Tag: new york times

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: To Read or Not to Read?

Jon Han for the NYT

Is anybody else having trouble getting through The Story of Edgar Sawtelle? I enthusiastically featured it here back in June (before reading it) when Janet Maslin called it "the most enchanting debut novel of the summer."

Well, I'm not feeling it. It started with page-turning intrigue, but then shifted into slow-going, though at times strikingly beautiful, descriptive narrative. But it is strangely without context, almost like a fable.

Mike Peed's NYT review sums up my feelings: "The result is a sprawling, uneven work, at times brilliant but elsewhere sentimental and tedious." And he finished the book.

If you want to discuss it, there is a lively debate on it with spoilers about the ending that many who don't know their Hamlet are furious about at Secretly Ironic. I think I am going to move on with something new. Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow.

August 20, 2008
Dog Days by Jeff Scher

The New York Times features artist Jeff Scher's spectacular new short film Dog Days on its homepage today.

Click here to view it.

Also, all of the images are original paintings available for purchase. So if you see a beautiful panting dog you just have to have email Jeff right away. They are already going quickly.

August 19, 2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Ideally, I like to read the dog books before I recommend them here. But when Janet Maslin of the New York Times calls The Story of Edgar Sawtelle “the most enchanting debut novel of the summer,” well, there’s no time to waste.

David Wroblewski’s 15-years-in-the-making novel is described as “an epic novel about a mute boy’s extraordinary communion with his dogs…The tale is structured along the lines of ‘Hamlet,’ with elements of Rudyard Kipling and Stephen King mixed in with the Shakespeare.”

Uh, that sounds just right for the perfect summer read. So get going, I just saw a back to school ad for Target and wanted to cry.

Click here buy the book and let me know what you think.

Read NYT’s Patricia Cohen’s interview with the author here.

Read Janet Maslin’s review here.

July 10, 2008
Francis Bacon: Record Setting Artist Also Dog Artist!

At Sotheby’s last night, Francis Bacon’s Triptych (above) broke all contemporary art records when it sold for $86.3 million. Bacon was a self-taught English painter who died in 1992. Triptych, a large-scale masterpiece depicting the legend of Prometheus, was painted in 1976, and, like his 1953 Man with Dog (below), exemplifies his dark, angst-ridden style.

Read more about Sotheby’s recession-proof contemporary art sale in Carol Vogel NYT’s story.

May 15, 2008
“Illuminating the Medieval Hunt” at The Morgan Library

Fifty pages of Gaston Phoebus’s “Le Livre de la Chasse” are on display at the Morgan Library and Museum in NYC right now in an exhibition entitle “Illuminating the Hunt.” The 14th century illuminated manuscript is considered an authoritative text on wild animals, hunting methods, making love and war, and caring for hounds.

The Morgan’s copy of this lavishly illuminated (artist unknown) guide for aristocratic sportsmen is considered one of the two finest surviving examples (the other is at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France). The rare book needed to be disbound for conservation so this is a wonderful opportunity to view the pages as the individual works of art they are.

According to Karen Rosenberg of The New York Times, Phoebus’s work can be challenging for animal lovers, with sections devoted to strategies for tracking, trapping, and flaying quarry. But the violence of the hunt is offset by Phoebus’s devotion and respect for dogs. The author kept 1,600 hounds, promoted foot baths, haircuts, and ear exams for them, and calls them “the noblest and most reasonable beast.”

Today, I consider hunting barbaric. But dressed in jeweled tones and written for 14th century aristocrats, “Le Livre de la Chasse” sounds like a gem I would love to see for myself.

I love the dogs begging at the table with their sweet, eager faces. Some things never change for dog owners!

The exhibition runs until August 10, 2008. More information here.

(Note: the last four images above are from the French version.)

