An impressive picture book on the Asean region will be Thailand's parting gift as it vacates the association's chair,writes Thanida Tansubhapol
"L inking people with arts will help them appreciate and be proud of the closeness of one's community," said Vitavas Srivihok, director-general of the Asean Affairs Department at the Foreign Ministry.His words later inspired the birth of an artistic book entitled "Asean: Portrait of a Community" which will be presented as a special gift to the 10 Asean leaders at this year's final Asean gathering this month in Cha-am/Hua Hin.
What makes this book unique is the compilation of sketch drawings of all Asean leaders, as well as the top tourist attractions of the region. The livelihoods of the Asean peoples are portrayed in the natural flow of water colours.
The project took shape in June after an exchange of ideas during a friendly chat between Mr Vitavas and artist Taveepong Limapornvanich.
"The ministry thought it should have a surprise gift for the leaders. I'm sure it will be unlike anything they have previously received from other countries," Mr Vitavas told the Bangkok Post.
But to complete the book was quite a challenge for Mr Taveepong.
"It took me two full months to sketch about 150 pictures from the 10 Asean countries.
"Every day, I spent about 18 hours on average drawing about two pictures. I would start around 3pm to 4pm and finish by about 6am the next day," he said.
In addition to the book,10 large-size smiling portraits of the leaders, which took him more than 10 hours each to finish, will be displayed at the Asean summit.
"Although some of the leaders were not smiling in the originals, I painted them wearing a beaming smile," he said.
He said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's portrait was the most difficult to draw because he looked different in different poses - sometimes rather bloated,other times thin.
"But the painting of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak came out the best," said Mr Taveepong.
Mr Vitavas is particularly impressed by the pictures of the 10 Asean leaders shaking hands with Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan. To him, they looked so real.
Another major challenge was which distinctive tourist landmarks should be chosen from each member state for the book.
In Indonesia and Thailand, there are simply too many attractions to choose from.
"Since each country was afforded only six pages or 18 prominent tourist sites for entry into the book, I needed to do a lot of thinking and research before finalising the list," said Mr Taveepong.
"I included the places which I thought would make the leaders realise that the Thais did know quite a bit about their neighbouring countries."
"About 40% of the pictures used as samples for the drawings came from my own album, the pictures I took when I travelled to those countries," he said.
Mr Vitavas said:"I am impressed that he was able to capture the diversity of each country and the common culture depicted in the book, such as the
pictures of dancing girls or the type of trishaws running in the streets of Asean countries."
"In the trishaw pictures, all Asean nations have their own style of trishaws, except Brunei, which uses a boat instead," he said.
Mr Taveepong thought Malaysia provided an ideal country for the drawing.
"I studied in Malaysia for two years and that made me feel accustomed to its culture and architecture,especially with what I saw in Penang," he said.
Brunei and Burma are the only two Asean countries Mr Taveepong has never visited.
Unlike the other water-colour drawings in the book,the sacred Shwedagon Pagoda of Burma needed to be done twice.
He said he needed to do this because it was difficult to tell the foreground from the background in the
sample picture. There are also many smaller pagodas around the main one, said Mr Taveepong.
"I have not made the paintings of one country inferior or better than the other countries. If I felt that they needed to look better, I reworked them."
"I believe that when the leaders open this book, they will be surprised at how the Thais came to know about these places [as some are not common tourist spots]," the artist said.
In the past 40 years, no Asean country has done anything like this. It will be evidence for people to remember Thailand as the chair of Asean this year, he said.
Mr Vitavas hopes this artistic masterpiece will help Asean to become better known among its own people and around the world.
"The pillar of socio-culture under the Asean Charter should be improved as it would be a linkage of the people and this book will be a good gateway," he said.
Both Mr Vitavas and Mr Taveepong believe that many countries would be surprised at how resilient Thai people are in the face of ongoing political instability in the country, which is now being expressed through art.
The drawings are now on display for the public at Siam Paragon shopping mall until tomorrow, after which the exhibition will be moved to CentralWorld from October 5-8.
