Category: The Arts
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Who needs Netflix? I’ve got a PBS Passport
Streaming content is getting awfully pricey. It used to be that if you had HBO or Showtime you felt set. But now there are so many streaming options you feel like you need to belong to many of them to get the content you need. I mean, how can you miss Star Trek: Strange New…
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Waitress vs. Moulin Rouge
We saw two shows during our recent trip to New York City. It was good to enjoy Broadway again, albeit behind a mask. The two shows, both musicals, could hardly be more different. One, Moulin Rouge, won the award for best musical. The other, Waitress, has run sporadically on Broadway since 2016. Given that Moulin…
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Review: The Queen’s Gambit
I used to write various movie reviews. I put that on the back burner for four years because Donald Trump happened. With Trump (I hope) safely neutered, let me return to a more traditional space: occasional art critic. I’ve got a Netflix limited series that you should definitely watch: The Queen’s Gambit. Certain stories will…
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Thoughts from belatedly watching the first and most of the second season of Grey’s Anatomy
Interns work crazy long hours In spite of working 100+ hours a week, they are all horny toads Doctors may be doctors but they have no qualms about enjoying unprotected sex and getting VD from each other If you get horny at work, grab a doctor or nurse and go into one of the semi-private…
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London, Part 3 (Theater scene)
Our motivation for going to London was a theater tour arranged by a local theater company. They did all the leg work including selecting shows, buying show tickets, airline tickets, finding a convenient hotel, arranging charter buses to and from the airports and London Underground passes good for the duration of our stay. And it…
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Two quick movie reviews
In this better late than never post, here are reviews of two movies I’ve seen lately, although lately means “some weeks ago”. Fantastic beasts and where to find them Fantastic beasts and where to find them should delight both those steeped in J.K. Rowling’s imaginary world as well as the rest of us. Count me…
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Two holiday movie reviews
La La Land Aside from Disney musicals, the Hollywood musical is a rare thing these days. La La Land proves an even rarer bird because it is an original musical made for the movies. More often, Hollywood musicals begin on Broadway. It aspires and succeeds in recalling the musicals of sixty or more years earlier,…
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Two hit movies
It’s blockbuster season. To make sure we are well entertained and our wallets are emptied Hollywood brings us its best films of the year, which are often subsequently nominated for awards. Here are two films early out of the gate that you will likely enjoy. Doctor Strange As a rule I’m not into superhero movies,…
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Review: Girl on the Train
The whodunit is something of a Hollywood staple, something you can release pretty much anytime of year. They make good movie filler outside of the peak summer and holiday movie seasons. Case in point is Girl on the Train, now in theaters and starring Emily Blunt. Blunt plays Rachel Watson, a woman who lives her…
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The meaning of Star Trek
The media is agog over today’s 50th anniversary of Star Trek. Yes, it was fifty years ago tonight that the first episode of Star Trek, “The Man Trap” first aired on NBC. Then a product of Desilu Studios this futuristic show of zipping across the cosmos on starships quickly became a cult classic, but not…
Occam's Razor 