LONDON, United Kingdom — In 1988, a writer from a local fashion magazine in Toronto was clearly small beans to Denise Dubois. The formidable redhead who, as press director of the Chambre Syndicale, the organisation that controls the Paris collections, had the ultimate yea-or-nay over who received…
If you met Tom DeTrinis at a party (remember parties?), you might find him perfectly agreeable, even fun. The truth, though, is that he wants to punch you in the face.
“And consequently,” he says in…
In unfavorable reviews, culinary diction escalates into a form of operatic invective. “Dry” turns to “dusty” or “desiccated.” “Oily” balloons to “oleaginous.” “Sour” curdles to “mouth-puckering.” Why simply call a soup “bitter” when you can hit a harsher note with “acrid” or “astringent”? Some takedown reviews read like a…