After that, all the pictures would be put on display at the meeting venue at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Chaam/Hua Hin in order to allow all Asean leaders to appreciate their portraits on their way to the meeting room.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Grazia - The Launch Of The Thai Edition By Inspire at The Centara Hotel
Inspire Entertainment lead by CEO, Khun Wiluck Lahtong and Executive Director, Goungkiet Vienravi along with the Mondadori Group from Italy, recently held the official launch of the Thai Edition of the Global Women's Fashion and Lifestyle Magazine at the Centara Hotel. Judging from overflowing turnout from the event alone, Grazia is definitely going to be successful here despite othr magazines going through bad times in the current economy.
Bloomberg teams up with Post
The Washington Post and Bloomberg News are teaming up in a new partnership that will distribute their political and financial coverage to a broader audience.
The venture announced on Thursday includes a news service that fills the void created by the dissolution of a 47-year alliance between the Post and the Los Angeles Times .The two newspapers disclosed their plans to divorce on Wednesday.
Besides distributing about 120 stories per day beginning on Jan 1 to other news organisations, the Post and Bloomberg will share content with each other and co-produce an online business news page on the Post 's website.Financial terms of the arrangement weren't disclosed.
The deal will help the Post compensate for a staff that has been shrinking in recent years. Like large newspapers across the United States, the Post has been shedding employees because of a steep drop in advertising sales. The Post 's ad revenue from its print edition plunged 27% in the first half of this year, leaving the newspaper with $57 million less to pay its expenses.
New York-based Bloomberg hasn't been as hard hit because it doesn't rely as much on advertising. It caters to investors, bankers and other financial services employees who pay to receive a variety of business coverage and data through Bloomberg terminals. Some of the Post 's coverage will now be sent to those terminals.
The Post will be able to draw on Bloomberg's more than 1,500 reporters and editors to supplement its staff coverage online and in print.
"This is a formidable collaboration,"said Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of the Washington Post ."It brings together the Post 's vast expertise on politics and policy news in Washington with Bloomberg's highly regarded global financial, economic and political news franchise."
The Washington Post is the fifth-largest US newspaper with a weekday circulation of 665,000. Bloomberg News is owned by Bloomberg LP, a private company controlled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The venture announced on Thursday includes a news service that fills the void created by the dissolution of a 47-year alliance between the Post and the Los Angeles Times .The two newspapers disclosed their plans to divorce on Wednesday.
Besides distributing about 120 stories per day beginning on Jan 1 to other news organisations, the Post and Bloomberg will share content with each other and co-produce an online business news page on the Post 's website.Financial terms of the arrangement weren't disclosed.
The deal will help the Post compensate for a staff that has been shrinking in recent years. Like large newspapers across the United States, the Post has been shedding employees because of a steep drop in advertising sales. The Post 's ad revenue from its print edition plunged 27% in the first half of this year, leaving the newspaper with $57 million less to pay its expenses.
New York-based Bloomberg hasn't been as hard hit because it doesn't rely as much on advertising. It caters to investors, bankers and other financial services employees who pay to receive a variety of business coverage and data through Bloomberg terminals. Some of the Post 's coverage will now be sent to those terminals.
The Post will be able to draw on Bloomberg's more than 1,500 reporters and editors to supplement its staff coverage online and in print.
"This is a formidable collaboration,"said Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of the Washington Post ."It brings together the Post 's vast expertise on politics and policy news in Washington with Bloomberg's highly regarded global financial, economic and political news franchise."
The Washington Post is the fifth-largest US newspaper with a weekday circulation of 665,000. Bloomberg News is owned by Bloomberg LP, a private company controlled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
THIN GRUEL FOR THEISTS
Recent years have given us several books on the history of Western religion:Karen Armstrong's "A History of God", Jack Miles's "God: A B3iography" and now Robert Wright's "The Evolution of God".Armstrong is former nun,Miles a former priest,and it is evident they are trying to salvage something from the wreckage of religous belief inflicted by the ongoing onslaught of scientific materialism.
