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When love only means zero

May 30, 2014

You have to feel for Caroline Wozniacki and not just because she lost in the first round of the French Open, although that’s certainly tough.

But she no doubt lost, because she was dumped recently by her fiancé Rory McElroy – over the phone no less, he having gone on to win some important golf tournament. (I know: The phrase “important golf tournament” is certainly oxymoronic.)

The axiom is that when the going gets tough, the tough transcend, and that has certainly always been my attitude. When faced with any crisis, tragedy or disappointment, I always redouble my efforts professionally, as have many athletes ranging from McElroy to tennis great Martina Navratilova. Indeed, the idea of the team “winning one for the Gipper” and Pagliacci laughing on the outside for an audience even as he cries on the inside are such time-worn traditions in our culture that they’ve become clichés.

But there are times when the heart can’t transcend, because it’s so heavy or so broken. I remember when Nole got trounced by Rafa in the finals in Monte Carlo after learning that his grandfather had died.

Does this (pants) role make me look fat?

May 27, 2014

“I hate looksism,” I told my friends the other night at dinner, though truth be told, I’m as guilty of it as the next person.

I was reminded of this while reading an article in the May 24 edition of The New York Times’ Arts section titled, “What Matters More, the Singer’s Shape, or Her Sound?”, in which critics Anthony Tommasini and Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim spoke with reporter Michael Cooper about the brouhaha over Tara Erraught’s appearance – emphasis on the word “appearance” – as Octavian in the Glyndebourne music festival’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.”

For the uninitiated, “Der Rosenkavalier” is an easy-on–the-eyes-and -ears opera about an older woman learning to let go of her young lover. (It has a justly famous waltz that makes gorgeous use of sequential phrases, played by the orchestra’s string section, which George Balanchine used to cap off his glittering ballet “Vienna Waltzes.”)

The older woman, called the Marschallin, is one of those glamorous soprano roles, sung by the likes of Renee Fleming. At Glyndebourne, it was filled fetchingly by Kate Royal. The lover, Octavian, is a pants role in which a mezzo has to pretend to be a handsome youth. Erraught, who apparently sang gloriously, is a woman with a classic pear shape, which neither lends itself to pants nor suggests slim-hipped James Deans. And the (male) critics let her have it, signaling out her “puppy fat.”

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim’s analysis got to the heart of the problem for those critics...

On ‘Words and Pictures’ – and words and pictures at The Lionheart Gallery

May 21, 2014

We’re all patterns in the universe, swimmer Daniel Reiner-Kahn reasons in my new novel “Water Music.” But sometimes it’s only when we’re at the end of a journey – maybe even life’s journey – that we understand how the strands came together. At other times, we recognize how the strands fit as they’re being woven.

Last week, I had an onstage conversation with film critic Marshall Fine at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, N.Y. about the relationship between language and images after a screening of “Words and Pictures,” which opens this Friday, May 23. It’s the story of a tempestuous rivalry between a prickly artist (Juliette Binoche) and a showoff writer (Clive Owen). Four days later, the writer (me) and the artist (David Hutchinson) came together more happily at a reading from “Water Music” at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge. After, I opened up the floor for a discussion about David’s paintings and drawings there, which are based on the perverse writings of Jean Genet.

First, a few words about “Words and Pictures,” a rather contrived but nonetheless absorbing movie about a love-hate relationship that sparks a contest between the artist’s students and the writer’s. It occurred to me after that the only arena in which men and women compete is the intellectual one.

Adventures in the book trade, continued

May 21, 2014

Whew, what a couple of weeks it’s been. I feel like I should be crashing, but instead I’ve come up for air to take stock and marvel at all that’s happened.

It began when I appeared in my guises as WAG editor and author of the new novel “Water Music” at the pre-Mother’s Day “Indulge” event in The Westchester, White Plains. Less than a week later, I sat down with Pat Casey, editor in chief of The White Plains Examiner and host of “Examiner Talk News” on Pleasantville Community TV to discuss WAG and “Water Music.”

That night, I was film critic Marshall Fine’s guest for a discussion of the relationship of words and images at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck after a screening of the new Juliette Binoche-Clive Owen movie, “Words and Pictures.” That discussion would continue a few days later at The Lionheart Gallery in Pound Ridge where I read from “Water Music” and then opened up the floor to consider the way text is used in David Hutchinson’s paintings and drawings, which are on display there. (More on this in the next post.)

In-between the movie and the art gallery appearances, I was at Crunch Fitness’ one-year anniversary party in White Plains. OK, you say, it’s not the Cannes Film Festival. Maybe not, but the same principle applies: You’re putting yourself and your work out there. And along the way, you learn some valuable lessons.

California Chrome goes for the (Triple) Crown

May 19, 2014

So now it’s on to the Belmont Stakes June 7 and a shot at the Triple Crown, and you think, We’ve been here before, most recently with I’ll Have Another. We get all excited and then we’re let down, so when a new champ comes along, we hedge our bets with Why-he’ll-win, why-he-won’t articles.

But I’m a born optimist, one who’s not afraid to go out on a limb. I believed right from the get-go that California Chrome will do what no horse has done since Affirmed in 1978. He has the speed and endurance, the smarts and the heart. And, contrary to what people think who’ve misinterpreted his rags-to-riches story, he has an excellent pedigree, with Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Native Dancer among his ancestors. His owners’ origins may be humble, but there’s nothing humble about Chrome’s bloodlines. And blood will out.

A dandy Andy

May 18, 2014

Saw a good movie the other night at the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, where I was invited to speak as editor of WAG magazine and former art critic of Gannett Inc. about the relationship between writing and images. (More about that in a later post.) Suffice it to say that “Words and Pictures” is about the tempestuous relationship between an increasingly crippled, cantankerous artist (Juliette Binoche) and an alcoholic writer (Clive Owen). It’s a bit contrived, but I did find the old writer’s prejudice against having photos do anything but serve my precious prose stirring within me.

Yet I had to laugh when I whizzed through Mark Hodgkinson’s “Andy Murray: Wimbledon Champion, The Full Extraordinary Story” (New Chapter Press, $19.95, 307 pages). What, I thought, no photos inside? Where are the pix of Andy hugging Rafa, Roger and especially Nole at the net? I mean, there are whole websites devoted to the stuff. You could write a book on it. (Indeed, I did, so to speak….

Leaning in – and falling over

May 17, 2014

So what do we think? Is Shelly Sterling in cahoots with disgraced hubby Donald to retain ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers by divorcing him and secretly allowing him to run the team?

Or is she a woman who recognizes her moment and, sensing his vulnerability, has decided to divorce him and make a power play for control of the team?

“I think the latter,” a male friend said the other night over dinner.

OK, so Shelly Sterling is seeking to become the principal owner – the team is actually owned by a family trust – at the moment when two women have lost prominent journalism positions. Jill Abramson was dismissed as the first female executive editor of The New York Times May 14 while Natalie Nougayrède, the first female editor of France’s Le Monde, announced she was stepping down from her post. And while Abramson apparently confronted her bosses about making less in salary and benefits than previous executive editor Bill Keller, the bottom line in both cases is that she and Nougayrède were considered controlling bosses who had lost the confidence of their employees.

But were they really controlling bosses, or were they perceived to be controlling bosses, because we expect women to be the “nice” sex?