Results tagged “williamt”

Garrison Keillor noted during his opening speech for last night's National Book Awards that this week is the opening of another Harry Potter film. He said, "Most of us have stood in Barnes & Noble and opened a Harry Potter book, read a few pages and said: 'I could have done that. I could have done that while doing all the other things that I do. Why didn't I?'"

It's quite the red letter week for us bookish types, with the prestigious, sometimes baffling, and oft-maligned National Book Awards dinner and awards ceremony tomorrow night where trophies will be bestowed, granted, totally robbed, whatever, at the Marriott Marquis. To that end, critic A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the contradictions and complications inherent to the awards, Medal Fatigue (registration required). Garrison Keillor is the Master of Ceremonies which, frankly, is why Gothamist wishes we had tickets. If you do have a seat at the Ivory Tower's table, enjoy and report back to us lowly slobs. The odds on the fiction winner have already been calculated by New York Mag, with Gaitskill and Doctorow as the favourites to win. It's just like Belmont, really.

According to the Times today, Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to close two of the City's zoos. The article doesn't say how much money this move would be expected to save, but it's hard to imagine that it could be enough to justify taking these priceless cultural resources away from the people of New York.