Wright is a self-proclaimed materialist who is trying to understand religion as a product of political and economic forces,but he too seems interested in salvaging something from the wreckage.He portrays the Habrew god Yahweh as originally a storm deity,one god among many in the Middle East,who took on the characteristics of some of his competitors and eventually sought to displace them all.His evolution was conditioned by the political dynamies of the region,in which the confederated tribes of Israel were a minor player and the predominant powers were Egypt,Assyria,Babylonia,and later Persia.
Among other theories,Wright speculates that the Israelites were never slaves in Rgypt.They were actually Canaanite hill tribes who clashed with their coastal and plains-dwelling cousins.Goodbye to Moses,the exodus from Egypt,the Ten Commandments and the forty years wandering in the wilderness! One wonders how this stupendous epic managed to emerge if the Israelited were living in the hills of Canaan all the while.Cecil B DeMille would surely be upset.
Wright theorises that Jesus was a chauvinist whose doctrine of love was limited to the Jews,as evidenced by his frequent remarks disparaging the Gentiles (pagans).Anecdotes showing his regard for Gentiles,such a his healing of the centurion's servant,and the parable of the Good Samaritan,were added later.It was the apostle Paul who idealised Jasus and boradened his doctrine of love to include all humankind.Paul's motivation was not entirely altruistic.He wanted to convert the pagan world to Christianity,and he could hardly have done that if Jesus' doctrine of love had remanined limited to the Jews.
Wright sees in Muhammad a synthesis of Moses and the idealised Jesus.Muhamad is like Moses because he led his people form a place of oppression (Mecca) to a place of freedom(Medina),and because he was political leader and lawgiver.He is like the idealised Jesus because he taught love and brotherhood.
Wright downplays the fequent imprecations against infidels in the Qur'an.He notes that you can cherry-pick the Qur'an to prove a variety of viewpoints,but maintains that the weight of Qur'anic verses suggest that it is for God to punish infidels in the next life and for Muslims to practice forbearance in this one.Somebody should tell this to our contemporary Islamic terrorists.
Wright's central thesis is that the idea of God has evolved from multiple primitive,localised,often savage supernatural powers, into a sighle invisible,universal overlord with a deep concern for morality.Insofar as that belief civilises us and makes us moral,it takes on a creative reality of its own.The impulse to morality that evolves from it(Wright calls it maral order,moral direction,even moral truth) is the closest thing we have to God.
Theists will find this pretty thin gruel.The impulse to morality is an admirable thing,but pales beside the vigour of the feisty,interventionist,sometimes-anthropomorphie god depicted in the Abrahamic religions.Theists want a god with personality,a god they can worship,love and pray to.You can't pray to an impulse.
But maybe theists need to grow up.A morality that springs from within is obviously superior to amorality imposed from without.You can't worshi it,but who ever claimed that the sole object of religion is to have something to worship? A higher object would be an inner transformation for the better,regardless of external realities.Wright seems to be saying that if there is anything,how ever subtle and beyond our range of knowing,that impels such transformation,although we may not call it God,it's the closest thing to Gd we've got.
Wright is a self-proclaimed materialist who is trying to understand religion as a product of political and economic forces,but he too seems interested in salvaging something from the wreckage.He portrays the Habrew god Yahweh as originally a storm deity,one god among many in the Middle East,who took on the characteristics of some of his competitors and eventually sought to displace them all.His evolution was conditioned by the political dynamies of the region,in which the confederated tribes of Israel were a minor player and the predominant powers were Egypt,Assyria,Babylonia,and later Persia.
Among other theories,Wright speculates that the Israelites were never slaves in Rgypt.They were actually Canaanite hill tribes who clashed with their coastal and plains-dwelling cousins.Goodbye to Moses,the exodus from Egypt,the Ten Commandments and the forty years wandering in the wilderness! One wonders how this stupendous epic managed to emerge if the Israelited were living in the hills of Canaan all the while.Cecil B DeMille would surely be upset.
Wright theorises that Jesus was a chauvinist whose doctrine of love was limited to the Jews,as evidenced by his frequent remarks disparaging the Gentiles (pagans).Anecdotes showing his regard for Gentiles,such a his healing of the centurion's servant,and the parable of the Good Samaritan,were added later.It was the apostle Paul who idealised Jasus and boradened his doctrine of love to include all humankind.Paul's motivation was not entirely altruistic.He wanted to convert the pagan world to Christianity,and he could hardly have done that if Jesus' doctrine of love had remanined limited to the Jews.
