Episodes
Reading the feed…
Reading the feed…
I took my six year old to see the Paw Patrol Dino Movie and I was astonished to discover that writers Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen have brilliantly adapted the 1902 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which meditates on the barbarous nature of humanity and its unquenchable lust for money, goods, and power.
250 Episodes!! My goodness!! Thank you to all of you, whether you have been with the show for a long time or have just recently joined in the fun. I did a livestream to celebrate! It was so nice to chat with lots of you, and I rambled about two of my favorite subjects: Star Trek and Shakespeare. I’ve ranked my top 10 favorite moments from Star Trek that reference the works of William Shakespeare. And I can’t wait for all of you to tell me why I am WRONG and which episodes should have been ranked higher, lower, or not at all. You can see the full livestream, which features my conversations with
I am very delighted to have Dr. Adam S. Smith and Jonathan Emmett return as guests on my show to talk about their splendid new book Great Dinosaur Mistakes, which features famous errors in the ways early paleontologists interpreted fossil finds and how the process of science improves those interpretations. The brilliant illustrations of Stieven Van Der Poorten bring this book to life. These authors have previously collaborated on The Tyrannosaur’s Feathers, also illustrated by Van Der Poorten, as well as The Pleisiosaur’s Neck, which was illustrated by Adam Larkum. I can’t recommend Great Dino
It was too windy for me to sit by the fire, so come join me as I invoke the blessings of Apollo, patron of storytellers, by sitting in front of musical instruments wearing laurel leaves. I really enjoyed the special effects and visual storytelling in Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, particularly the scene with Polyphemus the cyclops, a character portrayed with the use of an enormous puppet. However, I was dissatisfied by the rewriting of the plot and characters in this scene, so I thought I would share the original version for you. I have tried to limit my commentary on this tale because it flows
Emily Wilson, translator of the unneccesarily hated and gossiped-about translation of Homer’s Odyssey, has seen Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey and . . . she HATES it. Hilariously, and with all of the scorn that only a very posh professor can heap upon a film review. I love it.
Christopher Nolan’s movies are big, loud spectacles. The Odyssey is messy and sometimes puzzling, but it is worth talking about. I can only wonder what Homer would think!
There was a LOT of online hubbub about Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, which seems to be the one Christopher Nolan relied on for his upcoming film version. I found it to be neither a brilliantly modern take on an ancient epic nor a horrifically woke piece of trash. My moderate take will likely rouse the ire of both sides, but that’s ok.
I am always up for an interesting new perspective on an old story. The Death of Robin Hood wasn’t interesting. It was bleak, depressing, violent, hopeless, historically inaccurate, and poorly lit. It doesn’t matter that very good actors were cast in this movie; even the best performances can’t save a horrible story.
I was back in the USA for the big 250th birthday celebration, so here are some thoughts I had time to share about the US Bill of Rights. I also had a quick livestream on the Fourth of July to read the Declaration of Independence and chat with some of you!
Supergirl was produced by James Gunn, directed by Craig Gillespie, and directed by Ana Nogueira. I blame all three of them equally for this very, very bad movie. Millie Alcock was not the right choice for Supergirl but she’s just an actress doing a gig, so I don’t blame her. This film was such a raging disappointment that I needed to unleash my fury in the way that only a passive-aggressive mom can. Thanks for absolutely nothing, James Gunn.
