Books From The World Of Entertainment

When you need a gift for a relative or friend, you can't go wrong with a good read.  I am especially partial to biographies.  To tell you the truth, I will read just about anybody's biography.  Anybody's and everybody's.  Here I will limit my bio picks to the world of show business and popular culture (listed in no particular order):

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – Written with Steve Jobs' full cooperation, chronicling his life and the invention of the personal computer, tablets and iphones.

2. Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe – The pretty boy actor [just stating the obvious!] tells a good story and writes with intelligence and perspective.

3. My Lucky Life In and Out Of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke

4. Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin – The Boss sat down and helped tell this one.

5. Queen Unseen: My Life with the Greatest Rock Band of the 20th Century by Peter Hince

6. Life by Keith Richards – This bad boy shouldn't be alive, much less have the wits to write with keen intelligence about the Rolling Stones and much more.

7. Mick Jagger by Philip Norman – You can't have one without the other. ♬♪♪♫

8. This Time Together: Laughter And Reflection by Carol Burnett - disclaimer: I have loved CB since I was a young child, the person and the entertainmener. Kiss, kiss, Carol Burnett!

9. If I Live To Be 100: Lessons From The Centenarians by Neenah Ellis 

10. Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt

11. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life Of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto – If you have a big budget, pair the bio with Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection – a set of 15 of his classic films.

12. Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars by Scotty Bowers and Lionel Friedberg – Scotty Bowers fraternized with old Hollywood and kept confidences of the famous  for 60 + years.  Then he got old and decided to make buckets of retirement money by publishing his scandalous stories.  Juicy – NYT review here.

13. Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything In Your Closet by Tim Gunn – A bio of garments.  Because. This is THE SAVVY SHOPPER, right?

14. After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family – 1968 to the Present (2012) by J. Randy Taraborrelli – Mr. Taraborrelli does his research.  While not shying away from unflattering details, he's a fair and balanced biographer. – A Kennedy actually went into show business becoming an actor, namely Christopher Lawford, son of Peter Lawford.

15. Dream More: Celebrate The Dreamer In You by Dolly Parton – Dolly writes with humor and wit.  Multi-talented and hugely successful, she is living the American dream.  Dolly is smart as a whip and has great enthusiasm for life.

Getting someone a good book may spark an interest in reading.  Almost everyone loves entertainment and popular culture.  We don't need to do crossword puzzles, or solve Rubik's cubes every minute of every day.  Sometimes you ... or someone on your holiday list ... just needs to unwind with a compelling book that gives you a glimpse into a world you want to know more about.  If you have a biography to recommend, please add it under comments.

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Holiday Books, Bill Clinton's Picks

Holiday Books, Bill Clinton's Picks

Someone should hire former President Bill Clinton to be a regular book reviewer. Regardless of politics, he has a brilliant mind, loves books and is excellent at reviewing them. And the fact that The Today Show, a news program, as opposed to, just another entertainment show, calls Clinton's selections "smarty pants" choices revels how often real news and issues are being dumbed down.  Too many interviews with celebrities and reality stars does that. Now I enjoy gossip just as much as the next person [Heck, yeah!], but when I read or watch the news from (what is supposed to be) the legitimate press, I want stories about important world issues ... and I want balance ... and the reporters to interview sources ... plus thoroughly do their homework. Hopefully, the folks who write, edit and produce the news, themselves, read compelling books.  By the way, Ann Curry was terrific this morning anchoring the segment.  It was the website -- probably a cyber editor trying to be cute -- that labeled Clinton's books a "smarty pants" list.

Listening to Bill Clinton review books on The Today Show this morning reminds me what critical thinking is.  There are many world issues and worthy ideas, which are bigger than politics and celebrity.  There are subjects and topics that say something about the human condition and help us understand who we are.

Clinton explains why books are important and make great gifts: Books "make you think" and "feel."  Reading "gives you time" [that's] "intensely personal, but you're completely involved. It's a wonderful way to get away from the helter-skelter of your life ..." [plus] "you can always be growing."  [It keeps] "your mind open and thriving." 

Here are Bill Clinton's book recommendations:

Penned: Back To Work

1. Jerusalem

By Simon Sebag Montefiore (Knopf)

2. Lincoln 

By David Herbert Donald (Simon & Schuster)

3. Meditations 

By Marcus Aurelius (Simon & Brown)

4. The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century  

By David Fromkin (Knopf)

5. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes

By Seamus Heaney (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

6. One Hundred Years of Solitude

 By Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Harper Perennial)

7. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa

By Adam Hochschild (Mariner Books)

8. Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny

By Robert Wright (Vintage)

So if you have any last minute holiday shopping, head over to the bookstore. 

