Sunday lunch with ... James Van Praagh
Van Praagh, whose 1997 book Talking to Heaven (Signet, $7.99) is credited with igniting popular interest in the work of spiritual mediums, is incredibly matter-of-fact about what he refers to, simply, as "The Ability."
Sunday Lunch with ... Alain de Botton
tatus anxiety is defined as "a worry, so pernicious as to be capable of ruining extended stretches of our lives, that we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society and that we may as a result be stripped of dignity and respect; a worry that we are currently occupying too modest a rung or are about to fall to a lower one."
Friday, June 25, 2004
Don't miss your shot
You're going about your business, mowing the lawn or maybe taking a walk, and a guy with a strange accent -- what Arnold Schwarzenegger would sound like if he lost 100 pounds and spent some time in Paris -- comes up to you and asks a question: "Do you have a family?"
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Going to the club with Jack is a learning experience
Rich guy walks into a sex club. . . . No, wait -- I can't even finish the joke because, to be honest, I don't really know what a sex club is. Most of what I do know has come from HBO and the Illinois U.S. Senate race.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Not bowled over by Bubba? Try these summer tomes
It's beach reading season: the perfect time of year for some thrill-seeking, yarn-spinning and bodice-ripping. And that's just if you've got Bill Clinton's book.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Sunday Lunch with ... Judith Orloff
Judith Orloff is a University of Southern California-trained psychiatrist with a small private practice and a spot on the medical school faculty at UCLA.
Friday, June 18, 2004
Courtesy of a reply is unappreciated these days
The original e-mail, the one that started it all, did not look terribly different from the ones I get every day. Subject-lined "Check this out kid!!!" it read, "Send me back bro, when you'll be done . . . (if you know what i mean . . .) See ya, JAMES MOORE."
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Business runs better on a full stomach, right?
There was a time, I'm told, when going on a business trip was kind of a fabulous thing. Airline stewardesses -- that's what they were called then -- cooed over you, secretaries made all your reservations and nobody counted how many martinis went along with your expense account lunch. You always rented a full-sized car.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Sunday Lunch with ... former child soldier
ur lunch was full of silences, the long, awkward kind, which drowned out even the most boisterous chatter of the lunchtime crowd at the popular downtown Thai restaurant Star of Siam. Akallo Grace Grall, who is 21 but looks much younger, is shy around strangers and occasionally loses confidence in her near-perfect English. She sometimes seems to lose herself, too, in her own thoughts or to be so busy taking in the utter strangeness of her circumstances that she forgets anyone else is around. Until last week, she had never been outside east Africa. Today, she's in the middle of a national speaking tour that has her telling her life story -- a secret she usually doesn't share, since it could easily get her killed -- to auditoriums full of strangers.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Comfortable lives can make you a little uncomfortable
It was only last weekend, Saturday afternoon to be exact. But inside the cool, elegant Palm Court at the Drake Hotel, it was 1952. The place was full of women in pastel-colored dresses with full skirts and matching cardigan sweaters. The slightly younger women skipped the sweaters. The slightly older ones added hats. It's unlikely any of them will see the humor in the new "Stepford Wives" remake.