Wright sees in Muhammad a synthesis of Moses and the idealised Jesus.Muhamad is like Moses because he led his people form a place of oppression (Mecca) to a place of freedom(Medina),and because he was political leader and lawgiver.He is like the idealised Jesus because he taught love and brotherhood.
Wright downplays the fequent imprecations against infidels in the Qur'an.He notes that you can cherry-pick the Qur'an to prove a variety of viewpoints,but maintains that the weight of Qur'anic verses suggest that it is for God to punish infidels in the next life and for Muslims to practice forbearance in this one.Somebody should tell this to our contemporary Islamic terrorists.
Wright's central thesis is that the idea of God has evolved from multiple primitive,localised,often savage supernatural powers, into a sighle invisible,universal overlord with a deep concern for morality.Insofar as that belief civilises us and makes us moral,it takes on a creative reality of its own.The impulse to morality that evolves from it(Wright calls it maral order,moral direction,even moral truth) is the closest thing we have to God.
Theists will find this pretty thin gruel.The impulse to morality is an admirable thing,but pales beside the vigour of the feisty,interventionist,sometimes-anthropomorphie god depicted in the Abrahamic religions.Theists want a god with personality,a god they can worship,love and pray to.You can't pray to an impulse.
But maybe theists need to grow up.A morality that springs from within is obviously superior to amorality imposed from without.You can't worshi it,but who ever claimed that the sole object of religion is to have something to worship? A higher object would be an inner transformation for the better,regardless of external realities.Wright seems to be saying that if there is anything,how ever subtle and beyond our range of knowing,that impels such transformation,although we may not call it God,it's the closest thing to Gd we've got.
Friday, October 2, 2009
THE SULTAN AND THE MERMAID QUEEN Paul Spencer Sochaczewski
The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen is a compendium of articles and essays on Asia written by Bangkok resident Paul Spencer Sochaczewski. Encompassing several decades of travel throughout the continent, they originally appeared in publications such as the International Herald Tribune ,Wall Street Journal CNN Traveller ,Geographical ,Travel and Leisure Golf and Destinasian .Sochaczewski has a knack for finding oddball characters and offbeat stories on his journeys. Within these pages we meet a homeless Hawaiian who claims to be the last real emperor of China, the last elephant hunter of Vietnam, and the Sultan of Yogyakarta who lends his name to the book's title and who professes his love for a mermaid queen.
We also learn how Burma's generals are using white elephants to justify their hold on power and ponder the disappearance of a modern day Swiss Robin Hood who disppapeared in the Borneo jungle while trying to stand up for the rights of Penan tribesmen, among many other interesting tales.
The author's enthusiasm for Asia is apparent throughout, as are his interests in conservation and golf. He combines all three with an article written in Bangkok which considers the ecological impact of Asia's obsession with a game that requires more land than some Balkan states.
As a non-tree hugger I found it a bit tiring trying to read all the eco-centric articles in one sitting, likewise reading about golf, which gets me about as excited as sitting at the lights at Asok on a Friday evening. In a thunderstorm. However,this is not a book to be read all at once, much less so in lateral order from cover to cover.
Dipping into TSATMQ is like eating squid on a stick with green chilli sauce. If you use too much then it becomes a bit overwhelming and could even make your eyes water, but applied sparingly it's a delectable and invigorating
We also learn how Burma's generals are using white elephants to justify their hold on power and ponder the disappearance of a modern day Swiss Robin Hood who disppapeared in the Borneo jungle while trying to stand up for the rights of Penan tribesmen, among many other interesting tales.
The author's enthusiasm for Asia is apparent throughout, as are his interests in conservation and golf. He combines all three with an article written in Bangkok which considers the ecological impact of Asia's obsession with a game that requires more land than some Balkan states.
As a non-tree hugger I found it a bit tiring trying to read all the eco-centric articles in one sitting, likewise reading about golf, which gets me about as excited as sitting at the lights at Asok on a Friday evening. In a thunderstorm. However,this is not a book to be read all at once, much less so in lateral order from cover to cover.
