In case you missed it, as I did, here is a list of specific Department of Defense projects deferred at the start of September in order to build $3.6 billion of additional primary and secondary “pedestrian fencing” on our border with Mexico. On September 3, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote a memo that said […]
The rudimentary web page “Spend Bill Gates’ Money” is at neal.fun, a site that also includes “Progress,” which counts down everything from the next minute to when the Milky Way will collide with Andromeda; “Life Checklist”; “Where Does the Day Go?”; and “Who was Alive,” which lets you enter a date. (Neal is Neal Agarwal, […]
Dave Chappelle’s new standup special, Sticks & Stones, has been getting attention for setting out to be provocative in the #MeToo era. “If you say anything, you risk everything,” Morgan Freeman says in the Netflix trailer. Chappelle says he is sick of PC scrutiny: “That’s why I don’t be coming out and doing comedy all […]
The 2019 documentary American Factory is about a Chinese glass company that opened a factory in the United States. The film is good enough to be, well, lacerating at times. When a GM plant closed in 2008 in Dayton, 10,000 people lost their jobs. The repurposing of the plant by Fuyao Glass offered hope for […]
The “When I’m 64 Beatles Festival” was held this weekend in Prairietown, Illinois, “a populated place located within the Township of Omphghent,” not far from St. Louis. It was a perfect day for it, 75 and sunny. Butch Moore and Alan White, who are often performing down at the Stagger Inn in Edwardsville, were playing […]
If you look back through my blog, you will see I was in Japan this summer. For some reason, before I went I guess I thought many restaurants outside of the tourist quarters would serve portions an American might find small, and there would always be rice, and while the food would be tasty, it […]
I am back from Japan, where I had many beautiful experiences, a couple of weird ones, and some I cannot write until later. “Was it transcendent?” my nephew asked at the barbecue at the lake. He is generous and kind, so he was hoping I would say yes, most of all for my sake. It […]
Doctor Who, “The Ghost Monument” Series 11, Episode 2 Written by Chris Chibnall Directed by Mark Tonderai Starring Jodie Whittaker, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, and Bradley Walsh Guest Starring Shaun Dooley, Susan Lynch, and Art Mali Original Broadcast 14 October 2018 (49 minutes) As Doctor Who’s Series 11 unfolds, showrunner Chris Chibnall is […]
I had the strange but wonderful pleasure of meeting Chrissy while taking a stroll on Manhattan’s Lower West Side. At the time of our first encounter, I was creating photographs of city landscapes. Chrissy greeted me in a snarling, defensive manner, with a crude “Hello.” In the weeks to follow, I made repeated attempts to […]
Editor’s note: This post inaugurates the first in a series of 11 reviews of the recent reboot of Doctor Who, cast with a female doctor. Doctor Who, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” Series 11, Episode 1 Written by Chris Chibnall Directed by Jamie Childs Starring Jodie Whittaker, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, and […]
