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Woodward's essay on Deep Throat

Posted by Jason Raia on June 02, 2005

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Here's the link to Bob Woodward's essay. Discuss away.

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Sharon Kay Penman's A King's Ransom

Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Poitou and Anjou was the very definition of foolhardy. At the approach of his death (no this is not a spoiler as he died in 1199), I found myself angry with the great king for the reckless behavior that ended his life after only a decade of rule. The promise of what could have been died that April day with the Lionheart. If there are moments where the future of the world changes, author Sharon Kay Penman makes you believe that this was one of them. Jerusalem might have been returned to Christian rule had Richard returned to the Holy Land, and if he ruled long into old age, as his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine did, the Magna Carta forced on King John in 1215 at Runnymede would have been unnecessary, and thus even American democracy might have been affected by the Lionheart.
My anger was fleeting in response to A King's Ransom, for there is a deep and abiding sadness that permeates this biography of King…

109th Bethlehem Bach Festival

When I was in sixth grade, I wanted to play the oboe. I have no idea why I wanted to play this obscure instrument. It's not sexy like the trumpet or the sax, and it's not quirky like the trombone or fun like the drums, but regardless the oboe was for me. (I never did play the oboe, but that is another story.) I think I knew intuitively what the oboe could do was special.
This weekend at the 109th Bethlehem Bach Festival in Pennsylvania I heard what might just be the very reason the oboe exists. Friday night, at Packer Memorial Church at Lehigh University, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem and the Bach Festival Orchestra, under the baton of veteran conductor and artistic director Greg Funfgeld, gave us Songs of Joy, including Bach's Easter Oratorio BWV 249. In the second movement, an unusual second orchestral sinfonia before the joyous aria, is centered on a mournful oboe solo. It reminds us that Christ has died and lies within the tomb, the perfect counterpoint to the bright,…

#12 - Cheu Noodle Bar

Philadelphia Magazine came out with their latest Top 50 Restaurants list, and I have set myself a goal for 2015. I want to eat my way through every restaurant on the list. Now many of them I have already enjoyed immensely - like Marc Vetri's four restaurants on the list (Vetri, Amis, Osteria, and Alla Spina) or Jose Garces' Amada or such new classics as Vedge and Talula's Garden - so I am happy to risk the other, and I will focus on those I haven't sampled yet, at least to start.
The guys at Cheu Noodle Bar may not be into some elusive and stagnated authentic ramen experience (whatever that is), but they are into flavor, and wow just wow. Ranked #12 in Philadelphia Magazine's list, Cheu produces deeply satisfying bowls of noodles that are the product of layers of flavor deftly assembled by cooks who genuinely love food.

I started with the dumpling of the day, which was a magnificent mouthful of short rib, pork, and date encased in a perfectly formed gelatinous rice…

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