Dipping into TSATMQ is like eating squid on a stick with green chilli sauce. If you use too much then it becomes a bit overwhelming and could even make your eyes water, but applied sparingly it's a delectable and invigorating
A love-hate relationship with food
When Frank Bruni stepped on the scene as the chief restaurant critic for The New York Times more than five years ago,many industry insiders and observers thought the choice was odd.
Bruni had no previous experience reviewing restaurants. He hadn't sweated long hours behind a hot range in a well-regarded kitchen learning his craft. He knew how to shape sentences but what did he know about simmering sauces?
But even odder was Bruni's lovehate relationship with food - something he now acknowledges in his new memoir,Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater .The revelation isn't exactly shocking but it is unusual. Bruni, the man who had volunteered to eat out six nights a week, had obsessed about his weight for most of his life. He had battled bulimia briefly, toyed with laxatives and torpedoed many a diet - all the trimmings for his third book.
"I remember thinking if I look up after a couple of years and I am right,and I have figured out a better way to manage my relationship with food,it's probably a pretty interesting narrative how I got to this point," Bruni says about the moment he decided to take the job.
If waist size is an indicator of success then Bruni, with his close-cropped hair and athletic build, has been wildly successful curbing his prodigious appetite. After ballooning to around 275 pounds and sporting 42-inch pants while covering a presidential campaign in 2000, Bruni can now take a moment to brag.
He wears size 34 jeans and doesn't look round anymore - despite eating his way through approximately 700 restaurants in New York alone during his stint as critic that came officially to an end last month.
"I like eating, and I prefer eating in great volume to eating in minor volume," Bruni,44, said in an interview at a wine bar on Manhattan's Upper West Side near his home."No question.Having been through everything I describe in the book, I am fully aware and I struggle to remain conscious of the consequences."
The consequences have plagued Bruni throughout his life but they came to a head when he decided in April 2004 to leave his post as Rome correspondent and tackle restaurant reviewing in New York, perhaps the most important dining city in the world and one filled with know-it-all foodies.
For Bruni, danger loomed. A sea of calories awaited him. He took the plunge - one that has local restaurateurs now scratching their heads since learning Bruni's anguish over food.
"It's like an alcoholic becoming a winemaker," says John Fraser, whose New York restaurant Dovetail faired exceptionally well under Bruni's withering gaze, earning three stars.
Bruni knew the task ahead of him was great. He adjusted and learned on the job. He "ate more widely and in a much more inquisitive and thoughtful manner." He developed a "frame of reference" that was "extremely broad and unusual."
He not only wrote about places in New York but he also ventured across America and Europe, alerting readers to gems such as Alinea in Chicago.Bruni could at times be snarky in his reviews but he was mostly right when he decided to bring out the knives,according to chefs.
Sometimes, restaurants caught him;sometimes they did not. A well-worn picture floating around of a heftier Bruni aided his cause to slip into restaurants unnoticed.
"We had the fat picture. You would never guess that's the same person,"Fraser said about Bruni's most current photograph posted on the food blog Eater.com and the one found inside the cover of his book.
His style of writing attracted many followers. Not everybody loved him but they definitely talked about him.As Bruni evolved, people noticed, chatting about him at cocktail parties, said Jennifer Baum, an influential restaurant publicist who has never met Bruni but had about a dozen of her restaurants reviewed by him.
"It stepped beyond the walls of the industry," Baum said, referring to his reviews. Baum, like other food publicists, kept a wary eye on Bruni,who once slapped around one of her celebrity chef clients, Bobby Flay, taking a star away from Mesa Grill in Manhattan. Baum wouldn't comment about her client's reaction to Bruni's takedown, but she said he was fair and honest.
"There are some restaurants that opened where people didn't pay attention and those restaurants should be shouted out," she said."He went into the venerable restaurants and made sure they were paying attention."
And the weight? Not only did Bruni beat back the calories through rigorous exercise and moderation, he also beat back the doubters in a city filled with them. Bruni, according to some of the toughest critics in town, prevailed.
