DINING OUT IN MANHATTAN We ran the gamut on our recent visit to Manhattan from lunches at diners to meals at moderate and splurge-worthy restaurants. We were initially dismayed to see that the Lenox Grill on Lexington had closed. While it wasn’t the best diner in the world, it was reliably good, convenient to where …
Author Archives: JWF
Manhattan Diversions: Movies, Art, etc.
RECENT FILMS Free Solo This is a breathtaking and stunning National Geographic documentary about free soloing on Yosemite’s El Capitan. That is, climbing its 3,000 foot rock wall without any ropes. The first person to ever do that was Alex Hannold in June 2017, and this is the story and the backstory of that …
The Literary Life
TIMELY FILM—The Wife I read Meg Wolitzer’s novel of the same name, but I think the film version of The Wife is better. Glenn Close gives a stellar performance as Joan Castleman, the dutiful, somewhat subservient wife of literary rockstar and new Nobelist, Joe Castleman. With just the slightest change in expression, Close portrays a …
San Francisco Interlude
SAN FRANCISCO OLD HOME WEEK AT THE ACADEMY The Chief Penguin and I had the great pleasure of returning to San Francisco and the California Academy of Sciences for the 10th anniversary celebration of its new building. Ten years ago, when he was the Chief Penguin of this wonderful museum, we sat on the …
