop up "relatively soon," and Dr. Fauci observes that "relatively" is a tricky adverb; if you tell your friend you'll arrive "relatively soon," then take a year and a half to show up, well, she might punch you in the face. Trump asserted that "a miracle will happen" -- and, patiently, Dr. Fauci acknowledges that miracles are nice. "But they shouldn't be Plan A. Even Sully tried to land at an airport--first." The thing that elevates the skit is Pitt's use of silence. (Here's why he is a star and an Oscar winner.) Confronted with a Trump clip in which it's suggested that "no one really knows what the virus is," Dr. Fauci briefly goes into a wordless tails...

I missed National Book Day--it was this past Thursday--but, for the record, here's what I'm reading: *"Lady in the Lake," by Laura Lippman (second time) *"One of Us Is Next," by Karen McManus (sequel to the YA mystery "One of Us Is Lying," which I really liked) *"Babar and Father Christmas," by Jean de Brunhoff ....And I'm looking forward to: "The Last Coyote" (Connelly), "The Most Fun We Ever Had" (Lombardo), "The Complaints" (Rankin)..... That's my list....I'll talk about some of these (at the least) down the road.....

Samantha Irby had a traumatic childhood. At one point, she alludes to multiple men dying in her childhood basement. Also, she spent time in a crack house. (She corrects herself; she feels it wasn't really a crack house, but maybe just a retreat for people who enjoyed crack? I'm not sure I have the right distinction here.) Irby's unusual gift is that she can write about this sort of thing without even a hint of self-pity; she describes tough times, and the ensuing depression, with clear eyes and even an occasional shrug. She has something in common with Augusten Burroughs. Irby's new book lists the kinds of questions you might have if you're an anxious person feeling not quite at home on this planet. (I fit in that group, so I was charmed.) The questions: If you move into a house, do you have to wash the *outside* of the house? Do people wash their walls? If you find yourself working at a fancy company, can you be honest and write "Hostess low-fat cherr...

Recently, I was asked to participate in a gay-men's recipe exchange. And this terrified me. I imagined hyper-competent gay men all over America, dicing and slicing and also preparing some kind of compote and maybe a jus. This is not how I cook. If I were honest, I would tell you this about food preparation. (1) Make sure the recipe has fewer than five ingredients. With the measurements, just sort of let your eyes slide over the numbers...and hope some kind of osmosis process is happening.....because you will not be referring back to the measurements. (2) People say that small children really like textures that bring back memories of baby food: yogurts, creamy sauces, butter and noodles. These foods don't require a great deal of work: You can wolf the stuff down, you don't really have to chew, and then you can go back to staring at your phone. I have not outgrown this phase. I like to eat quickly, without effort, and I find that eating quickly means that you ca...