April 18, 2008
Westminster Dog Show and Dog Art Auctions Round-Up

Uno and the “ah-roo! heard ’round the ring.”
AP Photo

Uno, the perfect 10 Beagle, won the Super Bowl of dog shows this week with his precociousness and precision. The crowd went wild, chanting his name as he made his final lap before the judges. And when judge J. Donald Jones stood before the contestants and asked for the Beagle, Madison Square Garden erupted with cheers and gave Uno the show’s first standing ovation. If the Longhaired Dachshund, who came in second in the hound group (I was devastated), had to lose, I’m glad it was to “the people’s dog” who went all the way. Congratulations, Uno, you are just perfect!

The New York Times has a great behind-the-scenes fashion slide show. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Megan Fracrik, a handler, with her brushed-out Tibetan terrier.
Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images

Mariah, an Old English sheepdog, with Jeff Yutzy.
Photo: Michael Falco for The New York Times

Geri Kelly with Buddy, her miniature schnauzer.
Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Vincent, an American cocker spaniel, is ready to be shown.
Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Mary MacQuiddy caged with Louie, an otterhound.
Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

In dog art news, Katya Kazakina of Bloomberg.com reports on mixed results. The John Emms 1889 Foxhounds and Hunt Terriers on a Bench, which also featued some perfect Beagles, was the top lot at the Bonhams’s Dog Art Sale going for $66,000, just over its low estimate of $60,000. But 33% of the lots failed to sell.

Over at Doyle New York’s 10th Annual Dogs in Art Auction, one of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s famed “dogs
playing poker” paintings entitled Only A Pair of Deuces sold for $193,000 well above its high estimate of $80,000.

Another surprise was the bargain Lynn Florian found at Bonhams, where she picked up the five pug collars previously owned by the Duke of Windsor for $1,680 below the presale low estimate of $2,000. No word as to whether she will frame them for display or let her two English Cocker Spaniels wear them. Lynn, please send me a photo of your pups in the royal collars if you do.

February 15, 2008
Barack Obama is Super!

South Carolina Primary Resusts:

Barack Obama: 55%
Hillary Clinton: 27%
John Edwards: 18%

What a night!

Read Caroline Kennedy’s eloquent and moving endorsement of Senator Obama, “A President Like My Father,” in today’s New York Times.

Excerpt:

“I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.”

Barack is Super T-shirts, including men, women, and children’s sizes, designed by my sister Sheila Cameron, available at her online store.

January 27, 2008
Senator Chris Dodd: Asta

Senator Chris Dodd's clipped, deep-registered cadence always reminds me of a 30's gumshoe charmer. And I'm not alone. Mark Leibovich of the NYT points out Dodd's magnificent handshake and calls him a "throwback to a presanctimonious era when politicians were not so intent on fashioning themselves outsiders and anti-politicians." Blogger Chris Dahlen compares him to Cary Grant and likens his a retro appeal to a Brooks Brothers suit.

In terms of dogs, Senator Chris Dodd is one of the most famous dogs of the 20th century, Asta the clever Wire Fox Terrier of "The Thin Man" series.

Asta on set

Asta (born Skippy) was tenacious, perfectly groomed, and beloved by many a doting actress. Did you know Senator Dodd dated Carrie Fisher and Bianca Jagger?

Myrna Loy, Asta and William Powell of "The Thin Man"

Asta also played Katherine Hepburn's dog George who buries Cary Grant's dinosaur bone in "Brining Up Baby." By doing so, he saves them from their own foolish choices.

Asta as George in "Bringing Up Baby"

Similarly, Dodd was the only campaigning Senator who flew back to Washington to stop Harry Reid's FISA legislation that would have given immunity to telecom companies that helped the government spy on us. (wtf Harry Reid?!) Dodd threatened a filibuster (like Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith) and after 10 hours railing against Reid and the Bush administration, Reid pulled the bill. It was a great moment for Dodd and one I truly admire.

Senator Dodd's seemingly insurmountable problem is that he's a 20th century star in a 21st century race. And although I don't think Senator Dodd's campaign will have the Hollywood ending of a surprise win, he's shown himself to be a classy politician at a time when they just aren't making them like that any more.

December 28, 2007
Dogs, War, and Death

Neil Lewis of the New York Times reports on a stunning artifact recently donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: a photo album of the daily life of the SS officers of Auschwitz.

