Journalists Talk About the Hot Topics in the News
Last night we drove out of the center of Bologna to the sprawling offices of a local newspaper chain called QN, where they publish many tabloid newspapers that serve different cities in Italy. Our hosts ushered us into an opulent executive board room, where we saw all of the newspapers […]
Bologna Welcomes Us with the Sound of Scooters
We have reached our destination, the hotel Al Capello Rosso, in the center of Bologna. We were beat from the trip so slept for a while but now the second wind is coming and we’re off to meet some folks who work for the local newspaper. Our tripmates are distinguished. […]
Don’t Cry for Terry Semel, He’s Still Got His Jet
We are in the Lounge at JFK, waiting for our 8 pm flight to Bologna. Time to read the NY Times and find out more about Terry Semel’s departure as head of Yahoo. I wrote about him a few months ago, and it didn’t take a fortune teller to predict […]
A China-based Rip-off of Our Good Work
Curse you JianWei Guo! I wish you evil and bad fortune for stealing our website and trying to make money from our labors. You’ll regret what you did! I felt my blood pressure rise today after I stumbled once again on a site that is based in LuoYang, China. It’s […]
Brad and Bo Help Springfield Wake Up
Brad and Bo helped me wake up this morning on their WHYN-AM morning show. I often think about these guys if for some reason I am awake at 5 am, that they are heading into work. Wow! That takes a special kind of discipline! I did a segment at 8 […]
"Strangely Compelling: " Tossing Bread to Carp
I read Saturday’s WSJ and quickly found a topic to write about: strangely compelling fish feeding in Pennsylvania. It seems that throwing bread to a swirling, aggressive bunch of carp is becoming a big tourist draw in Linesville, PA. It’s the Pymatuning State Park, and the state is pouring money […]
‘The Statue’ Makes His Comeback Against His Legend
Today’s WSJ included a story about a man they call ‘The Statue.” He’s Jose Tomas, Spain’s most famous and legendary modern bullfighter, and this Sunday he has all of the nation’s eyes upon him. Though the sport is having a tough time, Tomas might be its second coming. In a […]
Does One Man Deserve $7.5 Billion? He Thinks So
Today’s WSJ includes a profile of Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman. He’s one of the people who make the most money of anyone on earth. He buys and sells companies, and does it with such ruthlessness that he’s made millions. And now that the company is going public, his take will be […]
In the Little Towne, We Are All Connected
One of my favorite things about living and working in a close knit neighborhood is the intimacy between all of us, whose working lives intersect in so many ways. We do business together, drink coffee together and laugh at each other’s jokes. Mornings in the cafe, I am surrounded by […]
It was the Audience that Got Whacked in the Sopranos
David Blum writes in the NY Sun that the Sopranos has elevated the common bloggers and showed that the mainstream critics don’t matter much any more. Here is his commentary on the despised final episode. “At his blog “The House Next Door,” the erudite Matt Zoller Seitz (also of the […]
Time to Set the Alarm: Joining Tom Vannah at 6:45 am
Tomorrow morning I’ll rise a little earlier than usual. That’s because I am joining Tom Vannah of the Valley Advocate on his new radio show at 6:30 am. The Van Man has his new gig and it’s going strong weekdays from 5:30 till 9. He’s the morning man on the […]
Saturday, In the Park, Doing it Under the Blanket
I got a chance to feel like a Copenhager yesterday when I got out on a bicycle to tour the city. The flood of bikes is unceasing, and the first thing you hear upon exiting a taxi is ‘watch out for the bikes!’ After dodging the three and two wheelers […]
Dinner at Jacob and Pia Marie’s: The Art of Conversation
Our last night in Copenhagen was our best. That’s because we met such interesting people and learned all about their lives at an intimate dinner party held in a spacious art-filled apartment in the city. Jacob Termansen and Pia Marie Molbech are a glamorous and successful couple who photograph top […]
The Gold Coast to Elsinore and Kronborg Castle
We drove up the Danish coast today. It was a gloriously sunny day, a good day for the beach. The houses here on the gold coast toward the city of Elsinore were stately and set back from the road. It was, as our guide told us, the high rent district. […]
Inside the Ice Bar, Copenhagen
You enter into a freezer chamber and don this huge furry cape with gloves. Then you order a drink that comes in a piece of frozen ice shaped like a glass. You drink it in the Ice Bar, where everyone is bundled up and it is about zero. After one, […]
In Copenhagen, US Policies Don’t Stir People Up
It’s our last full day in Denmark, and today we’ll drive up the coast to Elsinore and Kronborg castle, the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Being in Scandinavia has made me think a lot about the priorities here versus what I am used to in the US. I’ve had this same […]
The Torso Twisted, Where Mystery Drinks Are Served
This oddly shaped skyscraper is the tallest part of the city of Malmo’s amazing transformation. A Saab plant and a shipyard threw 29,000 out of work. So the city built this new area of parks, connected housing and common areas, environmentally cutting edge building and development right in this area […]
Sailing Like the Vikings in Roskilde
It’s another sunny hot day in Denmark, and we sailed a Viking boat in Roskilde, just outside of Copenhagen. Our captain spoke in a low voice, telling us to row starboard, or row port, or rest. We made our way out of this harbor. We could see the Viking ship […]