"When he started out, Frank famously knew almost nothing about restaurant criticism, and it showed,"GQmagazine food critic Alan Richman said."He was saved by his writing which is exuberant and charming, by his indefatigable work ethic and by his instinctive ability to write brilliant criticisms of restaurants that he either hated or loved. I'm not sure if any restaurant critic has been better at praise."
Richman, who once eviscerated one of the most famous chefs alive, JeanGeorges Vongerichten, in a scathing article for his magazine, said it's too bad Bruni is giving up his reign as most feared critic in New York.
"What I regret about him leaving now is that he finally has that skill,something that comes with scrutinising thousands of plates of food," Richman said."He's at his peak."
Bruni isn't sorry. He can finally exhale after crafting about 270 reviews - visiting some spots more than once - for the newspaper that could turn a restaurant into a massive hit or major flop. He decided to end his run as critic because his "energy would fade or was fading."
Bruni says his old gig wasn't just about eating. It was also about coordinating the meals - all the time. He always dictated the schedule, calling himself a "bully."
Bruni had no previous experience reviewing restaurants. He hadn't sweated long hours behind a hot range in a well-regarded kitchen learning his craft. He knew how to shape sentences but what did he know about simmering sauces?
But even odder was Bruni's lovehate relationship with food - something he now acknowledges in his new memoir,Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater .The revelation isn't exactly shocking but it is unusual. Bruni, the man who had volunteered to eat out six nights a week, had obsessed about his weight for most of his life. He had battled bulimia briefly, toyed with laxatives and torpedoed many a diet - all the trimmings for his third book.
"I remember thinking if I look up after a couple of years and I am right,and I have figured out a better way to manage my relationship with food,it's probably a pretty interesting narrative how I got to this point," Bruni says about the moment he decided to take the job.
If waist size is an indicator of success then Bruni, with his close-cropped hair and athletic build, has been wildly successful curbing his prodigious appetite. After ballooning to around 275 pounds and sporting 42-inch pants while covering a presidential campaign in 2000, Bruni can now take a moment to brag.
He wears size 34 jeans and doesn't look round anymore - despite eating his way through approximately 700 restaurants in New York alone during his stint as critic that came officially to an end last month.
"I like eating, and I prefer eating in great volume to eating in minor volume," Bruni,44, said in an interview at a wine bar on Manhattan's Upper West Side near his home."No question.Having been through everything I describe in the book, I am fully aware and I struggle to remain conscious of the consequences."
The consequences have plagued Bruni throughout his life but they came to a head when he decided in April 2004 to leave his post as Rome correspondent and tackle restaurant reviewing in New York, perhaps the most important dining city in the world and one filled with know-it-all foodies.
For Bruni, danger loomed. A sea of calories awaited him. He took the plunge - one that has local restaurateurs now scratching their heads since learning Bruni's anguish over food.
"It's like an alcoholic becoming a winemaker," says John Fraser, whose New York restaurant Dovetail faired exceptionally well under Bruni's withering gaze, earning three stars.
Bruni knew the task ahead of him was great. He adjusted and learned on the job. He "ate more widely and in a much more inquisitive and thoughtful manner." He developed a "frame of reference" that was "extremely broad and unusual."
He not only wrote about places in New York but he also ventured across America and Europe, alerting readers to gems such as Alinea in Chicago.Bruni could at times be snarky in his reviews but he was mostly right when he decided to bring out the knives,according to chefs.
Sometimes, restaurants caught him;sometimes they did not. A well-worn picture floating around of a heftier Bruni aided his cause to slip into restaurants unnoticed.
"We had the fat picture. You would never guess that's the same person,"Fraser said about Bruni's most current photograph posted on the food blog Eater.com and the one found inside the cover of his book.
His style of writing attracted many followers. Not everybody loved him but they definitely talked about him.As Bruni evolved, people noticed, chatting about him at cocktail parties, said Jennifer Baum, an influential restaurant publicist who has never met Bruni but had about a dozen of her restaurants reviewed by him.
