Harvey's Daze

Paul Simon, a boy from Queens, opened his classic song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with:

When you're weary, feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all

I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough

And friends just can't be found 

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down ...

Somehow I don't think Paul was thinking about, or singing about, another boy from Queens named Harvey Weinstein. The former movie mogul is on trial for rape and faces the very real possibility of life in prison.

The tragedy of his case is immense: he harrassed and rape women, then doubly victimimized them by using his power and money to keep them quiet, in some cases for decades. And now that his predatory behavior has been revealed for the entire world to grapple with, now that he is on trial for his life, Harvey is all alone. (Believe it or not, he still doesn't understand why the world is so mad at him, he is dazed by his downfall.)

His friends and most of his family have abandoned him. The business he used to rule has disavowed him. And his future will either be in a prison cell like Bernie Maddoff or a purgatorial life like OJ's. 

To me, that must be the worst thing: going to jail must be horrible but there has to be some well of mental and emotional stregnth you can draw on knowing that you have friends and family who love you and care about you. That in the outside world, there is someone who wants to give comfort, dry your tears, lay themselves down for you, who is your bridge over troubled water between jail and freedom.

Harvey doesn't have that. He never will. And that must be the worst fate he'll ever endure. 

MLK in NYC 1962

Everybody Hates Him

In the movie Reversal of Fortune, about the 1980s Claus Von Bulow attempted murder case, there's a brilliant scene where Von Bulow (played in an Oscar-winning performance by Jeremy Irons) hires the lawyer Alan Dershowitz (played by the late Ron Silver) to handle his appeal. 

Von Bulow and Dershowitz are lunching at Delmonico's, the famed restaurant. As they dig into their food, you begin to see how different these men are, how they literally approach life (and food) differently, and what an odd pairing this will be: Von Bulow meticulously lemons his shrimp cocktail while Dershowitz voraciously tears into his salmon. 

As they eat, Von Bulow asks how much Dershowitz's services will cost -- $300 an hour is the reply, much of which will be plowed back into Dershowitz pro-bono cases defending innocent black people on death row. Von Bulow asks if that means Dershowitz will take him on as a client but he says he probably won't because the case doesn't seem to have any Constitutional stakes attached to it. Von Bulow asks him to read the record of the case to try to find something Constitutional. Dershowitz demures but then tells Von Bulow there's one thing that might make him take the case: "Everybody hates you."

That seems to be the Dershowitz M.O. -- take on cases where everybody hates the defendant, whether that's Von Bolow or OJ Simpson or Donald Trump.

Today he was announced as one of his impeachment lawyers, along with the loathsome Ken Starr, where he will try to argue that abusing presidential power by inviting foreign interference into an American election isn't an impeachable offense. Dershowitz now has the chance to gaslight the entire country, engage in his best through-the-looking-glass, up-is-down, night-is-day, left-is-right, the un-Constitutional is Constitutional mental jujitsu Olympics. 

I sure hope he's getting more than $300 an hour for this debasement of his entire career. 

But there's two big differences between the socialite and the POTUS: Claus Von Bulow was a disciplined, cooperative client who never pretended to know more than his lawyer, who didn't rant and rave or feel sorry for himself or engage in stupid conspiracy theories as to the reasons for his dillemma. Trump is the opposite. Also, Dershowitz brilliantly uncovered facts and evidence that exculpated Von Bulow -- with Trump, as more evidence emerges, the more it proves his guilt. 

It's sad to see Alan Dershowitz descend to this sleazy level but the man can't help it, he loves the spotlight too much.

But Trump does have one thing in common with Von Bulow -- everybody hates him. 

Awkwafina Rules the MTA

So the actress Awkwafina, one of those one-name wonders like Cher or Madonna, is promoting her new show about Queens -- the place where she is from -- by taking over the announcements next week on the 7 train.

This has to be the first.

Using the subway announcements to promote a show is genius and hopefully the MTA is making some good dough out of this. I don't regularly ride the 7 train but maybe I will next week.

My only problem: the subways riders will only hear her voice and not actually see her which is a shame because Ms. Awkwafina is super hot!

Gotta Love New Yorkers

When it comes to New Yorkers, we are audacious bunch of people, in ways both good and bad. Recently I have read about a few things that New Yorkers, both past and present, have done that have both inspired and shocked me, filled me with hope as well as dread, reminding me about what people in this town can do, for better or worse. For example:

There's the story of Neir's Tavern out in Queens -- the oldest one in NYC and one of the oldest in the United States, dating back almost 200 years -- that was literally hours away from closing. But then the mayor, the community, as well as some landlords who came to their senses, were able to broker a deal and keep the legendary pub open. It was a beautiful example of people uniting in a good cause to do something for the common good and prevailing, keeping part of our history alive. New Yorkers at their best!

