I am a fan of Appalachian Spring, the finest orchestral work by the American composer Aaron Copland. Much of its 45 minutes are tuneful, but one line of melody is the most pronounced and the most enjoyable. The kind of thing you hum while out on a walk today … tomorrow … the next day […]

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I belong to a fantasy basketball league made up of a half-dozen former co-workers, a competition we have been contesting for two or three decades now. The SHL (Sun Hoops League). Our league was developed independently of others, but it turns out we use pretty much the same stats as more formal leagues: Scoring, field-goal […]

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A few months back, I confessed to a fascination with elections, and nothing is bigger than a U.S. presidential election, the Super Bowl of elections. The big prize, of course … leader of the free world. Other items of interest include one-third of the 100-member Senate decided and all 435 members of the House of […]

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Not a good weekend for American soccer people or the league most of them play for. Landon Donovan’s comeback from retirement suddenly ended as he went off at halftime with a hamstring injury and his LA Galaxy went out of the Major League Soccer playoffs in a shootout. Bob Bradley, the first American to coach […]

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The Los Angeles Rams lost again today, 13-10 to the Carolina Panthers. That is four consecutive defeats for the lowest-scoring team in the NFL, at 16.2 points per game, a team that fell to 3-5 and looks doomed to post a losing record for the 10th consecutive season. A team already becoming irrelevant in Los […]

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It sounded promising. I Hate the Internet, by a little-known author, Jarett Kobek. Self-published, self-publicized. Got a bit of traction when a photo of Bret Easton Ellis circulated showing him reading the book in bed. The New York Times did a review, which was mostly complimentary. I checked Amazon, and the price was $7. I […]

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At a time when U.S. vineyards routinely charge $15 per person to sample their wines, French vintners often are happy to let you taste their creations at no charge. And if you cannot summon the energy to go the few miles to the nearest caveau, here in the south of France … they very likely […]

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For nearly a month, I burned the midnight oil. Or, actually, more like the 3-5 a.m. oil. That is what comes from watching (live), from the other side of the Atlantic, the latter stages of the 2016 baseball playoffs and World Series. All but a handful of games I watched had 8:08 p.m (EDT) starts. […]

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It wasn’t enough for the Chicago Cubs to win a World Series for the first time in 108 years. At least one prominent but overexcited journalist decided their 8-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians in 10 innings tonight also constituted the greatest World Series Game 7 ever played. It was an interesting game, no question. […]

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The Chicago Cubs, World Series champions. Alas, this seems all but inevitable. Or, as Cubs fans have liked to say, via posters: “It’s happening.” I have done all I can, from the other side of the Atlantic, to stop this development. First, outlining why we ought to contribute our mental energy to stopping the Cubs […]

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