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Aboard The Underground Railroad: A Picture Book in Verse

Photo: media.rochester.k1.mi.us

THE SAVVY SHOPPER is doing something very different today in honor of Black History month, which begins on February 1st.

African Americans have contributed much to our culture: language, food and the arts. Obviously, we would not be the same country without them. Black history is American history.

In high school I wrote a poem in the form of a children's picture book about the travel to freedom Aboard The Underground Railroad. (Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself by sharing it!) Brushing up on American history, the UR was an informal network of local people -- free blacks and sympathetic whites -- who helped hide slaves along secret routes from Southern States leading to the North and Canada. It is a timeless tale of survival, as well as, the hope for a better life. 

Allow me to dust it off and publish it here for the very first time. Visualize turning the pages of a picture book as you read: 

Aboard The Underground Railroad

by Debra Turner

Thousands of slaves did not yield to their fate,
But developed secret routes to help them escape.

Away from owners and hard labor on Southern plantations,

They followed the North Star in search of salvation.

Traveling in groups, some carrying boxes and sacks,
Others proceeded on, wearing the rags on their backs.

A hazardous journey, runaways moved under moonlight,
And kept carefully concealed with freedom in sight.

A people … a race … destined to be slaves,
Born to be subservient until the end of their days.

For fugitives seeking refuge from a peculiar institution,
The Underground Railroad held the solution.

Neither underground, nor a railroad, with a loose organization,

Railroad terms became code words. Hiding places were called "stations.”

Up to the free states and Canada, passengers walked, sailed, and swam,
Over harsh paths through thick woods, river crossings and mountainous land.

Aboard boats, trains and wagons, each person rode … haunted with fear,
By the specter of recapture that always loomed near.

Free blacks and white abolitionists in both the North and the South,
Provided food, shelter and directions for slaves along the route.

The system gave black men, women and children a chance to flee.
And released souls from bondage in the land of the free.

****************************************************************
Here is a useful sidebar and glossary to flesh out history. Visualize them (below) scattered throughout the picture book (with lovely illustrations) had it been published as a picture book.

****************************************************************

Sidebar of celebrated “conductors"

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913), a runaway slave, herself, who returned to the South on 19 rescue trips to help 300 slaves escape to freedom.  She was never caught and never lost a “passenger” on any of her trips.

 Levi Coffin (1798-1877), a Quaker abolitionist, whose home in Newport (today Fountain City), Indiana was located on three major escape routes.  Called the “President of the Underground Railroad,” he helped over 3,000 runaways reach freedom.

John P. Parker (1827-1900), a black abolitionist from Ohio, who went down to Kentucky and Virginia and transported 400 or more slaves across the Ohio River by boat.

John Fairfield (d.1861?), the son of a slave holding Virginia family; he ventured into the Deep South and saved hundreds of captives by posing as a slave trader.  His abolitionist friends last heard from him in 1861. (Citing newspaper reports, Levi Coffin concluded that Fairfield was killed in Tennessee on a rescue trip.)

****************************************************************

Glossary

plantation – a large farm on which fruits, vegetables and crops like cotton were grown.

peculiar institution – a term used to describe the practice of owning African Americans as private property. The custom ended in the North by the early 1800s and in the South after the Civil War in 1865.

abolitionist – a person who worked to end slavery.

Quakers - a religious group who sympathized with slaves in their struggle to gain freedom. Many Quakers became abolitionists.

stations – railroad jargon for safe houses. 

passengers – a code word for runaway slaves.

conductors – the men and women who risked their own safety to guide slaves to the next safe house or “station.”

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 – a law passed to give slave owners the right to recapture escaped slaves anywhere in the United States and bring them back to bondage in the South. It made helping runaway slaves a crime.

Photo: PBS

Click this map of the Underground Railroad's path.

Photo: Tubman.org.

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Sidney Poitier: Actor, Author ... And More

I don't remember a world without Sidney Poitier.  Lilies of the Field, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, To Sir With Love,  A Patch of Blue.  I remember his movies vividly even though I watched them at a tender age before I should have understood what they were about.  And yet, the way S.P. played a character, I did understand what his films were about.  I especially remember his presence.  He brought a strength and grace to every role he played.

Mr. Poitier's memoir came out in 2000.  Like his acting, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography is expansive, timeless and worth revisiting.

