Author Archives: Campaign Outsider

The World’s Oldest Living Altar Boy (Peggy Noonan Edition)

As the hardworking staff has previously noted, back in the 1960s we were the world’s oldest living altar boy at the Church of St. Thomas More in Manhattan. And as we also noted, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York intends to … Continue reading

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Christmas Present: Chandler’s ‘The Simple Art of Murder’

Splendid reader Bill sent this response to our recent Grammer Is My Business post about the new book The World of Raymond Chandler: In His Own Words. Chandler’s essay “the Simple Art of Murder” is the best essay on any … Continue reading

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Five Restaurant Chains That Won’t Be Advertising in the NYT Anytime Soon

Yesterday’s New York Times featured this article from The Upshot on page 3:     Call the roll of the departed advertisers: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Potbelly, Chipotle, Shake Shack, Sonic. If any of them run an ad in the Times in … Continue reading

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Raymond Chandler Watch: Grammar Is My Business

The hardtalking staff is a longtime lover of the works of Dasheill Hammett and Raymond Chandler, who we’ve always thought of as the Homer and Virgil, respectively, of pulp fiction. Now comes a new book, The World of Raymond Chandler: … Continue reading

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Whistler Past the Graveyard: America’s Most Artistic Artist

Ever since reading the novel I, James McNeill Whistler by Lawrence Williams in 1972, the hardworking staff has been a fanboy of James Abbott MacNeill Whistler, the 19th century American expatriate artist who embodied “art for art’s (and my) sake.” (Just for the … Continue reading

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Ave Atque Vale, NYT Advertising Column(ist)

It’s the end of an era at the New York Times: The Grey Lady is apparently tearing the sheets with its eight-decades-long advertising column. From the New York Post: Times set to drop popular advertising column Word is circulating that … Continue reading

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‘The World’s Oldest Living Altar Boy’ II (St. Thomas More – or Less – Edition)

As chronicled here not long ago, I was the world’s oldest living altar boy back in the ’60s, thanks to a deal my Mom (aka Jackie’s Agnes) cut with Bishop Furlong at the Church of St. Thomas More in Manhattan. In … Continue reading

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Quote o’ the Day (Bruins Wild Card – Really? – Edition)

From our Late to the Shooting Party desk The headscratching staff yields to no man in our admiration for Boston Globe sports scribe Amalie Benjamin, but her game report yesterday cannot go unnoted. Bruins falter in shootout Roy’s goal gives … Continue reading

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NYT: Bostonians Don’t Care How They Look

From our Late to the Spending Party desk The hardworking staff has been occupied with one thing and another lately, so we missed this piece in the New York Times Sunday Review section. What People Buy Where CONSPICUOUS consumption is everywhere, … Continue reading

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Round Midnight at the Global Worldwide Headquarters (Guitar-Gently-Weeping Prince Edition)

Hard on the heels of the hardtracking staff’s post about the classic guitar duet between George Harrison and Eric Clapton comes this performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” –  featuring Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, and Dhani Harrison (the … Continue reading

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