Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry Where most she satisfies. — William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra The expression “Get woke, go broke” increased in cachet…
I don’t have kids, but for several years I’ve belonged to a Facebook group for people who absolutely despise Norwegian Child Welfare Services, known in Norway as Barnevernet. Many if not most of the group’s members are parents whose children…
Hannah Gadsby’s new Netflix special, rather literal-mindedly entitled Something Special, comes five years after the chunky lesbian stand-up comic from Tasmania skyrocketed to international fame with her first Netflix outing, Nanette. Like Something Special, Nanette was billed as a comedy…
You know how they pitch a project in Hollywood: “It’s a cross between The King’s Speech and Top Gun: Maverick!” Well, the pitch for The Diplomat — the new eight-episode series that, at this writing, has been the most-watched offering…
Many comedians root their humor in the images they’ve chosen to project. The premise of Jack Benny’s comedy was that he was cheap. Rodney Dangerfield didn’t get any respect. Phyllis Diller was unsightly. Woody Allen was a nebbish. Back when…
Louis Brandeis’s observation that “government is the potent, omnipresent teacher” found sad affirmation in 2022 when, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. The act of aggression came as this generation’s Pearl Harbor, Kennedy Assassination, Space…
After a decades-long dearth, theater audiences are suddenly spoiled for choice of whodunit mysteries. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is the second whodunit written and directed by Rian Johnson, after his acclaimed 2019 Knives Out, with a third promised….
We haven’t done a 5QT in this space in a while. It seems like I’m always saying that. Maybe it’s the fact that things are always so demonstrative or instructive as of late that they deserve full columns instead of…
Five hours, baby. Of course, by Netflix standards, it’s the flicker of an eyelid, the flap of a hummingbird’s wing, the life expectancy of a sandwich in the vicinity of Jerry Nadler. But given that the five hours in question,…
This commentary (I won’t call it a review) requires this preliminary disclaimer: I have a business connection with the Norwegian miniseries, The Lørenskog Disappearance, now streaming on Netflix. I supplement my retirement by translating Norwegian movie and TV production scripts,…