Paterson Treads on Wine, BeerGovernor Paterson’s tax hike on adult beverages could also result in more places to buy them.
ByDaniel Maurer
vulture picture palace
Filmmaker Ray Tintori Reunites Father and Son, Blows Up EarthWe don’t quite know what to make of Ray Tintori’s Jettison Your Loved Ones — a deranged, no-budget sci-fi epic about perpetual motion and families — other than to say that it’s some of the most hypnotic and strange six minutes you’ll ever spend staring at a computer screen.
The Other Critics
Allen & Delancey Gets Its Two-Star Due; Irving Mill Continues to UninspireIn spite of lousy desserts and a misstep in the fish department there, Frank Bruni couldn’t avoid giving Allen and Delancey’s complex, accomplished food two stars. [NYT]
Alan Richman, no pushover, was also very impressed by Allen & Delancey, though he noted that the chef’s strength clearly lies in the realm of turf, rather than surf. Still, the respect is there: “The visceral satisfaction is high. He piles on flavors, and he does so with assurance.” [Bloomberg]
Irving Mill: tired concept, spotty execution. Restaurant Girl joins the chorus. [NYDN]
early and often
Giuliani and the Manhattan Institute: The New George Bush and Straussianism?Today’s Observer story on Rudy Giuliani peeks into his intimate relationship with the conservative Manhattan Institute. Last year, they report, at an Institute award ceremony, Giuliani credited them with masterminding a huge portion of his platform.
“If there was kind of like a charge of plagiarism for political programs, I’d probably be in a lot of trouble because I think we plagiarized most of them, if not all of them, from the pages of the [Institute publication] City Journal and from the thinking and analysis of the Manhattan Institute.”
The Observer suggests that this is a unique scenario, where a candidate’s “policy dossier is built nearly from scratch on the theories of academics.” “I can’t imagine any other instance or any on the horizon where a think tank has that direct an influence,” author Tom Wolfe told the Observer. He may be right about a think tank in specific terms, but in general this story looks familiar. We can’t help but recall a time not long after our last president was elected when journalists began pointing out how strongly George Bush and his team were influenced by the thinking of German Jewish political philosopher Leo Strauss.
