Functional foods; Unvention; Carnegie Hall; Plagiarism

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

FUNCTIONAL FOODS

     From the Sunday New York Times, 12 December 1999, section 3, pg. 1:

_A Medicine Chest or a Grocery Shelf?_
_Debating the Merits of "Functional Foods"_
    (Col. 3--ed.)  After some initial stumbles, the world's largest drug and
consumer-goods companies are back with plans to introduce a growing number of
these products, known as functional foods.
     Defined broadly as itmes that provide an enhanced health benefit,
functional foods go far beyond the low-fat, no-fat organic and sugar-free
products that have been sold for years as healthier alternatives to regular
food.  With claims to remedy some widespread ailments and ward off others,
functional foods are seen by their makers as natural grub for aging baby
boomers intent on living long, robust lives.

     The article notes that functional food sales in the United States may
top $3 billion this year.  Is there some Dr. Frankenstein guy who coined this
term?
     Hey, pass the viagra-enhanced broccoli, will ya?

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UNVENTION

     The Sunday Times has a strong knitting theme.  Knitting is on the front
page of the Styles section.  In the Metro section, pg. 64, "E.
(Elizabeth--ed.) Zimmernann Is Dead at 89; Revolutionized Art of Knitting."
      This is from pg. 64, col. 4:

      Mrs. Zimmermann chose to play down her influence on knitting, coining
the term "unventions" for her woolly inventions.

      I've never heard "unventions" used.
      I've got a few more Times quibbles regarding this page.  In the
obituary of Jeanne S. Chall (an expert in early reading), it's mentioned in
paragraph six: "Dr. Chall (pronounced shawl)."  I never understood why the
Times buries this deep into the article...Chall's undated photo was taken by
"Martha Stewart/Harvard University."
      Perhaps Douglas Martin (who profiled David Shulman earlier this year,
and who also wrote about "Murphy's Law" in the John Paul Stapp obituary) is
working too hard, or is off his game.  You all know about Amazon (I gave
another one-star review to LET'S GO NYC 2000 for getting the Big Apple wrong
for the third straight year after this was recognized by city law.  It's a
fight each year to get it posted.)--well, take a look at this, from the
fourth column of Zimmermann's obituary:

      A woman from Reading, Mass., in an online customer review of "Knitting
Without Tears" on Amazon.com, said: "Elizabeth's wonderful instructions,
comments and faith gave me the O.K. to go ahead and have fun.  I made a
patterned yoke sweater that not only looks great, but fits as well."

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HOW DO YOU GET TO CARNEGIE HALL?

     In the Sunday Times City section, pg. 6, cols. 1-2:  "How Do You Get to
Carnegie Hall?  Grab That Prime Parking Spot."
     I don't know who started it, but this is from JESSEL, ANYONE (1960) by
George Jessel, pg. 70:

     Just then, an old man, shabby violin case under his arm, shuffled by.
"Look here, boy," said the Texan, "how does a fella get to Carnegie Hall?"
The old man looked at him, shook his head and mumbled: "Practice...practice."

     The joke has vaudeville fathers, probably with the old line: "What's the
best way to get to the cemetery?"

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PLAGIARISM (off-topic; continued)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...Barry A. Polik (sic) of New York City, the
lexicographer/etymologist who is eager to share the results of his enormous
labors with others.
--Paul Dickson, THE NEW DICKSON BASEBALL DICTIONARY (1999), pg. 564.

_Resuing a Heroine From the Clutches of Obscurity_
(...)  "Over one hundred artists agree," The Sun wrote in 1913, "that if the
name of Miss Manhattan belongs to anyone in particular it is to this young
woman."  But in 1919 the same press that had glorified Miss Munson tore her
to pieces by printing rumors that she had played a role in the murder of her
landlady.  The scandal killed her career.  After failing to find "the perfect
man" in 1922 during a widely publicized search for a husband, she attemtped
suicide and then dropped out of public isght.  Penniless and heartbroken, she
fled to her hometown and survived by selling kitchen utensils door to door.
When she died is unknown.  (About a month earlier, at age 105, near her home
town--ed.)
     To Barry Popick (sic), she is a woman unjustly scorned.  Mr. Popick
(sic), a judge with the Parking Violations Bureau and a self-described word
sleuth, has taken up Miss Munson's cause, hunting down her sad story over the
past year and seeking to rehabilitate her sullied reputation once and for all.
--NEW YORK TIMES, city section, 14 April 1996, pg. 5.

(Pp. 9-10) REDISCOVERING AUDREY
     This book is the reflection of a journey we took tracing the dreams and
images of Audrey Munson, an artists' model, a muse. (...)  We turned up
long-forgotten newspaper clippings and vintage photos in dusty library
morgues.  Each detail in the newspaper articles took on great significance in
identifying lost works of art.  They also offered clues to her personality,
her ideals, and the many paths of her career.
     But the trail we discovered, the saga of her own experiences in the
artist's studios...
     Hence, the many-faceted and sometimes fractured findings of Audrey's
life are joined herein for the first time.
(Pg. 26)  "One hundred artists claim that if the name of Miss Manhattan
belongs to anyone in particular, it is the young woman with the laughing
eyes, smooth, sleek hair and features that lend themselves to everything from
the blessed damsel to a floating dancing girl."--THE SUN, 1913.
--AMERICAN VENUS: THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AUDREY MUNSON, MODEL AND MUSE
(1999).

In AMERICAN VENUS: The Extraordinary Life of Audrey Munson, Model and Muse
(Balcony, $27.95), Diane Rozas, a photographer (Of books on chicken--ed.),
and Anita Bourne Gottehrer, in her first book, have made an extraordinary
effort to reclaim long-forgotten facts, newspaper clippings and vintage
photographs of this once-celebrated life.
--NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 3 October 1999.

    It's been over a week since the New York Times has had actual knowledge
of plagiarism.  I have heard nothing!
    The kitchen utensils door-to-door bit came from VARIETY, an article that
I also gave the authors and that appears on page 96.  Newspapers like VARIETY
and the NEW YORK SUN are not indexed for these years.
     It gets worse.
     Below the huge photo in the October 3, 1999 New York Times book review
of AMERICAN VENUS is: "Detail of 'Brooklyn,' a sculpture of Audrey Munson by
Daniel Chester French for the Manhattan Bridge, now at the Brooklyn Museum of
Art."  The photo is of a proud woman (a peacock is by her side, as shown in
the book).  It is the statue of "Miss Manhattan."   "Miss Brooklyn" is the
one with the church (for "City of Churches").  Wrong statue!
     It also might not be entirely Miss Munson.  From the SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER, 16 May 1915, magazine:

_Society Girl Poses for Manhattan Statue_
     (...)  Model after model was rejected until he (French--ed.) finally
turned his eyes away from the professional ranks and began to look for his
ideal in the ranks of the society beauties, where he found Miss Julia S.
Gilbert, daughter of Cass Gilbert of New York.  Miss Gilbert filled the bill
exactly and after some persuation (sic) consented to pose for the head and
face of the statue.  Professional models were used for the other lines.

     The Brooklyn Museum of Art never thanked me for this--or responded at
all.
     I wrote recently to the city's Cultural Affairs Commissioner Schuyler
Chapin, who responded: "I must tell you that the Department of Cultural
Affairs has no say whatever on what the Brooklyn Museum displays."  Which is
not what I asked.  I had asked him to kindly request the BMA to respond to me!
     Ordinarily, when someone gets raped like this, institutions such as the
government and the press would at least listen.