Weekend Archive

Weekend Butler: Reasons to be cheerful. A jaw-dropping weather report. The funniest Australian comedy. A shocking tweet. Two short books. Women who are “red wine and blue.” - THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK: WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE? Let’s start with a must-watch video: Ryan Marshall, from Denver’s ABC TV station, stands in a snowstorm and

Weekend Butler: Required Memorial Day reading for CEOs…and you. A version of “Hallelujah” Leonard Cohen never imagined. A dog does Yoga. And how civilization started. - ERIC CARLE The great children's book writer --- someone buys a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar every 30 seconds --- died this week at 91. His last drawings include

Weekend Butler: Roe & Mother’s Day: Three strikes and you’re not out. A must-see film. Nantucket goes topless. The easiest great dinner ever. - “THREE STRIKES, AND YOU’RE NOT OUT. THERE IS ALWAYS ONE MORE THING YOU CAN DO. AND ONE THING AFTER THAT.” On Tuesday night, the reaction to the leaked draft of the

Weekend Butler: Something I never do (but I’m doing it). A live event (something else I never do, but I’m doing it). David Sedaris. 3 weekend movies. Julia Child’s coq au vin. An Old School song. And more. - SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is

Weekend Butler: Spring (the rising!) A favor: Read my Birkin play? Bummer: Liquor’s not healthy, not even a little. Breaking news: Clarence Thomas. Springsteen tix on sale. Glenn Gould. Seamus Heaney. And (I didn’t forget) holiday lamb. - SPRING: THE RISING It’s undeniable now. No matter how rotten the news, no matter how concerned we are about [INSERT TOPIC HERE], our sad planet has jettisoned its drab winter colors

Weekend Butler: Stanley Tucci’s glasses, Christopher Walken reads Maurice Sendak, Bill Bryson teaches you almost everything… and condom sales are up - I’ve been in Portland, Oregon all week, packing my daughter up. A few days before I arrived, the city ended indoor dining for at least two weeks. A minor inconvenience.

Weekend Butler: Summer in the City. Aretha Franklin. Robbie Robertson. Bradley Cooper’s controversial nose. A $180 book. A Sharon Olds poem. A crisp salad. - SUMMER IN THE CITY, AND GLAD FOR IT You know Rao’s for its excellent sauce. I know it because I pass the restaurant every morning on my way to the rubberized

Weekend Butler: Survival 101: This edition is all about good people. - SURVIVAL 101: THIS EDITION IS ALL ABOUT GOOD PEDOPLE A new book by historian Niall Ferguson argues that if anti-slavery northerners had been less condescending towards slave-owning southerners, the Civil War

Weekend Butler: The “Feels” Issue: Edward Jay Epstein. A Bon Iver love story. Relationship advice from Esther Perel. An exotic tea. Best, easiest soup. - EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN The holiday energy drains. You expect there will be a letdown, and there will be hideous headlines from Gaza and Ukraine, and you have a one-word-fits-all explanation: “January.”

Weekend Butler: The “Honor Walk” for Justin Shilling. Rilke on the secret of life. An ovation for Beethoven. And more…. - THE HONOR WALK FOR JUSTIN SHILLING I was in California, talking about A Christmas Carol, when I heard about the Michigan high school shooting. I’m a parent of a teenager. But

Weekend Butler: The best cold squash soup, a podium for cat orators, Margaret Mead explains “civilization,” Otis Redding’s last performance, and a space story that would terrify Bezos and Branson - PODIUM CAT SCRATCHER FOR INDOOR CATS (IN THE PHOTO) As I'm new to cats, I believed they only like tunnels and boxes, like the arty Cat House I recently featured. It

Weekend Butler: The bubble bursts for Will Smith Enterprises. A 6-ingredient chicken. Gorgeous music. - THE BUBBLE BURSTS FOR WILL SMITH ENTERPRISES Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Much ink has been spilled on this breach of Oscar etiquette. Some wondered why Smith wasn’t arrested

Weekend Butler: The Heroes Issue: A grandfather in Israel, a teacher in America. Plus: Hot yoga. No 2nd burger! Gun-toting judge. Major poem. Toothsome recipe. - SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is

Weekend Butler: The legendary Holiday Ham. How long should a hug last? The end of the Leonard Bernstein movie. Oprah chats with Thich Nhat Hanh. A scathing review. And more. - December! I seem to have spaced noticing the shortened daylight and the holiday-sales-that-started-in-September. On the theory I’m not the only one… HOLIDAY HAM This recipe has been the favorite of two wives,

Weekend Butler: The month the world…stopped. Do you walk 6,000 steps a day more than you need to? The best documentary. The best tweet. The best NYC summer song. The most chill desert. - AUGUST: THE MONTH THE WORLD.... STOPS Henry Miller, on his ideal day: "To be silent the whole day, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and

Weekend Butler: The Optimism Issue: His brain does the walking. Maurice Sendak. Paul Newman. J.S. Bach. Kanye West’s shoes. Chilled squash soup. - The government won’t shut down. My daughter adopted a cat. I’m walking more each day. Feeling deep gratitude for close friends. Yes, the sun may extinguish life as we know

Weekend Butler: The painting that saved Bill Murray’s life, Eric Carle’s search for a lost cat, Best TikTok, the sickest and funniest film, and more - THE PAINTING THAT SAVED BILL MURRAY’S LIFE The painting (above) is "The Song of the Lark,” by Jules Adolphe Breton. The story is Bill Murray's. Because he's Bill Murray, someone laughed.

Weekend Butler: The Positivity Issue: Katharine Hepburn, Pema Chodron, Brian Fallon, Kim McCarty, Robert Redford, Steve Prefontaine, 2 poems, beef stew - I worked on two long projects for months, so I've had a good excuse for reading my own writing and not much else. But the news has been unfailingly painful,

Weekend Butler: The Secret of Life. Bill Nighy in a music video? Mary Oliver’s summer poem. A simple way to wake up roast chicken. Bob Dylan, 80, sings “Happy Birthday” to Brian Wilson, 80. And more…. - I watched the hearings, and my heart hurt for Shaye Moss and Lady Ruby, but the weather was ideal here, and the sky was outrageously blue, and I couldn’t avoid

Weekend Butler: The spice of the summer, the music of the summer, and a conversation you’ll never forget - THE SPICE OF SUMMER: Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp Sauce With Roasted Chili Pepper Flakes I thought a jar would last all summer. In two weeks, I've used half of it.