Can you remember the last time someone asked you what book you’re currently reading?( not when you’re actually holding a book with an obstructed cover, but generally speaking). Caleb Crain, a contributor to The New Yorker’s Winter Fiction Issue, raises some interesting points in an article titled “Twilight of the Books” about the decline of reading for pleasure among Americans and a simultaneous shift in our culture from literacy and reading to what scholars refer to as a culture of “secondary orality.”

Crain analyzes data from a report issued by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004 and its follow-up released last month. The gist of the data is this: from 1982 to 2002, the percentage of Americans who read literature has declined in every single age group AND in every generation, meaning, we are reading less as we age and we are reading less than people who were our age 10 or 20 years ago, he says.

So what exactly does this mean for us? Read the rest of this entry »

QUESTION FROM KEVIN:

Here’s a question I’d like to have you answer. There’s been a lot of discussion about the racial balance on the New Orleans City Council. But I’ve never seen anything written about the much more apparent age imbalance on the council. While there’s a lot to be said for age, youth has its advantages, too — and there’s a tremendous number of twentysomethings coming to town these days.

Louisiana now has the youngest governor in the nation, but do you think the political machine in New Orleans would ever be able to accommodate, say, a bright 27-year-old who wanted to get on the council and shake things up? Or would such a person be just too much of an outsider?

ANSWER: Read the rest of this entry »

Most good waiters will suggest — and many diners eagerly anticipate — a cocktail to start out a nice dinner. Next week, Bourbon House Seafood & Oyster Bar will host a special dinner where the cocktails keep flowing throughout the meal, along with plenty of commentary from a uniquely qualified source.

The dinner, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 9, is the latest offing from the New Orleans Bourbon Society (N.O.B.S.), and is part of a trend among restaurateurs, distillers and liquor distributors to encourage the higher-end dining public to embrace booze with their meals as avidly as they do wine.

Bourbon House has been especially fertile ground for such dinners and the home base of N.O.B.S., a group with free and open membership that exists essentially to help promote bourbon appreciation. Read the rest of this entry »

A story that made the rounds through the Associated Press yesterday concerning a Chinese buffet restaurant, a 265-pound Houma resident and a potential lawsuit certainly made stimulating dinner conversation later in the evening.

You can read the whole tale here, but the gist of it goes like this: a man with a very “hearty” appetite becomes a regular at a buffet restaurant, drawn by its “all you can eat” concept, and proceeds to do just that while also eating much more of the higher cost seafood items than the restaurant managers can bare to witness. Dining room drama ensues, offense is taken, discrimination is claimed and the story makes the papers all over the place because, well, there’s something grossly fascinating about an appetite that can inspire such contretemps. Read the rest of this entry »

Loved meeting the two extremely talented, philanthropic guys (Mat and Fleet) who started the Dog Lover’s Wine Club which has been gaining new members and fans in the New Orleans area for their lovely wines and for generously sharing the proceeds with the L.S.P.C.A. Had the distinct pleasure of pouring for them at their first Canine Culture event and found the wines as well as the attendees– including our 4-legged friends– most pleasant and approachable! So much so that Tim and I ordered a case of our favorite of the group offered, the Pinot Noir, with our little lion-headed poodle featured on the label. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2006, it became apparent that in the post-Katrina world the New Orleans District Attorney’s office, under the direction of Eddie Jordan, was falling off the tracks. One of the ongoing problems was the so-called “701 releases” in which jailed suspects were released from incarceration because the DA hadn’t formerly accepted charges within 60 days of a suspect’s arrest. Even if later on the DA’s office screened a particular case and accepted charges, police would still have to locate the accused person and re-arrest them. Read the rest of this entry »

Film enthusiasts usually make grand lists at the end of a year. For the end of 2007, I have been glued to Best and Worst lists in film, TV and music, in all my favorite publications. Since I don’t feel as though my opinion warrants a list of this year’s best and worst, my end of year focus will be on the couple movies I feel were unfortunately overlooked by critics and the general film audience. Meaning, I have not seen these films on any list (or maybe not the most popular lists). These films are 2007 DVD releases. Meaning, read up, get interested and go rent. Read the rest of this entry »