Comments for City of Smoke http://www.cityofsmoke.com New York History, Commentary, and Culture Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:47:13 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 Comment on Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night by Mimi Kramer-Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217/comment-page-1#comment-39 Mimi Kramer-Bryk Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:47:13 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217#comment-39 Many thanks, Abra. I'm working on it! Many thanks, Abra. I’m working on it!

]]> Comment on Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night by Abra Bigham http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217/comment-page-1#comment-38 Abra Bigham Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:51:03 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217#comment-38 Mimi, how nice to come across this - wonderful insights. So very very nice to read you again. More, please! Mimi, how nice to come across this – wonderful insights. So very very nice to read you again. More, please!

]]> Comment on Confessions of a Theme Whore by Mimi Kramer-Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/5070/comment-page-1#comment-29 Mimi Kramer-Bryk Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:15:18 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=5070#comment-29 Thanks, Joe, for your insights and for the link. I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks, Joe, for your insights and for the link. I’ll be sure to check it out.

]]> Comment on Confessions of a Theme Whore by Joe DeFilippo http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/5070/comment-page-1#comment-27 Joe DeFilippo Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:09:24 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=5070#comment-27 sorry, i don't think it's so obviously nonsense that chase et al might intend to recall the red barn painting in setting up the killing of tony blundetto. your first instinct was good--maybe not correct, but certainly not obviously nonsense. Not sure that art is a huge issue in itself throughout the series, but it definitely is used in interesting and important--and quirky--ways, as is nature. pine barrens, bear, ducks--even (maybe especially) the jersey suburban setting itself, which is removed from the urban newark of tony's childhood and his father's simpler, less conflicted life. when you move west from newark, you move into more prosperous and sylvan settings, which are closer to nature but nevertheless not really nature, and characters find that the more prosperous setting doesn't really make them better or happier. in some sense it makes them less happy and less emotionally stable, and so they need therapy.... i've always felt that chase was in part doing with italians what roth did with jews in goodbye columbus (the story, not the movie, which is atrociously set in nyc/scarsdale rather than newark/short hills). on art in sopranos btw, have you seen this? http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/1406/1/ sorry, i don’t think it’s so obviously nonsense that chase et al might intend to recall the red barn painting in setting up the killing of tony blundetto. your first instinct was good–maybe not correct, but certainly not obviously nonsense. Not sure that art is a huge issue in itself throughout the series, but it definitely is used in interesting and important–and quirky–ways, as is nature. pine barrens, bear, ducks–even (maybe especially) the jersey suburban setting itself, which is removed from the urban newark of tony’s childhood and his father’s simpler, less conflicted life. when you move west from newark, you move into more prosperous and sylvan settings, which are closer to nature but nevertheless not really nature, and characters find that the more prosperous setting doesn’t really make them better or happier. in some sense it makes them less happy and less emotionally stable, and so they need therapy…. i’ve always felt that chase was in part doing with italians what roth did with jews in goodbye columbus (the story, not the movie, which is atrociously set in nyc/scarsdale rather than newark/short hills).

on art in sopranos btw, have you seen this? http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/1406/1/

]]> Comment on Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night by Mimi Kramer-Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217/comment-page-1#comment-26 Mimi Kramer-Bryk Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:48:39 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217#comment-26 A thousand thanks, Alberta! You northerners are giving our site a very sophisticated, bloggers-without-borders flavor! A thousand thanks, Alberta! You northerners are giving our site a very sophisticated, bloggers-without-borders flavor!

]]> Comment on Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night by Alberta Nokes http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217/comment-page-1#comment-24 Alberta Nokes Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:34:01 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217#comment-24 Dear Mimi, This piece just brought home just how much I miss reading you. You completely nail what it is in that combination of performer, material and performance that can leave us devastated in the best way. This is the best thing I've read on Susan Boyle and the extraordinary resonance of her performance in that particular clip that had us all crying and cheering. Keep writing! Thank you. Dear Mimi,
This piece just brought home just how much I miss reading you. You completely nail what it is in that combination of performer, material and performance that can leave us devastated in the best way. This is the best thing I’ve read on Susan Boyle and the extraordinary resonance of her performance in that particular clip that had us all crying and cheering. Keep writing! Thank you.

]]> Comment on Confessions of a Theme Whore by Mimi Kramer-Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/5070/comment-page-1#comment-23 Mimi Kramer-Bryk Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:40:13 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=5070#comment-23 Deborah---Thank you! That means so much to me. I hope you'll be as tolerant about my abiding conviction that the Michael Bay movie <em>The Rock</em>, where Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery have to break into Alcatraz, is loosely based on Sophocles' <em>Philoctetes!</em> Deborah—Thank you! That means so much to me. I hope you’ll be as tolerant about my abiding conviction that the Michael Bay movie The Rock, where Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery have to break into Alcatraz, is loosely based on Sophocles’ Philoctetes!

]]> Comment on Confessions of a Theme Whore by Leaky Margins « Slow Muse http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/5070/comment-page-1#comment-22 Leaky Margins « Slow Muse Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:59:43 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=5070#comment-22 [...] was with pure relish that I read the latest posting by my friend Mimi Kramer-Bryk, Confessions of a Theme Whore, on the blog she writes with her husband William Byrk, City of Smoke. Nobody makes popular culture [...] [...] was with pure relish that I read the latest posting by my friend Mimi Kramer-Bryk, Confessions of a Theme Whore, on the blog she writes with her husband William Byrk, City of Smoke. Nobody makes popular culture [...]

]]> Comment on Confessions of a Theme Whore by Deborah Barlow http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/5070/comment-page-1#comment-20 Deborah Barlow Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:39:24 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=5070#comment-20 What a great piece this is. Reading your take on something I think I know well--like the series House for example--is to come at it fresh all over again. Little theme whore, you're the one for me. Keep seeing those patterns and taking me on these rhapsodic journeys no matter what the launch site. What a great piece this is. Reading your take on something I think I know well–like the series House for example–is to come at it fresh all over again. Little theme whore, you’re the one for me. Keep seeing those patterns and taking me on these rhapsodic journeys no matter what the launch site.

]]> Comment on Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night by Boyled « Slow Muse http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217/comment-page-1#comment-15 Boyled « Slow Muse Mon, 04 May 2009 23:53:41 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/4217#comment-15 [...] what she does with Susan Boyle in this essay, Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night on the blog she writes with her husband and writer William Bryk called City of Smoke. It was a pure [...] [...] what she does with Susan Boyle in this essay, Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night on the blog she writes with her husband and writer William Bryk called City of Smoke. It was a pure [...]

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