Boxing Day
Sunset over the Seine, Paris. Photo by Anadolu/Getty Images, posted at theguardian.com:
It’s Boxing Day across the pond. According to a google search: “It symbolizes generosity as the affluent once boxed surplus items for the less fortunate.” Now it’s more about sales and fun events.
Born in the Bronx, a graduate of Dewitt Clinton H.S. and NYU, Avery Corman had an impressive literary run, publishing nine novels, a memoir and the text for a children’s book. At the beginning he honed his craft writing educational films and humor for magazines. Two of his works appear as if they will last: Oh, God!, the basis for the 1977 film starring George Burns as The Almighty, and Kramer Versus Kramer, which was adapted into the 1979 Oscar winner. A copy of The Old Neighborhood came my way recently. It’s the story of a Bronx-born man in advertising, who takes a job on the west coast, marries a California girl, moves back to Long Island, and becomes quite successful in Manhattan. The narrative spans 1944, when the protagonist is ten, to circa 1980. His wife, an entrepreneur, files for divorce after 20 years. Devastated despite seeing it coming, the protagonist eventually returns to the neighborhood and becomes rejuvenated. This novel followed K Vs K and, unlike its predecessor, features an amicable break. Although I’m a Brooklyn-boy, I identified with the adolescent and teen. His interests were the same as mine: sports, girls and dreams of getting lucky. Although I enjoyed the book, I feel something is missing. Perhaps it’s a bit too sketchy. Then again, what do I know? He’s a phenomenal success and I…whatever. The Bantam paperback, only 212 pages, is a smooth read for the most part, the dialogue and prose solid except for a few instances that baffled me, and I don’t believe it was carelessness on my part. 600 users at Amazon have rated the novel, forging to a consensus of 4.3 on a scale of five. I’ll go with three. The author is still with us, now 88. He was married for 37 years until his wife’s passing. He is a father of two sons, unlike the protagonist of The Old Neighborhood, whose two children are female. Awesome, Sir. Facts from Wiki, photo from Google Images:
Wow headline from nypost.com: “Epileptic 17-year-old seizure-free after pioneering surgery that removed part of his brain: ‘An amazing relief’.”
Another new term: Abrosexual: someone whose sexuality is changing or fluid. Try to keep up.
This doesn’t get old, headline from foxnews.com: “NFL bettor turns $5 into nearly $500K after completing incredible parlay.” According to the article by Ryan Gaydos, in my own words, the guy bet $5 and won $489,378.01, odds 100,000-to-1, on a 14-legger, selecting players to score a TD.
It was a disappointing session of the floating book shop, several people passing after a long look at the inventory. My thanks to my Constant Benefactress, who bought Life with Picasso by Françoise Gilot, the only sale of the day. Although it’s National Whiners Day, I won’t.
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