City Life

NAIROBI - Every day around 11 a.m. a small group gathers by a watering hole in Nairobi National Park. Soon “oohs’’ and “aahs’’ are heard. Baby elephants come into view as their keepers lead them into a pen. All under a year old, the calves are immediately fed from a large plastic jug of baby formula. After gulping down their favorite beverage, they are free to swim, wrestle, kick a soccer ball, and, of course, be photographed. Not long ago, travelers heading to Kenya would spend one night in Nairobi after their international flight and make their way the next morning to safari in the Masai...

The fictional Miramar Playa Hotel, the centerpiece of the sumptuous new Starz drama "Magic City" premiering Friday at 10 p.m., is the kind of pristine behemoth of luxury resort hospitality from which "wish you were here" postcard dreams are made: all immaculate white facade, sparkly sea, and enticing sands. The eight episode series was created and written by screenwriter Mitch Glazer ("The Recruit," "Scrooged") and inspired by his own upbringing in Miami Beach. Opening on New Year's Eve 1958 ­­­— as everyone in the...

It would be a stretch to call Cranston a destination. But if you find yourself in this sprawling city next door to Providence, take time to explore its nooks and crannies. Cranston has two distinct identities: Its densely urban eastern half is heavily developed and jammed with homes and businesses, while its western side is dotted with fields, farms, and a few newish subdivisions. A sliver of the city even has waterfront charm, thanks to its location on Narragansett Bay, which laps against quaint Pawtuxet Village.

Monday's question , from an LW disturbed that a neighbor did not say hello to him, got remarkable consistency of response until Markus showed up around comment 50 or so, announced that we were all wrong, and implied that we might be evil as well. Amusingly, Markus also wound up giving the best advice to the LW:  I would suspect that being retired is a major reason why he finds her so annoying. When you retire, your world shrinks. You see fewer people you know, and fewer strangers, too. Staying at home, a loud crow that nests outside your window goes from a thing you'd barely...

PARIS — Paris is planning to test restrictions on gas-guzzling vehicles, likely including sport utility vehicles, as part of attempts to curb pollution. Denis Baupin, an environmental official in the mayor’s office, said yesterday that SUVs and old diesel cars would probably be targeted in upcoming tests. To any Parisian who drives an SUV, Baupin’s advice is: “Sell it and buy a vehicle that’s compatible with city life. I’m sorry, but having a sport utility vehicle in a city makes no sense.’’ Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, and Aix-en-Provence are among the cities planning to...

PANTANAL DE NHECOLANDIA, Brazil - She was a good-looking cow, a white Nelore with loopy ears, no longer useful for breeding. That meant she would feed the cowboys' families. Could I watch the slaughter and later consume the meat? We were spending 10 days here, so I would find out. My husband, Ken, and I had come to Fazenda Barranco Alto, an eco-ranch, to better understand the pantaneiro (cowboy) way of life. Our food was harvested from the land: cashews, mangoes, bananas, free-range chickens, and grass-fed cattle.

The Stories of Mary Gordon, Pantheon, 480 pp., $26 All too often in life, there come those moments when you're finally reading an author you've long known of, and your reaction is a poignant mix of delight and self-reproach: Delight because the writing is better than you dared hope, and self-reproach at having foolishly denied yourself for so long. My most recent such moment came with reading "The Stories of Mary Gordon, " the very first career-spanning collection of her short fiction.

Tales of an urban pleasure dome THREE HUNDRED YEARS ago, Western cities were crowded, dirty, and dangerous; today, you can dine al fresco on Newbury Street before watching the sunset from the Esplanade. How did city life transform from an ordeal into something to be enjoyed? In their new book, "Vauxhall Gardens," the art historians and curators David E. Coke and Alan Borg show how pleasure gardens, which have no real analogue in today's cities, helped create the urban lifestyle we now take for granted.

WELLESLEY — “Painted Songs & Stories: Contemporary Pardhan Gond Art From India,’’ a sparkling show at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College, marks the first American exhibition highlighting the art of the Gond peoples of central India. Vibrating with brilliantly patterned mythological imagery, the exhibit also touches on familiar questions about the commercialization of indigenous art. Members of the Pardhan clan have been the storytellers, bards, and keepers of the mythology of the Gonds.

She didn't know the neighborhood or have friends nearby. But that didn't stop Judy Lipson from whipping out her checkbook on the spot to claim a charming Back Bay apartment. "If it's in an area of the city I don't want to be in," said Lipson, 54, "I can move in a year. " Flexibility is just one of many advantages enticing longtime homeowners like Lipson to take up the renting life after the kids move out and the family house is sold. For these downsizing baby boomers, the next phase does not include the American dream of homeownership and the endless cycle of bills,...

