The Buzz Board
Picks from the Inner Circle
Rosalyn Hoffman
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Rosalyn Hoffman is a former buyer for Bonwit Teller, Filene’s, and Lord & Taylor in New York City. She was also a marketing executive for Avon and Lillian Vernon. She is the author of the forthcoming Bitches on a Budget and writes for the blog of the same name. Author and marketing consultant |
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 The best place on any coast to splurge for breakfast is Boulette's Larder in the Ferry Building. A true foodies delight. Bitches on a Budget stopped in San Francisco on our book tour, and we love to sit inside and watch them cook. Our mouth is watering just thinking about their yummy and original creations like polenta with fresh crab and hollandaise to start the day. |
Nigella Lawson
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Nigella Lawson is best known for her intimate, relaxed style of cooking. She is the author of the bestselling books How to Eat, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Nigella Bites, Forever Summer, Nigella Express, and Feast, all of which are available in the United States. She has also hosted Food Network television programs Nigella Bites and Nigella Feasts. Nigella is a former columnist for the Dining In section of the New York Times and has been a frequent guest on the Today show. Cookbook author and television host |
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I can't think of anything I'd rather give or, indeed, receive for Valentine's Day than a heart-shaped box of Vosges Chocolat Bapchi's Caramel Toffee. This has crunch, nuttiness, salt and sweet all in one, and is thus a perfect metaphor for the storm, stress, sweetness and succor of love. And for those who are feeling more of the former than latter qualities, I suggest you buy your very own box for yourself and relish both the caramels and your own company. |
R.J. Cutler
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A producer and director of non-fiction films and television, R.J. Cutler most recently directed and produced The September Issue about legendary Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. He began his career producing The War Room, the Oscar-nominated documentary about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the presidency directed by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. Director of The September Issue |
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 Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge is as potent and necessary today as the day it was written. A passionate, generous, heartbreaking tragedy that yearns to understand contradictions in the American psyche that may never be fully comprehended, 'View' is beautifully rendered by Gregory Mosher and performed impeccably by Jessica Hecht, Scarlett Johansson and our theatrical national treasure Liev Schreiber. Integrating masterful work by designers John Lee Beatty, Peter Kaczorowski and Jane Greenwood, this production is a must-see on Broadway before it closes April 4 - beg, borrow or steal yourself a ticket but make sure you don't miss A View From the Bridge. |
Author of ABC News' The Note |
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 We are in the frustration phase of the Obama presidency. Want evidence? See Lawrence Lessig’s raw argument on the cover of The Nation this week. Lessig, a Harvard Law professor who was an early and passionate Obama supporter, is convinced that the president can’t or won’t do what must be done: “change Congress,” he says. Really change it—with public financing of elections, and even a first-of-its-kind constitutional convention. It’s a long-shot—but it’s a concept that could gain traction in an era of mistrust and disillusionment across the political spectrum. Despite Lessig’s litany of complaints, he draws on Obama for inspiration. On that point, for all the frustration, he’s still far from alone. |
Malcolm Gladwell
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Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer with The New Yorker and author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and Outliers: The Story of Success. Writer |
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 I love thrillers of all kinds and Lee Child is the master of the form. I am about to read an advance copy of his next book. |
Harold Evans
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Harold Evans, author of two histories of America, just published his memoir, My Paper Chase. Editor at large of The Week, he was editor of The Sunday Times from 1967-81 and The Times from 1981-82, founding editor of Condé Nast Traveler, and president of Random House Trade Group from 1990-97. Author of My Paper Chase |
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Pulitzer! Everyone knows the prize, fewer the man. Here's an antidote to the hand-wringing about the future of the newspaper, a full-scale, full-blooded biography of a penniless immigrant from Hungary who showed what newspapers could do. The eponymous biography by James McGrath Morris is seriously good history but much of it—skullduggery and sin writ large—makes today's tabs seem tame. |
Mario Batali
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Mario Batali is the chef and owner of numerous restaurants including Lupa Osteria, Esca and Del Posto, a TV Personality and founder of the Mario Batali Foundation which strives to ensure children are well-read and well-fed. Chef and TV Personality |
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The pasta at Marea in New York is just definitive. Michael White is one of the great Italian chefs working in America today. He does this dish with octopus, ragu and bone marrow that will just blow you out of the water. His understanding of fish is just amazing. |
Lee Eisenberg
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Lee Eisenberg’s new book is Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What. Excerpts and the author’s blog can be found at LeeEisenberg.com. Author of Shoptimism |
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We can re-dig the cool, often harsh New York City of the fifties and sixties in Sam Stephenson’s The Jazz Loft: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue. At that address, Smith holed up for eight years, amidst adjacent spaces where the greatest jazz players of the time gathered to play. The noted ex-Life photographer shot a trove of photographs of jazz giants plus New Yorkers going about their business. Stephenson, who teaches at Duke, spent more than a decade cataloging it all. The result is a beautifully packaged and fitting tribute to Smith and a haunting look at the Flower District before the fade, back when musicians, hookers, and cops stepped out of a night smelling of cigarettes, booze, dope, and cat piss, and into the dawn, only to get hit smack in the face with the sweet rush of roses, lilies, and mums. |
Dan Abrams
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Dan Abrams is CEO of Abrams Research, an attorney, and chief legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. CEO of Abrams Research and Chief Legal Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC |
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I am riveted by Jeffrey Toobin’s The Nine at the moment. I’m ashamed to admit that as I should have read it when it came out. I’m reading it old school for now, paperback, but I think I am about a month away from a full-on kindle transition. |
Vivienne Walt
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Vivienne Walt has written for TIME Magazine since 2003. Her assignments have included Iraq, Iran, the Niger Delta, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Sudan and numerous other countries. Walt was a staff writer for Newsday. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and elsewhere. She is currently based in Paris, where she lives with her husband and their son. Correspondent for Time Magazine |
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 What really blew me away when I saw District 9 was Clinton Shorter’s soundtrack which had me hooked from the opening credits. Sure there’s been enough said (at least until the Oscars) about the science fiction thriller, although plenty of us South Africans who lived though apartheid had issues with the movie’s portrayal of Johannesburg in the 1980s. Yet after seeing the film, I downloaded the album and it has haunted me ever since, with the Fulani lyrics creeping into the layered instrumentals. It's operatic, meditative, and sinister. Okay, enough with the adjectives. Just listen. |
