Watching Rashomon in the Age of Disinformation
The flip side of Kurosawa’s great film, revealing a murder mystery to solve, is also a world in which the search for truth, however difficult or naïve, must never be abandoned.
By Ben Fulton
When Kitsch Collides With Food (And Spirits)
(Courtesy of Empirical) Andy Warhol once said he loved Coca-Cola because regardless of who bought a bottle, it remained the same product for everyone. “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one…
How Radiohead’s OK Computer Accelerates the Passing of Time
The fact that a composer such as Steve Hackman has folded Radiohead’s music into that of Brahms successfully enough to land in a performance hall is probably proof that time, alas, has at last caught up with Radiohead.
Hollywood Goes for the Partisan Jugular with Civil War
The film’s strategic map already has commentators in conniptions. If Texas and California are not more disparate than cheese and chalk, what brand of politics even motivates this movie, let alone motivations for our second civil war?
Why, and How, the Colors of Mental Health Matter
“Neuro Blooms” shows us how mental states might be projected outside our innermost thoughts, out into the physical world, so that they might be drawn back into our consciousness and reinterpreted in new ways.
Let Charles Dickens’s The Chimes Invigorate Your Sense of Hope
“The Chimes” is not likely to be adapted for the screen any time soon, uneven as it is when stacked against “A Christmas Carol.” But Toby Veck can be counted among Dickens’s great, undiscovered characters. And the story’s warning, amidst our own ongoing sour times, rings as true as its namesake.
White Man’s Burden (Re)Visited
“White Man’s Burden” is the belated lesson of empathy taught by a substitute teacher with one message and 90 minutes of time to fill. Its most valuable lesson is that, having watched it, we are reminded that millions of people endure not just 90 minutes of condescension, oppression, and racism projected on a movie screen, but a lifetime of all three.
“Christmas Music” is Better Than You Think
There is no reason to suffer through another holiday of musical clichés and battle-ax standards better heard by children. All it takes is a few clicks, and a few risks, to find yourself a new set of Christmas music standards.
Now More Than Ever, We Need Jacob Bronowski
If you have never watched “The Ascent of Man” or remember it from years ago but have not watched it since, watch it again.
Why Your Child’s First Rock Concert Matters More Than You Think
Watching my daughter bob her head in time to the music, her fist pumping, I saw that she was in a moment all her own, along with others who followed the same band, all in moments of their own. It was a temporary collective, a bonding with strangers by the odd osmosis of music that grabs the young consciousness at almost every corner of being.
On Becoming a “Morning Person”
Once you get in the habit, you soon discover that 7 am simply will not do. The 8 am hour is the stuff of horror, and 9 am is for louts with the blood pressure of a year-old marshmallow. Only 5:30 or earlier will suffice, when the gray light of dawn verges on the cusp of its full spectrum.
The Exuberant Joy of British Kids Eating U.S. Thanksgiving Food
The joy of this video is it makes our Thanksgiving food new again, even to Americans who know it year after year, every late November. If we cannot be grateful for something made new, how could we possibly be worthy of our own holiday?