The fictional Miramar Playa Hotel, the centerpiece of the sumptuous new Starz drama "Magic City" premiering Friday at 10 p.m., is the kind of pristine behemoth of luxury resort hospitality from which "wish you were here" postcard dreams are made: all immaculate white facade, sparkly sea, and enticing sands. The eight episode series was created and written by screenwriter Mitch Glazer ("The Recruit," "Scrooged") and inspired by his own upbringing in Miami Beach. Opening on New Year's Eve 1958 ­­­— as everyone in the hotel hustles to get ready for the night's Frank Sinatra...

Boston College English professor Paul Lewis, who has done as much as anyone to draw attention to Edgar Allan Poe's ties to Boston, is the force behind "Forgotten Chapters of Boston's Literary History," a new exhibit at the Boston Public Library. In researching the city's literary life between the American Revolution and the Civil War, Lewis enlisted the help of his students at BC. Some of them will discuss their discoveries and recite early American poems as part of the opening night festivities on Wednesday.

Tales of an urban pleasure dome THREE HUNDRED YEARS ago, Western cities were crowded, dirty, and dangerous; today, you can dine al fresco on Newbury Street before watching the sunset from the Esplanade. How did city life transform from an ordeal into something to be enjoyed? In their new book, "Vauxhall Gardens," the art historians and curators David E. Coke and Alan Borg show how pleasure gardens, which have no real analogue in today's cities, helped create the urban lifestyle we now take for granted.

She didn't know the neighborhood or have friends nearby. But that didn't stop Judy Lipson from whipping out her checkbook on the spot to claim a charming Back Bay apartment. "If it's in an area of the city I don't want to be in," said Lipson, 54, "I can move in a year. " Flexibility is just one of many advantages enticing longtime homeowners like Lipson to take up the renting life after the kids move out and the family house is sold. For these downsizing baby boomers, the next phase does not include the American dream of homeownership and the endless cycle of bills, home...

LAWRENCE HARMON’S June 11 op-ed column “Run, walk, hide’’ resonates with me and, I’m sure, many other residents of Boston. City Hall and the police have let the mania for walks, runs, marches, and other “thons’’ get out of control. The participants in those events have taken over the weekend life of the city, gridlocking our streets to the detriment of residents. I wrote a letter in April saying many of the same things as Harmon’s column, and sent it to Mayor Menino, state Representative Marty Walz, and City Councilor Mike Ross.

. ½ CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH Written and directed by: Lu Chuan Starring: Fan Wei, Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, John Paisley, and Hideo Nakaizumi At: Kendall Square Running time: 135 minutes In Mandarin and Japanese, with English subtitles Unrated (a variety of war-related slaughter and brutal sexual assault) It’s fair to witness all the slaughter, defenestration, and rape in “City of Life and Death,’’ and think, “What life?’’ But by that point, you’ll know that it’s all in the filmmaking.

Monday's question , from an LW disturbed that a neighbor did not say hello to him, got remarkable consistency of response until Markus showed up around comment 50 or so, announced that we were all wrong, and implied that we might be evil as well. Amusingly, Markus also wound up giving the best advice to the LW:  I would suspect that being retired is a major reason why he finds her so annoying. When you retire, your world shrinks. You see fewer people you know, and fewer strangers, too. Staying at home, a loud crow that nests outside your window goes from a thing you'd barely...

PARIS -- In 1967, Georges Pompidou transformed the Right Bank quais of Paris into a "voie rapide": a high-speed expressway. "The French love their cars," the prime minister declared, cutting Parisians off from their tranquil Seine. But the election in 2001 of Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delano has reconnected citizens to their beloved river, if for only a few fleeting weeks each year. Delano's pet project is Paris-Plage, a riverside festival and "Paris-Beach" party occupying a 2-mile stretch between the Pont des Arts, by the Louvre, to the Pont de Sully, at the eastern tip of Ile Saint-Louis.

NAIROBI - Every day around 11 a.m. a small group gathers by a watering hole in Nairobi National Park. Soon “oohs’’ and “aahs’’ are heard. Baby elephants come into view as their keepers lead them into a pen. All under a year old, the calves are immediately fed from a large plastic jug of baby formula. After gulping down their favorite beverage, they are free to swim, wrestle, kick a soccer ball, and, of course, be photographed. Not long ago, travelers heading to Kenya would spend one night in Nairobi after their international flight and make their way the next morning to safari in the Masai...

PARIS — Paris is planning to test restrictions on gas-guzzling vehicles, likely including sport utility vehicles, as part of attempts to curb pollution. Denis Baupin, an environmental official in the mayor’s office, said yesterday that SUVs and old diesel cars would probably be targeted in upcoming tests. To any Parisian who drives an SUV, Baupin’s advice is: “Sell it and buy a vehicle that’s compatible with city life. I’m sorry, but having a sport utility vehicle in a city makes no sense.’’ Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, and...