Why do the rich clamor the loudest for free lunches? A recent New Yorker piece on Jack Welch’s retirement perks made my blood boil. Despite his net worth of nine hundred million and a yearly pension of almost eight million, Welch’s perks included a free NYC apartment and deals at the restaurant in the building. […]
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One-line review: A warm quilt expertly woven with all shades of emotions. Jan E. Man, with its threadbare plot and non-star cast, was initially filmed for streaming platforms. But the film’s scope grew during shooting, and the producers worried that without any big stars, Janeman would not get the eyeballs it deserved on the streaming
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I just binge-watched two seasons of Delhi Crime, the hit Hindi series on Netflix. Each season traces how Delhi’s top cop Vartika Chaturvedi, a superb Shefali Shah, and her trusted team solve a heinous crime with their limited resources. Its first season won the Emmy award for outstanding drama series, the first for an Indian
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One-line review: A film about the time when royal drama meant bloodshed with swords. Director Mani Ratnam must surely have wrestled with how to make this film. Should he cater to the Tamil audiences familiar with the beloved book on the Chola dynasty, on which the film is based? Or should he make the film
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Chocolate makes you a believer in humanity. When I was a kid, chocolates were a luxury in India. Sweets were usually hard candy and toffees. My earliest memory of chocolate abundance is a bag of chocolate eclairs someone gifted my dad. I had never eaten anything like them before and boasted to a friend that
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A friend gave me a tiny crystal vase the size of my thumb. It was perfect for my little NYC studio, but finding a flower to fit it was challenging. So the vase sat in a corner, gathering dust, awaiting its turn for the trash bin. That was until I discovered a tiny park on the
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One-line review: This anonymous “boy’s” coming-of-age story is universal. This is Taika Waititi’s second film, based on his Oscar-nominated short “Two cars one night, ” Although Waititi wrote Boy’s script before his first film, Eagle and the Shark, he decided to hold on to it after workshopping it at the Sundance Institute. It was a
This University is the Ivy League of continuing education. Tuition is free at NYSU (The New York Streets University), but you pay big bucks for room and board. NYSU doesn’t require a minimum GPA, conducts no exams, and awards no degrees. But attendance is mandatory because there are no online classes at NYSU. Here are
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One-line review: Well-aged wine in a charming new bottle, paired with some good cheese. I discovered this film only recently because of Taika Waititi’s rapidly rising star and the resulting interest in his previous work. This movie was a top grosser in New Zealand on its release, topping Taika’s previous film, Boy, and also screened
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Blessed are those whose boats are rocked by oats. When did oats take over our lives as the bitter pill adults must swallow to get better? Most breakfast places serve oatmeal, but they are loaded with sugar and fat. I recently saw a healthy tip for eating your daily oatmeal: top it with creme fraiche!