Blogcritics Author: Ann Hagman Cardinal

An Interview With Sue Silverman, Author of Love Sick to Air on Lifetime

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:47:51 EDT

Ann Hagman Cardinal talks to author Sue Silverman about the new Lifetime movie of her memoir, Love Sick.
I know where I will be this Saturday night -- parked in front of my TV watching Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict based on Sue Silverman’s second memoir, Love Sick. The book is a powerful account of addiction, recovery, and ultimately, hope. While reading this work I was struck by how compelling it was to hear such a difficult story told in...

Interview with Evan Fallenberg, Translator and Author of Light Fell

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:25:55 EST

Evan Fallenberg talks about his novel, the art of translation, and the lost love of a chocolate brown Triumph Spitfire.
I met author Evan Fallenberg at an MFA residency in Vermont earlier this winter. He was there to give a workshop on translation and is in fact helping Vermont College of Fine Arts set up a program in the art. After he left I was perusing the books the local bookseller was peddling at one of the open readings, and I saw his novel, Light Fell among...

TV Review: Ugly Betty - "Zero Worship"

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:12:14 EST

Say Bow Wow for Fashion Week...
Justin’s class arrives for a tour of Mode and the little darlings are bored with the journalistic background that Betty’s shoveling at them. They only want the dirt, and most has to do with how little celebrities eat and how thin they should strive to be. One smarter, geekier student seems momentarily interested until she’s shut...

TV Review: Ugly Betty - "Bananas for Betty"

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:29:27 EST

Reggaeton and frozen sperm and Betty White bashing, oh my!
Say it isn’t so! Rumor has it that due to the writers’ strike there are only three more episodes of Ugly Betty in the can and then it is the end of the season. But the consolation is that episode ten was fabulous enough for a dozen episodes. Where to begin? Well, Hilda asks Gio out, causing some ambiguous feelings for Betty. Envious of...

O Christmas Tree

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Wed, 5 Dec 2007 10:55:32 EST

Ann Hagman Cardinal discovers... (wait for it...) the true meaning of Christmas.
When I was little, my father would supervise while my brothers, sister, and I decorated the family Christmas tree. Though plastic or aluminum trees were all the rage in the '60s, we always had a real tree, the intoxicating smell of pine filling the downstairs of our New Jersey home. He would sit back in his leather butterfly chair, a gin and...

Book Review: Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It by Sundee Frazier

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 08:08:40 EST

Frazier�s book deals with important issues of race, family and loyalty, told with an authentic kid�s voice and engaging storyline.
Brendan Buckley is a bi-racial, ten-year-old scientist who studies Tae Kwon Do and keeps a top-secret notebook filled with questions he intends to spend the summer answering. He has adventures with his good friend, the mischievous and charming Khalfani, and spends time with his feisty paternal grandmother, Gladys. When he unexpectedly meets his...

TV Review: Ugly Betty - "Giving Up the Ghost"

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:36:09 EST

Take off your earrings, chicas. We have graveside girl fights and more on this week�s Ugly Betty!
Season two , episode 9...Though I have missed reviewing a couple episodes — something about a warm beach in Puerto Rico and some frozen mojitos — you can be certain I didn't forget to watch them. I mean what would vacation be without Betty along? However in the interest of not totally overwhelming both of us, I'm going to skip...

Mature Ink: Tattoos After 50

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:41:22 EST

Multiply-inked Ann Hagman Cardinal explores the not so new trend of getting tattooed over the age of 50.
I first noticed it with my 57-year-old sister, Ellen. After retiring from her job as a hospital executive, she began visiting the tattoo studio with regularity, her pale skin becoming increasingly adorned, tropical flowers blooming on her shoulders. I began to wonder: Why this sudden drive to decorate her body while most people are hiding theirs?...

Culinary Nurturing

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:33:43 EST

Guys who cook: Exploring the benefits of being gastronomically nurtured by two guys during this season of family meals.
Ahhh, November in Vermont. So much to enjoy. An early winter dusting coats the mountains like sugar. The whir of freshly balanced snow tires accompanies every drive. The crisp scent of wood smoke hangs in the air, and lest we forget, the impending bacchanalia of poultry-based family feasts: Thanksgiving. This year we are having our first...

SpongeBob PhilosopherPants

Ann Hagman Cardinal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:07:10 EDT

Ann Hagman Cardinal expounds on the Zen of Spongebob... and the downfall of Western civilization.
Indulge me, gentle readers. I would like to speak to you today of SpongeBob Squarepants. I now, I know, with his cube-shaped, gap-toothed smiling face appearing on every lunchbox, notebook and bedsheet set, you’ve had just about enough of him, but hear me out. I am here to confess that his is my favorite show on television -- and I’m...