Paul LaRosa's Blog

The e-book war…

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:18:13 -0800

Most people are probably not aware of it but there is an all-out fight raging over the future of e-books and book publishing itself going on right now in this country. In a nutshell, traditional book publishers are afraid of Amazon, its Kindle and the possibility that it will commandeer the marketplace.

Already, one publisher after another in the past few weeks has announced that it will delay putting out electronic versions of its books for months so that consumers must pay full price for...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 16

A Christmas tale, ruined…

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:44:42 -0800

About a decade ago, I was so taken with a story I read in the NY Times that I convinced my wife and our two then-young kids to get into the car and drive from Brooklyn to Jane Street in Manhattan just so we could buy a Christmas tree from this sweet family known as the Romps. The Times story painted a very nice picture of Billy and Patti Romp, their three children and two German shepherds who lived for a month in a van selling Christmas trees to the likes of us city people so they could...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 16

Reviving the Printer's Devil…

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:15:07 -0800

When I worked at the NY Daily News (1975 to 1991), a legendary editor named Syd Penner wrote an occasional internal newsletter called "The Printer's Devil" celebrating the stories he liked and knocking those he didn't.

Well, I'm going to revive "The Printer's Devil" in my own way, and list my likes and dislikes in the news media. There's a lot of great writing and journalism out there — might as well celebrate it while we can. My plan is to make this a regular feature running on Fridays on my ...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 11

The night I made a journalism student cry…

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:58:26 -0800

Well, not really but almost….

I spoke to a journalism class at Columbia University last night and tried to tell the 15 or so students about life in the big world of New York and network journalism, and, er, I think I scared the bejesus out of a couple of them.

I told them the truth about how aggressive you sometimes have to be in the competitive world of crime journalism, and what lengths we go to at times to secure a story.

Any questions?

"How do you sleep at night?" asked one woman.

"Soundly...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 16

Longing for those pre-packaged days of rock 'n roll….

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:54:42 -0800

Went to see the photography exhibit "Who Shot Rock n Roll" at the Brooklyn Museum today with photographs and videos ranging from Elvis to Bjork and everyone in between. It was great, of course. How could it not be but I left pining for the pre-packaged days of rock 'n roll when it was possible for these great photographers to get these candid shots without a PR person butting her nose in.

The photos of Annie Lebowitz (with the exception of the infamous John and Yoko shot where a naked John is ...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 17

Hmmm, might wanna rethink this Mexican hotel…

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:47:40 -0800

So my daughter was set to go with her boyfriend to Mexico next month to celebrate her birthday. She had made reservations and plunked down some money to stay at a little hotel a friend worked at in Tulum.

Everything was all set….until she read this online review today. I think she's making other plans.

"We researched this Hotel for quite a while and chose it over our favorite hang out, Casitas Royale. We wanted a change of pace, Ocho Tulum looked like a perfect spot. We arrived on November...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 14

The longevity that is CBS News….

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:38:07 -0800

CBS News is well-known for practically breeding personalities who last a long time. Walter Cronkite was 93 when he died, retired "60 Minutes" executive producer Don Hewitt was 87. Mike Wallace is 91 and Morley Safer, the baby of the bunch, is only 78.

Just this morning, I passed Andy Rooney in the hall. Andy will celebrate his 91st birthday next month. How many 90-year-olds are still coming to work every day, not to mention appearing on one of the highest-rated shows on television? It's...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 13

Does anyone live a moral life anymore?

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:48:59 -0800

Now that Tiger Woods has come clean this morning about his "transgressions" in a statement to the media asking, of course, for privacy, I have to come back to a question I've been wondering about for a while now: Does anyone live morally anymore or do we humans all act in our self-interest??

We've been confronted with any number of shocking sex scandals in the past couple few years — Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Gov. Mark Sanford, President Clinton — where men have given in to their carnal desires to p...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 14

Fighting urine with urine…

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:38:46 -0800

Last month, I detailed my battle against some dog owners owners who are incapable of making their dogs walk along the curb so as not to pee on my brownstone every single morning. It's kind of a bummer to walk out into a bright new day to a puddle of dog urine, some puddles so large it appears they were made by race horses.

Readers wrote in with suggestions of what I could do, everything from installing a video camera to yelling at said dog owners but the best idea — I thought — came from Wini ...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 10

Ed Bradley is alive, and other tales of jury duty in Manhattan….

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:39:10 -0800

[Note: This is another in an occasional series of guest blog items written by a friend of mine, Alec S.]

Jury duty is an intrinsic part of the American democratic experience, and there's no place more American, or more democratic, than a jury selection room in New York City.

Civil court jury duty begins at 8:45 each Monday morning at a fine Manhattan location in Tribeca, just up the street from the restaurants Odeon and Bouley Bakery. As the pool of about a hundred jurors arrives, Bill...

posted by Paul LaRosa on December, 05