"It stepped beyond the walls of the industry," Baum said, referring to his reviews. Baum, like other food publicists, kept a wary eye on Bruni,who once slapped around one of her celebrity chef clients, Bobby Flay, taking a star away from Mesa Grill in Manhattan. Baum wouldn't comment about her client's reaction to Bruni's takedown, but she said he was fair and honest.
"There are some restaurants that opened where people didn't pay attention and those restaurants should be shouted out," she said."He went into the venerable restaurants and made sure they were paying attention."
And the weight? Not only did Bruni beat back the calories through rigorous exercise and moderation, he also beat back the doubters in a city filled with them. Bruni, according to some of the toughest critics in town, prevailed.
"When he started out, Frank famously knew almost nothing about restaurant criticism, and it showed,"GQmagazine food critic Alan Richman said."He was saved by his writing which is exuberant and charming, by his indefatigable work ethic and by his instinctive ability to write brilliant criticisms of restaurants that he either hated or loved. I'm not sure if any restaurant critic has been better at praise."
Richman, who once eviscerated one of the most famous chefs alive, JeanGeorges Vongerichten, in a scathing article for his magazine, said it's too bad Bruni is giving up his reign as most feared critic in New York.
"What I regret about him leaving now is that he finally has that skill,something that comes with scrutinising thousands of plates of food," Richman said."He's at his peak."
Bruni isn't sorry. He can finally exhale after crafting about 270 reviews - visiting some spots more than once - for the newspaper that could turn a restaurant into a massive hit or major flop. He decided to end his run as critic because his "energy would fade or was fading."
Bruni says his old gig wasn't just about eating. It was also about coordinating the meals - all the time. He always dictated the schedule, calling himself a "bully."
Top tabloid switches support from Labour
Britain's topselling daily newspaper dealt a blow to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's efforts to win a general election, declaring yesterday it had switched its support to the opposition Conservatives.
The Sun , part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire, delivered a damning thumbs-down the day after Mr Brown's keynote speech to his ruling Labour Party conference.
"After 12 long years in power, this government has lost its way," the Sun said in a front-page article, featuring a picture of Mr Brown and the headline "Labour's lost it".
The Sun boasts a circulation of more than 3 million and a record of backing winners in elections. It switched its support to Labour before Tony Blair led the party to the first of three successive election victories in 1997.
Mr Brown replaced Mr Blair two years ago but faces a fight for political survival.He must call an election by next June and the centre-right Conservatives are ahead by 15 points or more in polls.
"The British people will decide the election, not a newspaper. I think people really want newspapers to report news and expect them to do so," Mr Brown said.
Ground down by recession and angered by a scandal over lawmakers'expenses, Britons appear ready to embrace the Conservatives.
"What this is signalling is that they [the Sun ] think their readers have turned,just as in 1996 when they switched support to Blair, a similar time out from the election," Ivor Gaber, professor of political campaigning and reporting at London's City University, said.
"They weren't saying 'we suddenly think New Labour is good', they were saying 'we know where our readers are at', and no newspaper likes to be behind its readers."
The Sun , part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire, delivered a damning thumbs-down the day after Mr Brown's keynote speech to his ruling Labour Party conference.
"After 12 long years in power, this government has lost its way," the Sun said in a front-page article, featuring a picture of Mr Brown and the headline "Labour's lost it".
The Sun boasts a circulation of more than 3 million and a record of backing winners in elections. It switched its support to Labour before Tony Blair led the party to the first of three successive election victories in 1997.
Mr Brown replaced Mr Blair two years ago but faces a fight for political survival.He must call an election by next June and the centre-right Conservatives are ahead by 15 points or more in polls.
"The British people will decide the election, not a newspaper. I think people really want newspapers to report news and expect them to do so," Mr Brown said.
Ground down by recession and angered by a scandal over lawmakers'expenses, Britons appear ready to embrace the Conservatives.
"What this is signalling is that they [the Sun ] think their readers have turned,just as in 1996 when they switched support to Blair, a similar time out from the election," Ivor Gaber, professor of political campaigning and reporting at London's City University, said.
"They weren't saying 'we suddenly think New Labour is good', they were saying 'we know where our readers are at', and no newspaper likes to be behind its readers."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)