Sex and the Monkey Suit

Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of the Sex and the City sequel in Manhattan yesterday.The man behind her is unidentified. Why are they making him wear those clothes?

Short Review: Inglourious Basterds

Yesterday I saw Quentin Tarantino’s new movie, Inglourious Basterds.I like Tarantino, but I don’t love Tarantino. Pop in Pulp Fiction and I’ll watch it any time. Pop in Reservoir Dogs and I’ll watch most of it, if not all of it. For Jackie Brown I’ll stay to see Pam Grier and Robert De Niro. Probably.

Kim Clijsters is Back!

Injured and exhausted at age 23, she retired in 2007. Had a baby in 2008. And returned in 2009. Kim Clijsters is back at the U.S. Open, godblessher. She won her first-round match in 58 minutes yesterday.

Next Stop: Beastie Boulevard

Next Stop: Beastie Boulevard

205th Street in Queens was renamed “Run DMC JMJ Way” yesterday. The street’s in Hollis, the African-American neighborhood where Run-DMC got its start.

New Profile: Rosemary Kennedy

We’ve noticed a lot of user searches for Rosemary Kennedy this past week, so we’ve created a new biography of her.Rosemary was the “forgotten” Kennedy, who spent years in seclusion at a home for the disabled in Wisconsin after she was the victim of a botched lobotomy in 1941. She died in 2005, and for most of those years inbetween she could apparently speak very little and was more or less incapacitated.

Happy Birthday, Rita and David

Today is the birthday of American poet Rita Dove (born 1952) and film director David Fincher (born 1962).In celebration, here’s a charming video interview from 1999, in which Rita talks to Charlie Rose about her poetry and Rosa Parks.

LBJ Talks to Ted

From the Houston Chronicle: A page with links to audio of President Lyndon B. Johnson calling Ted Kennedy on the occasion of his brother John’s death in 1963, and again on the occasion of his brother Bobby’s death in 1968.

122 Bowdoin Street and the Kennedy Clan

Those who know Boston may be interested in the route that Ted Kennedy’s body will take today.Near the State House the Senator will visit an odd address:

A Critic’s (Non-Oily) Farewell

IS THERE ANY BEST, SAFEST WAY TO NAVIGATE A MENU?Scratch off the appetizers and entrees that are most like dishes you’ve seen in many other restaurants, because they represent this one at its most dutiful, conservative and profit-minded. The chef’s heart isn’t in them.Scratch off the dishes that look the most aggressively fanciful. The chef’s vanity — possibly too much of it — spawned these.Then scratch off anything that mentions truffle oil.