Compiled by Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the camp commandant, the scrapbook includes 116 photos, some of young men and women enjoying themselves at sing-alongs, relaxing at an Alpine lodge and cheekily turning their bowls upside down after eating fresh blueberries. The book also includes the only known photos of Josef Mengele, the notorious camp doctor, taken of him at Auschwitz.

The NYT provides an excellent slide show narrated by USHM archivist Rebecca Erbelding, who discusses the magnitude of this recent find and its chilling depiction of “the banality of evil.” Also, I highly recommend visiting the USHM website to see all the photographs. I have only picked out the ones of Höcker playing with his dog Favorit.

With all the OJ Simpson coverage this last week, you may not have heard of the recent finding by ORB, a British polling agency, that 1.2 million Iraqi civilians have been killed since the start of the war.

On a final note, Ken Burns’s documentary The War begins this Sunday on PBS. Perhaps revisiting the reality of war through the eyes of those who lived it will finally register with our representatives and our president. Perhaps they’ll realize that the acceptable collateral damage of war equals human lives. And that it’s not acceptable. It’s barbaric.

September 21, 2007
Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake: Tragedy of Two Artists

I was not familiar with Theresa Duncan or Jeremy Blake. I read about them for the first time this morning in the The New York Times, where it’s reported that Duncan committed suicide last week and her longtime boyfriend, Blake, is now missing. He was last seen Tuesday night walking into the ocean at NYs Rockaway Beach where his clothes and wallet were later found.

A photo of Blake’s DVD art, Sodium Fox (above), including a dog, and links to Duncan’s blog The Wit of the Staircase were included with the article. This, beyond the tragic headline, drew me in. It’s the first time I’ve noticed the inclusion of a blog in a death notice and it offers readers (strangers — like me) a glimpse into a life that ended so tragically.

I know you can never know what goes on in a person’s mind, but with blogging, you can know what goes on in a person’s day. Sadly, one of the first signs that something was wrong for many people was the fact that Theresa hadn’t posted on her site for a few days. She usually told people exactly what she was up to and let them know she would be back later to post more. Now, fellow bloggers who never knew her mourn her, and daily readers lament not linking to her sooner…perhaps managing to cheer her up…managing to change the course of events on her final day.

This, I know, is chilling…even ghoulish pehaps. But it is also a very real outcome of being part of the blogosphere. I have spent most of the morning reading Duncan’s brilliant blog and jumping around those of her fans and foes. It’s bizarre. I wonder how long her blog will stay up now? Will someone keep it in memoriam for her? Or will it disappear when her membership expires? I feel compelled to read it now, in case it vanishes overnight. Like a mandala…or like a life itself.

Theresa Duncan was a video game creator, filmmaker, writer and perfume blogger.

Here is her intoxicating and spot-on response to an laist interview question; If you were to make a perfume that embodied the essence of Los Angeles, what would it smell like?

“My cologne is called Santa Ana after the powerful winds that bring desert heat and faraway smell into the city.
It smells like: Celluloid and sand, coyote fur and car exhaust, contrail cloud and chlorine, bitter orange and stage blood and one bushel of ghostly, shivery night-blooming jasmine flowers like blown kisses from the phantoms of the ten thousand screen beauties who still haunt our hills every full moon because they think it’s a stage light.”

Jeremy Blake is a highly acclaimed video and digital animation artist whose work has been shown at three Whitney Biennials and at a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is represented by Kinz, Tillou + Feigen Gallery and scheduled to have an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in DC in October

May she rest in peace. And may he be found alive.

(No more puppy mills, disturbing flying dogs, or tragic young artist stories next week. I promise. Oh, and I missed posting on Thursday because I had a nasty cold. In case you were wondering.)

7.31.07 Update: Jeremy Blake’s body identified.

8.1.07 Update: Kate Coe does some real investigative journalism and starts to put the pieces together in her L.A. Weekly story The Theresa Duncan Tragedy: A writer-game designer and her boyfriend commit suicide, and a facade falls away.

July 21, 2007