The book shares memories of his Caribbean childhood, celebrated life and acting career.  He says his parents and boyhood in the Cat Islands gave him his self-worth and unwavering sense of right and wrong.

Poitier was born prematurely in Florida on a trip his parents took to sell tomatoes grown on their farm.  He wasn't expected to live.  His parents spent 3 months nursing him to health before returning home.  He grew up in poverty, but learned to enjoy simple pleasures in a world without material distractions.

At 15 he was sent to live with a brother in Miami.  He moved to New York at 17, working menial jobs and living in a toilet at a bus station.  He joined the Army and later worked as a dishwasher until an audition won him a spot with the American Negro Theater.  Poitier became an actor to earn a paycheck, but worked doggedly to overcome his dialect and develop his craft.

A stage role lead to an opportunity to play a black doctor treating a white bigot in a 1950 film, No Way Out, which lead to other roles, more prominent than what black actors usually were offered in those days.

He talks about his religious faith, thoughts on racism, the influence of world leaders like Gandhi and Mandela and how it was to break barriers along the way.  In 1963 Poitier became the first black actor to win an Academy Award as a leading man for Lilies of the Field. ("I stand up!")

He writes with clarity, passion and humility about being a husband, father and artist.  Throughout his book, he probes personal values and the importance of character. He had less than a 6th grade education, but became an avid reader, as well as, a student and citizen of the world.  In both his private and public life, Poitier strives to honor his upbringing and the legacy of his parents.

In the 70s he became a successful director and producer of films, including Stir Crazy and Uptown Saturday Night.

His talent, morals and likability made him one of the most respected actors of all time.  Today S.P. is 84 years old.  His autobiography is a great book to keep on your shelf for inspiration and life lessons.  In 2008 he published a new book: Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great Granddaughter.

 I'm not exaggerating when I say, as a child, I knew Sidney Poitier personified dignity even before I knew what the word meant.  When you see it, you just sense it. 


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Do You Know Any Paraprosdokians?

A paraprosdokian is a ten dollar word.  I looked it up.  According to Wikipedia, it means "a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence is surprising or unexpected, causing a listener to reinterpret" the first part of the sentence.  It is often "used for humor, or dramatic effect ... sometimes producing an anticlimax."  So unwittingly, many of us have heard paraprosdokians throughout our lives.  Comedians from Joan Rivers to Chris Rock and popular humorists like Mark Twain use them all the time.

Now that we've expanded our vocabulary, lets enjoy a few paraprosdokians:

(source: unknown: a funny chain email sent to me)

1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

3. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

10. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

11. I thought I wanted a career.  Turns out I just wanted paychecks.

12. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'

13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

17. I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

18. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

19. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

20. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

21. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

22. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

23. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

24. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

25. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

26. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

27. A diplomat is someone who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you look forward to the trip.

28. Hospitality is making your guests feel at home even when you wish they were.

29. I always take life with a grain of salt. Plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

30. When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

Ten dollar words are interesting too, aren't they?  I like learning them, but notice that great writers seldom go out of their way to use them.   My building publishes a newsletter.  In it, one contributor is fond of using ten dollar words when simple words will do.  That person's writing comes across as pompous and stilted, though I suspect that M. Nameless is simply trying to impress us.  Abraham Lincoln, a brilliant writer and thinker, used simple language packed with wisdom and, as it turns out, paraprosdokians.  Also, he was mostly self-taught.

The New York Times ran a contest asking readers to post ten dollar words.  Click here.  If you wish to share either a ten dollar word, or a paraprosdokian, well pleeease do comment. It's fun.  As the brainy Oliver Wendell Holmes observed:  "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions."  And, isn't that reason enough to play along?


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What We Watch On TV

With escalating ticket prices, unemployment and bed bugs! can you blame a person for staying in to watch television in the comfort of home?  As it turns out, the shows people frequent may hold the clues to their character.  So says The New York Post, citing a new study conducted by Mindset, an ad agency, which links shows with personality traits.  The information is used to predict which products viewers of shows are likely to buy.   After analyzing 25,000 TV viewers, the ad agency only released its findings for some of the shows.  The rest of the data went to an unnamed client, who paid for the study.  Here is what was published in the Post:

“Mad Men: If you like “Mad Men,” then you are creative ―meaning 'emotionally sensitive and intellectually curious types [who] tend to be dreamers rather than realists' ― and liberal.

Family Guy: If you like “Family Guy,” you are a rebel ― someone who 'doesn’t like authority, rules or structure [you] deem unfair, and usually won’t hesitate to make [your] feelings known with anger or sarcasm' ― and a rule breaker.