Then there's Hope Consolo. Who was she? She was a very successful real estate broker in NYC for decades who died a few years ago. At first, upon her death, retrospectives of her life story had made it seem like she was an admirable woman who has forged a great career. In reality? She was a fraud. She lied about her background, her accomplishments, and was a sleazy and dishonest a businessperson. Her revised obituary makes for fascinating reading because it's a story of pure sociopathy, pure greed, pure vanity, pure heartlessness. If you wonder how another dishonest real estate person from NYC made it to the White House, this deep-dive into the life of this lesser known person gives you a glimpse into the fetid world of NYC real estate world they both operated in and that is now stinking up the country.

Another person with a less than savory legacy is William O'Dwyer. He was mayor in the late 1940s and his entire mayoralty was basically a tool for the mafia. He was controlled by organized crime. In 1950, just months into his second terms, he resigned, left the country, and never returned. The story of his rise and fall is fascinating and depressing, the story of a time in our city's history when its government was not being run for the benefit of its people. The story its like something out of a crime movie -- but it was depressingly real.

But then there's The Snowy Day. This is a great children's book by the NYC born author Ezra Jack Keats. Published in 1962, it's a very simple story about a young black boy who goes out and plays with the snow. The story is so simple and so beautifully told that it's become a classic. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1963 but it's now won an even bigger prize -- it's the most checked out book in the history of the New York Public Library, having been checked out almost half a million times. That's more than any Harry Potter book, more than any Dr. Seuss book, more than any other book ever. I've read this story to my kids many times and the fact that I'm sharing this story with them along with hundres of thousands of other NYC kids, is heartwarming indeed.

Clouds Over Lower Manhattan

The Lincoln Center Swimming Pool

This is sure to become an iconic photo, thanks to a water main break.

Review: "Girlfriends" (1978)

Recently I saw a movie on TCM that I'd never seen before. However, after watching it and reading more about it online, I discovered that it was a landmark of early independent New York cinema, Girlfriends from 1978.

This is the kind of movie Lena Dunham would have made back then. Instead, it was made by someone named Claudia Weill and it features an great cast and many touching scenes. The story is very simply but compelling: a young shluby woman named Susan lives with her gorgeous best friend Anne while trying to make it as a freelance photographer. They are both young and full of hope for the future. Then reality intrudes. Anne gets married and moves out, Susan struggles for a while in her career, and her relationships with men are fraught. Susan has a one-night stand that eventually turns into a strained relationship with a guy named Eric, plus she has a short weird relationship with a rabbi. She became alienated from Anne, whose new life and husband make her feel unwelcome. But, after many starts and stop, Susan's career takes off, Eric falls in love with her, and she and Anne evolve their friendship into a new understanding.

It's a deeply affecting film about love, friendship, and the vicissitudes of life. And it was way, way, way ahead of its time.

Susan is played by Melanie Mayron who had a big acting career in the 1980s, winning Emmys for her role on thirtysomething before she went on to become a successful director in her own right. The boyfriend, Eric, is played by Christopher Guest, years before he'd strike comic gold with movies like Spinal Tap and Best in Show. A very bearded Bob Balaban plays Anne's miserable husband and Eli Wallach, the great actor, plays the rabbi, making an otherwise creepy guy very likable.

This a movie that does what all movies should do -- show, and not tell. It's definately worth seeing if you can.

Deep Thoughts Inspired by the New York Hall of Science

Best "I Love New York" logo I've ever seen. Very cool.



Yes, we will find life on Europe! Specifically, Jeremy Irons.

And finally ...



It's great that we can finally determine the exact amount of the purity and essence of our precious bodily fluids. 

Art of the Brick

Over the weekend the family went to the New York Hall of Science to see the special exhibit Art of the Brick that's there until the end of January.

I've been to many an exhibit over the decades -- paintings, sculptures, installations, videos, etc. -- but never one where the medium of the work was exclusively done in LEGOs. But a former lawyer named Nathan Sawaya did just that, creating over 100 artworks completely out of the various colored pieces. 

They really are mind-boggling and I urge everyone to go see this exhibit before it closes. Many of the artworks are three-dimensional recreations of existing artworks like "American Gothic" or "The Scream." Others are massive sculptures of dinosaurs or ghosts, bigger than life-sized standing objects that are nothing like I've ever seen before.

What's so stunning about these works is the level of detail, clear precision, and obviously careful labor that went into their creation. It's a kind of craftsmanship I've never seen before and it's enjoyable for kids and grown up a like.