Marisa LaScala: Writer, Editor, and Good Addition to Your Bar Trivia Team

I've been a bit behind on posting recent articles, so forgive the pile-up. The December issue just came out, and I had the pleasure of writing the cover story for it.

52 Reasons to Love Westchester
"Most people assume that people who live in Westchester are going for a New York City Lite experience. It’s an easy mistake to make, since we eat BLT steaks, get our hair cut at Devachan Salon, shop for new wardrobes at Rothman’s, and commute down south for a job, a night out, or a Broadway show. The truth is, while we may spend a lot of time in the City and patronize City-based businesses, we choose to live here precisely because Westchester is not New York City. We want to give up the steel and concrete for a little bit of greenery and some breathing room."

Guitar Hero
A profile of local guitar-maker Rudy Pensa: "Pensa got his start building guitars when he was just 13 years old. 'In Argentina, when I was playing in the late sixties and early seventies, it was difficult to find good instruments,' he says—so he started building his own. He opened the famous-among-music-geeks Rudy’s Music Shop in New York City in 1978 and has been commuting there from Scarsdale for almost three decades."

7 Days of Holidays
A round-up of local holiday events: "For you, our true loves, we present seven sets of seasonal events—no leaping lords or milking maids required."

Culture, Etc.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, the Subdudes, and more.

Home Theater
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, and (500) Days of Summer.

November Culture, Etc.
Neko Case, Linda Eder, and more.

November Home Theater
Star Trek, Up, and more.

October Culture, Etc.
Sumi Jo, Wallace Shawn, and more.

October Home Theater
Drag Me to Hell, Karloff & Lugosi, and Trick 'r Treat.

Halloween Happenings
A round-up of Halloween events.

Where the Pros Go for Halloween Clothes
A look at the best costume shop in Yonkers.

Witch Craft
A Q&A with The Blair Witch Project's Michael C. Williams

Here are a few thoughts about So You Think You Can Dance.

So You Think You Can Dance: Season Six Premiere

"Then again, So You Think You Can Dance seems willing to shake things up. For one thing, the move to fall suggests it the series is no longer content to dominate the summer, where its competition is comprised of reruns and other reality competitions. But this means the show needs to surprise us each week with knockout numbers. While other reality competition shows pin their hopes on the contestants and judges, in this case, the choreographers finally get their wish: It’s their show. They will determine if this season will fall flat."

It's not Vogue, but the September issue is still my favorite issue of the year. Fall Arts Preview! I take a look at upcoming arts, culture, and events.

Fall Movies
"Where the Wild Things Are: It might seem like Maurice Sendak’s chidren’s book classic is impossible to adapt into a feature-length movie, but leave it to a couple of hipsters: Being John Malkevich director Spike Jonze and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius writer Dave Eggers have come up with a big-screen version that actually looks faithful to the spirit of the book. Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O. stirs up the wild rumpus by providing original music."

Fall TV
"Melrose Place: Consider Tuesday flashback-to-the’90s night. Coming on the heels of the CW’s 90210 revamp, Melrose Place is another resurrected, catty, soapy, California-based drama with an ensemble of fresh-faced up-and-comers (and a couple of original Melrose Place veterans). Watch it while wearing your old flannel and drinking a Zima."

Fall Books
"The Humbling: Philip Roth is one of the country’s most decorated authors, winning the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/Nabokov Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award, among others. It’s strange, then, that the protagonist of his newest book has lost all confidence. The celebrated actor no longer feels at home on stage, and he has to learn to get through his most challenging performance: life in his 60s."

Fall Events
"Bike Rides: In between releasing albums with Brian Eno, staging critically raved-about tours, and generally being awesome, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is a tireless bicycle advocate. It’s no shock, then, that he is an advisor on this exhibition, which features two-wheelers that have been customized and repurposed by artists. We love the Pimp my Piragua bike, which is essentially a giant boom box with huge speakers attached to the bike frame. Keep an eye out for museum-sponsored bike rides (where some of the artwork actually performs), bike raffles, and other fun two-wheeled events."

In addition to the Fall Arts Preview, it was also an issue devoted to kids, so wrote about the best in children's books and movies.

Book Reports
A survey of almost two dozen local children's book authors and illustrators: "No matter what your book is about, two things will always happen on a school visit. A kid will ask you about dinosaurs, and another how much money you make. I know a fair amount about dinosaurs. As for the other question, I usually reply, ‘More than you do.'"

