Tag Archives: style

Away with Wayward Words!

Posted on January 30, 2021 by JMN

In a dispute with the EU, AstraZeneca’s CEO insists their contract requires only “best reasonable efforts” to meet delivery schedules. Lawyers disagreed over the language of the E.U. contract, which was only partly made public.(Steven Erlanger and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, “E.U. … Continue reading →

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‘Style Is Character’

Posted on January 29, 2021 by JMN

Didion once wrote, “Style is character…” Rhetorically, a “this is that” assertion that plops two abstractions around a copulative can be a facile expedient for simulating profundity. Nathan Heller comments that Didion’s observation about style has to do with “the … Continue reading →

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‘Symphony of Tufts and Touches’

Posted on January 21, 2021 by JMN

How is this doggyphile and wannabe painter not to love the rendition of a master? The art expert Frédérick Chanoit said the painting, measuring 32.5cm by 24.5cm, had been produced in 20 minutes and is an example of Manet’s technical … Continue reading →

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Words of a Stabbing Victim

Posted on January 18, 2021 by JMN

On Sept. 20, 1958, while signing copies of his first book “Stride Toward Freedom” in a Harlem department store, Dr. Martin Luther King was stabbed in the chest by a young woman. The weapon, a letter opener, grazed his aorta. … Continue reading →

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On a Parlous Trek the Ground Slopes East

Posted on January 17, 2021 by JMN

The gap between China and the United States is shrinking as China is the only major economy expected to report economic growth for 2020 despite the pandemic. And brawling with itself at some crossroad truck stop far over the horizon … Continue reading →

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Monsieur

Posted on January 5, 2021 by JMN

All respect to Pierre Cardin’s memory and legacy. I’m no fan of censuring yesterday’s culture for not living up to today’s expectations. But in matters such as gender parity it doesn’t seem unfair to observe dispassionately how an artifact may … Continue reading →

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Alice Trumbull Mason: ‘Adamantine’

Posted on January 2, 2021 by JMN

In the matter of electing to be born of illustrious forebears Alice Trumbull Mason, of Litchfield, Connecticut, chose well. Her rumbling name preserves affiliation with a “well-off family of old New England stock.” (All stock isn’t equal even where egalitarian … Continue reading →

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Cardin Made His Bed and Lay in It

Posted on January 1, 2021 by JMN

“I wash with my own soap… I wear my own perfume, go to bed with my own sheets, have my own food products. I live on me.” The proudest garment in my closet was once a blazer with the Pierre … Continue reading →

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Alternatives to Fact

Posted on December 28, 2020 by JMN

“I think that perception and comprehensible information based in truthful reality is what has been burned to the ground,” he says. “Answers are lit on fire like burning leaves in the wind. Nobody really has any facts.” Never at a … Continue reading →

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Salman Toor

Posted on December 27, 2020 by JMN

Ligaya Mishan’s early-December essay on cancel culture is well worth reading (“The Long and Tortured History of Cancel Culture,” NYTimes, 12-3-20). Initially, however, I was distracted from the essay itself by the paintings of Salman Toor which figure among the … Continue reading →

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