New York Yankees
Movie Review: It Ain’t Over
3 stars out of 5I didn’t want to see it. But I had 8 hours to kill between checking out of the Berkeley Hotel and doors opening at the House of Independents for the rock and roll hootenanny. Eating only lasts so long. But movies, movies are good. You go in at one time, and […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 9 (July – Aug. 2012)
This Friday, the movie we’ve all been waiting 3.5 years for, Can You Ever Forgive Me? based on the memoir by Lee Israel, will finally be released. Lee herself had been waiting even longer, and died before the contractual t’s were dotted and eyes were crossed as it were. But back in the 2012, she […]
Predicting John Sterling’s Home-Run Call for Giancarlo Stanton
After uncharacteristically missing out on the sweepstakes for Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, the New York Yankees made their first splash of the Aaron Boone era by acquiring super slugger Giancarlo Stanton. As both Stanton and Aaron Judge are right fielders, questions immediately arose regarding next season’s outfield alignment. Of course, another question looms: What will […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 8 (June 2012)
Today would have been Lee’s 78th birthday. Let’s celebrate with another entertaining batch of her correspondence, this time involving baseball, another mention of her movie deal, and some fun at the expense of (now recently dead) gossip columnist Liz Smith. We pick up with an update on the doctoral dissertation for which I’d recommended Lee […]
Predicting John Sterling’s Home-Run Call for Todd Frazier
Late Tuesday night, the New York Yankees effectively announced they were “all in” for the 2017 playoff chase by obtaining infielder Todd Frazier and pitchers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle from the Chicago White Sox. It is hoped that Frazier, the New Jersey native and Rutgers graduate, will add some much needed pop and stability […]
Hallucination #1: Harry Connick Jr.
Memories of the first seven weeks of my lengthy hospitalization range from spotty to non-existent. However, a series of vivid hallucinations during this period — end of August to mid-October, 2016 — are crystal clear in my mind. It’s likely I was suffering from a condition known as “ICU psychosis,” though other factors are certainly […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 6 (Apr. 2012)
Last week we learned that the movie based on Lee’s memoir is, in fact, still very much alive! (Unlike Lee herself.) Nicole Holofcener’s script will still be used, but she is no longer directing — the reins have been turned over to Marielle Heller, whose debut effort, 2015’s Diary of a Teenage Girl, impressed me. […]
Predicting John Sterling’s Home-Run Call for Starlin Castro
To help settle their situation at second base, today the New York Yankees traded pitcher Adam Warren and utility-man Brendan Ryan to the Chicago Cubs for infielder Starlin Castro. The 25-year-old three-time All Star from the Dominican Republic also adds youth and a much-needed right-hand bat to the Yanks’ line-up. One key question remains, though: […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 4 (2010)
Having obtained a newly uncovered photo of Lee as a little girl (with her brother Edward), I thought it was high time to return to her collected e-mails. Since our last installment, we learned that the extremely funny, talented, and charming Chris O’Dowd has joined the cast with the already announced, amazingly wonderful Julianne Moore in […]
The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Israel, Vol. 3 (2009)
With baseball season underway, it seems like a good time to return to the collected e-mails of Lee Israel, as this batch heavily features her interest in our national pastime. Lee routinely watched Yankees games on TV even if, as you’ll see, she wasn’t particularly root-root-rooting for the home team. The previous year, with the […]
Jack Silbert, curator