New Classics
Local children's librarians and film educators were asked to name recent classic books and movies: "It’s inconceivable that you haven’t heard about the young wizard and his attempts to avenge his parents and stop the evil Lord Voldemort. 'Part of the series’ appeal is the proximity of the magical world to our world,' Rovenger says."

On top of all of that, there were my usual departments:

Craft Work
A look at some upcoming craft fairs: "Why learn to knit, decoupage, or make jewelry when you can buy artisanal goods from neighbors much handier than you?"

Culture Etc.
Los Lobos, John Scofield, Alan Menken, and more.

Home Theater
Sugar, The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition, and more.

Crude Awakening
My interview with director Joe Berlinger about his documentary, Crude: "Boy, I’ve never appreciated my home in Westchester more than in making this film. First of all, it was extremely hot—one-hundred-twenty-degree heat. We were in the rainforest, in a part that was devastated by pollution, so the air smelled and you’d go back to your hotel room with a splitting headache...The first night I checked into my hotel in Shushufindi, somebody had been shot in front of the hotel. The crime was being cleaned up as I was checking in. It was really a dangerous part of the world to be in."

Archie Pops the Question
A small item about Archie Andrews's upcoming nuptials: "Whether or not Veronica will keep her maiden name of Lodge or become Mrs. Veronica Andrews has yet to be decided."

Culture, Etc.
This month's highlights: the International Noir film series, M. Ward, B.B. King, and more.

Home Theater
Adventureland, Flight of the Conchords, Battlestar Galactica, and more

The cover of our July issue was illustrated by J.J. Sedelmaier, of TV Funhouse fame.

Best Of: Arts & Leisure

The best artistic and cultural offerings in the county: "Just down the street from the Jacob Burns Film Center, the professionally outfitted Media Arts Lab is buzzing with people who want to know more about filmmaking. Three- and four-year-olds learn the basics of telling visual stories. Eight- to 10-year-olds practice using the real tools of animation. Teenagers make music videos using the same programs as the pros, with professional producers as their instructors. College-aged and adult auteurs are taught how to make documentaries with an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker. Everyone, regardless of age, discovers how to tell an effective story in this increasingly digital age." (Also: Bargain Arts.)

Best of Festchester

A round-up of local festivals: "If you plan your summer right, you can get your live music (classical, cabaret, jazz, rock, and even Celtic reggae), world-class theater, ethnic food, enviable crafts to purchase, and kids’ activities all from these seasonal extravaganzas."

Super Senior

Why I want to be like Lois Steinberg when I grow up: "At age 70, Lois Steinberg was ready to leave her job as VP of a market research firm, where she worked with big-name clients like AT&T and Citibank. After 20 years in the corporate world, was she going to retire? Heck no. The Larchmont resident and mother of two baby boomers enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College and earned another master’s degree in health advocacy (on top of the PhD she earned from Fordham—in 1978)."

Culture, Etc.

Fountains of Wayne, Maya Lin, plus this month's Quadricentennial events.

Home Theater

Watchmen, Coraline, The State, and Peanuts.

And one I assigned:

Local Currency, Local Comfort
An essay on how to use the current financial climate to reinvest in our communities: "The great cathedrals of Europe were not funded by any central bank or the Vatican, but by small communities looking to invest their profits in their own futures. The cathedrals they built drew pilgrims from around the world, and bequeathed prosperity to their grandchildren."

Two more gig reviews for Beyond Race:

The Decemberists @ Radio City Music Hall

"The looming deadline for the show's end only inspired The Decemberists to perform two ultra-compact sets. For the first, the band played its newest album, The Hazards of Love, in its entirety. Since Hazards is an ambitious prog-rock opera, this doesn't leave much room for screwing around to begin with. Yet the band managed to somehow make it even sharper, playing through the entire album without taking breaks between songs."

Art Brut @ The Mercury Lounge

"Britain's Art Brut has started the musical equivalent of the slow-food movement—call it the slow-tour movement. Instead of rushing through a multi-city American tour as quickly as possible or, as is more common with British bands, playing just a handful of token dates on the East and West Coasts (thanks, Radiohead), Art Brut is taking its time."

There's so many good things to write about in the summer--especially if you're a culture editor.

