Short Takes
October 28, 2012
Think your kid is hot stuff? Watch Quinn Sullivan
He’s 12. I spared you the video made when he was 7. (Thanks, GC)
October 25, 2012
The king’s not dead
The theater is on the third floor of a church near Times Square, and there is no elevator. The set? Subliminal — it’s black box theater. But as soon as Stephen Mo Hanan steps on stage, you know this will be an immensely satisfying “King Lear.” He delivers his first lines —“’tis our fast intent/ To shake all cares and business from our age/ Conferring them on younger strengths, while we/ Unburthen’d crawl toward death” — as if death was a joke. And to him it is. This is not an old man, this is an immature boy trapped in an old man’s body — and that deepens the tragedy. I tend to nap at the theater; I didn’t at this "Lear.” Yes, the second act drags; blame Shakespeare. But for much of Act I, I was on the edge of my seat. After, I thought: Gee, what a great night, just blocks away from some of the dreariest theater imaginable. “Lear” runs October 18 to November 4. For information, click here.
October 20, 2012
Apple earbuds for the iPhone 5: WTF?
First, the human ear is not, as Jonny Ive puts it, "so" unique. ("Unique" is an absolute; something cannot be more unique, less unique or most unique.) Then consider the alleged breakthrough. Apple did not know the shape of the human ear when it produced iPhones 1-5? They put out those cruddy ear buds because that was the best they could do? Or was it their secret plan to promote the Shure earbuds I love so much?
October 20, 2012
The duet of the year: Katy Perry and Jodi DiPiazza
A poet friend wrote: "The singing broke me in pieces." Kleenex? Get a box.
October 9, 2012
‘There could never be a father who loved his daughter more than I love you.’
Paul Simon and his daughter sing the Leonard Cohen classic. Starts slow, but around two minutes in, she kills it. And notice how Paul doesn’t join her until the end. Sweet.