Glee: If you like "Glee" you are what ad people call an 'experientialist' ― meaning someone who believes that 'imagination and intellectual pursuits contribute to a good life, and goes out in search of unique and varied experiences' ― and creative (see “Mad Men”).

Dancing With the Stars: If you watch “Dancing With the Stars,” you are a traditionalist ... the opposite of the "Glee" 'experimentalist' ... preferring 'stability and the tried and true' ... someone who doesn’t rock the boat and gets along with others.

The Office: If you watch “The Office,” you are ... a lot like the show’s main character, Michael: someone who believes [he is] 'superior to others. ' You 'prefer to be in charge, directing others rather than being directed.'

Real Housewives of Orange County: If you watch “Real Housewives of Orange County,” you are 'pugnacious' ― described as 'unafraid to tell others what [you] think and value honesty over keeping the peace' ― and probably a leader.

The Biggest Loser: If you watch “The Biggest Loser,” you are a realist who lives 'in the present and works with what [you] have been given.' "

I don't take these studies too seriously, but they're fun.  Three of the shows listed are favorites of mine: Mad Men, Glee and Dancing With the Stars.  So, I'm both an experientialist and a traditionalist.  Can that be?  It sounds verrry tiring.  Oh, marketers of the world, you have your work cut out for you: I also like The Middle, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives and Modern Family. Weeds is interesting.  (Everybody Loves Raymond, I miss you!)  Explain that.

So what do your favorite shows say about you?

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Commemorating The 4th Of July

After five years along the Hudson, Macy's fireworks are returning to the East River this year. Manhattan's east siders will be happy to have the view. The fireworks do, indeed, illuminate the sky and reflect off the water just like in this photo.

How extra nice when the 4th of July falls on a Friday, making it a festive and relaxing 3-day holiday.

A slice of ice cream cake is especially appetizing on a hot summer night. (Recipe here, though why not just use quarts of ice cream?)

Truthfully, I favor dramas, however my favorite musical of all time is about the birth of our nation. Also, I rarely view plays or films over and over. There are too many new ones to see, but I can watch this one every year. Below is a favorite scene from the movie. I enjoy the humor, the four actors who play John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock; and I love the moving freeze-frame ending of the film, where the Founding Fathers dissolve into history. A real painting of the scene hangs in the U.S. Capitol. As a congressional intern, I often walked over to look at it. (Not the exact, but a similar painting.)

Enjoy Independence Day. Let freedom ring, not just here in America ... but all over the world. What a privilege (and responsibility), it is to live in a free, democratic society. For one thing, I can say anything I want on here and with the tap of a key publish it.

Long live the USA!🗽

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The Oscar Nominations 2011

The nominations for this years Academy Awards were announced this morning.  Below are the major categories, i.e. the ones we care about.  I'm going to go out on a limb and highlight who I want to win.  Not who I think will win, but who I would vote for, if I had a ballot.  This year there are many fine films and brilliant performances, making the choice of winner all the more difficult.  What an honor to get a nod in such a tight race.  Best of luck to all the nominees. Let's have some fun.  Who do you think deserves to take Oscar home on Sunday, February 27th? Here are my picks:

Best Picture

The Kids Are All Right      True Grit

Inception                               Winter's Bone

The Social Network            Toy Story 3

The King’s Speech               127 Hours

The Fighter                            Black Swan

Best Director

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Actor

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Best Actress

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone She is spot on!  Can't decide this one. Ok Jennifer.

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Fighter

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech Adore him. This may be the toughest category!

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right Love him!

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Best Supporting Actress

Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit  13 year old HS played 14 year old Mattie Ross -- going on 40.  She is in nearly every scene and carries the film.  This young actress doesn't sound or act anything like her character.

Amy Adams, The Fighter  Love her!

Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay

Inception

The King's Speech

The Kids Are All Right

The Fighter
AAnother Year  Love Mike Leigh! 

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Social Network

True Grit

127 Hours

Toy Story 3

Winter’s Bone

BBest Cinematography

Black Swan

Inception

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

Best Film Editing

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King’s Speech

127 Hours

The Social Network

Original Song  The suspense of this award is seeing who shows up to sing the songs.  No one cares who wins, except the winner.

Coming Home from Country Strong

I See the Light from Tangled

If I Rise from 127 Hours

We Belong Together from Toy Story 3

Listen up media: Often film critics tell us who will win an Oscar.  Cowards.  C'mon.  Be Brave.  Put yourself out.  Tell us who should win and why.  You're film critics for goodness' sake.

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