Summer Reading

A round-up of summer books suggested by our bookstores: "Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you can give up all your intellectual pursuits. Off to the library with you. We solicited recommendations for summer reads from our local, independent booksellers. From their suggestions, we culled a list of recent and upcoming books that are smart, fun, and thoughtful—so you won’t feel like your brain is melting in the sun."

The Dan’l Webster Inn and Spa

A small piece within a larger travel package about an inn in Cape Cod (second item down): "The 300-year-old Colonial B&B and spa is the perfect gateway to Cape Cod; you save yourself all of the gas it would take to sit in the bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to Provincetown."

Ask the Expert

In a column that answers persistent questions, a fashion-industry vet explains why men's pants and women's pants are sized differently: "“Historically, men’s sizing followed the measurement system because of the nature of men’s tailored clothing, which originated with Savile Row in London. Men were more likely to buy suits and coats made by tailors, and these tailors kept all measurements in formal customer record books. Women were more likely to either make their own clothes or use less established enterprises like seamstresses to make their clothes."

Culture, Etc.

Moon, the Old 97s, mambos, and more.

Home Theater

Revolutionary Road, Woodstock, and Spring Breakdown, plus this month's Quadricentennial events.

After it was posted, my review of this new Fox animated show was one of the most read and most commented items on PopMatters.

Sit Down, Shut Up: Series Premiere
"For the new series, Hurwtiz has tapped three Arrested Development alumni (Bateman, Arnett, and Winkler). But while the blueprint looks the same—self-interested characters go about their daily dramas while Bateman plays the straight man who thinks he’s above it all—the shows operate on very different levels. The first offered sophisticated wordplay and superb timing. Sit Down, Shut Up makes jokes about nut-sacks (of the legume variety). Still, it does one thing very right, and very like the beloved Arrested Development, with talented comedians delivering gags at an exhilarating, rapid-fire pace."

This issue looks at the future of the county--and it looks good! My contributions:

Summer Film Preview
A guide to summer movies: "Hugh Jackman may have looked dapper soft-shoeing in a tux when he hosted this year’s Oscars, but he doesn’t look so charming when the adamantium claws come out. Jackman returns to his popular X-Men character in a film that goes back to learn how Wolverine got so scruffy and angry."

The Future of The County's Demographics
As part of our package looking into the year 2020, I wrote a small item about the county's changing demographics: "The Department of Planning predicts that if the trends continue, the elderly will account for a greater share of the county’s total population in 2020 than at any point in recent history."

Why So Many Tutors?
A look at one of the industries that still seems to be booming: "'Tutoring is so popular now because the college-admission process is so unbelievably competitive,' says Anthony Green, an ex-Westchester resident and president of the tutoring service My Ivy Leaguer. 'More kids are applying to college today than ever.' And, while parents have been cutting back on restaurant splurges and shopping binges in The Westchester, tutoring seems to be a luxury few are willing to give up. 'We’re still growing pretty rapidly,' Green says."

Beyond Brunch with Mom
A round-up of ideas for Mother's Day that go beyond the boring brunch routine: "We’re Westchester—our moms are not impressed by mere omelets, and we can come up with something more interesting to do with the women who gave us life."

Brother, Can You Spare 25,000 Dimes?
A look at indulgences the wealthy might have to give up because of the economy: "Looks like we’re all going to have to do a little belt-tightening—even if that belt used to be a Dolce & Gabbana."

Quadricentennial 2009
A survey of events celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage: "'My belief is that the most interesting thing about historical celebrations is the ability for them to hint at the continuum we’re always living within: The Hudson was, the Hudson is, and, under any name, it has supported civilization from the Lenape people, to the Philipse clan, to industry and recreation today,' says Brittany Wheeler, museum programs coordinator at the Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site."

Cuture, Etc.
Judah Friedlander, Paul Taylor, an art fair, and more

Home Theater
Star Trek, True Blood, and classic musicals.

A cool-sounding genre series doesn't live up to its promise in the first episode.

Harper's Island: Series Premiere

"Even without a killer traipsing around the island, this party would be in trouble. The bride has a boyfriend on the side. Her father is trying to stop the marriage. The female guests maraud around in their underwear, Henry’s uncle threatens to blackmail his father-in-law-to-be, and Henry’s brother is suicidal. Even the flower girl seems pained, frying slugs with a magnifying glass and looking generally creepy."