My son showed me Seven Samurai. I had never seen it before. Amazing!
I’m going to have to watch this one again.
First Contact (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 15)
Rewatching ST:TNG This flipside episode, told entirely from the viewpoint of a civilization on the verge of discovering warp drive technology, documents a visit from members of a federation of space-faring aliens who wear brightly colored pajamas. An ER team with serious forehead bumps admits a patient with serious head injuries. They are first confused,…
Is There a Santa Claus? (Reading of 1897 editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church)
Most Television From Before 2000 Is Trapped in the Uncanny Valley
Just as the technological innovation of the mass-produced book paved the way for the new storytelling medium called the “novel,” technological innovations that allow audiences to rewatch TV shows and binge-watch whole seasons have changed the whole medium of episodic video storytelling. (Babylon 5 did it early and did it well — but the article…
Clues (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 14) Data’s faslehoods nonpluss and Picard thinks he’s sus, that’s a re-do
Rewatching ST:TNG After the crew blacks out, Picard investigates Data’s mysterious behavior. Although I haven’t seen this episode since it first aired in 1991, I remembered it as a strong episode, with a script that respects the audience’s intelligence. I didn’t remember the Dixon Hill holodeck sequence, which was longer than necessary. Instead of showing…
Final grades are due tomorrow. My Fall 2020 is almost over. I survived.
Final grades are due tomorrow. My only unmarked assignments are just a handful of final projects with some components I couldn’t evaluate, mostly for some technical reason. It’s been a pretty rough semester, but I’m glad I started prepping for it in July, rethinking and reorganizing and rebuilding lesson plans and assignment sequences with a…
The Wounded (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 12) O’Brien’s Former Captain Goes Rogue
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. This episode introduces the Cardassians, who years ago attacked Picard on the Stargazer when he approached them during a diplomatic mission. Worf grumbles that the Cardassians have no honor. Indeed, during the teaser they attack the Enterprise. Still, Picard listens to Gul Macet’s complaint: a Federation starship has attacked…
The Myth of North America, in One Painting
Fascinating art history — a thoughtful close reading of a painting. Great example of multimodal journalism. The clouds are heavy and black. A grim day for fighting. In the air is the smell of damp, and mortar fire. It’s a little after 10 a.m. on Sept. 13, 1759. The battle is almost over. In the…
Data’s Day (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 11)
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data investigates Romulan intrigue, mediates a spat between O’Brien and his bride-to-be Keiko, and gets a lesson from “the dancing doctor.” A clever storytelling device has Data narrate a letter to Commander Maddox, the cybernetics expert who initially wanted to dissect him in s2e9 “The Measure of a Man.”…
The Loss (#ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Four, Episode 10) Troi’s Empathic Sense Flatlines
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After losing her Betazed empathic sense, Counsellor Troi dramatically ignores her own advice about grieving. As the scriptwriters hustle her through shock, denial, anger, bargaining and depression, a Space Thing of the Week threatens the Enterprise. Scenes where Troi counsels a recently widowed ensign offer an intimate view of…
Elderly ballerina hears familiar music from 50 years ago
First Dancer of the New York Ballet in the 60’s. One of the most impressive moments that we have experienced since Music to Wake up. Being able to listen to this immense work of art with a person who danced it and was a fundamental part of its history. The power of Music is immeasurable.…
Stunning writing in this WaPost reflection on the Trump campaign’s journey from a gold escalator to a landscaping parking lot
I’m stunned by the writing. Here’s just a sample: Outside the Clark County Election Center in Las Vegas, a news conference was interrupted by a hysterical man in a sleeveless tank that read “BEER BBQ FREEDOM.” “The Biden crime family is stealing this election!” he screamed over and over again, as if repetition would make…
McCain’s 2008 Concession Speech: Republicans interrupt their candidate’s concession speech to cheer about what the election of his opponent says about the USA
That moment during McCain’s concession speech in 2008, when he mentions Obama, and a ripple of boos begin. McCain, his face showing disapproval, holds up his hands palms down — a controlling gesture, but a calming one. He says the simple word, “Please,” and patiently waits until his audience settles down. He says he just…
R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) Full Play (via Zoom)
All 3 acts and the epilogue to R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) are now available on YouTube. I’ve loved this quirky play for almost 30 years. I’m thrilled that I got the chance to play Alquist, a humble builder who witnesses the Robot rebellion and its surprising aftermath. (I also designed the set backdrops in Blender…
Everyone Nov 1
Flannery O’Connor reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
It’s striking to hear her audience erupt in laughter at the comedy bits in the opening scenes. I assume they didn’t know what they were in for!
Essential Journalists: How Coronavirus Changed TV News
https://youtu.be/CWcEABVWbfA
Epilogue to Rossum’s Universal Robots
My big finish as Alquist in a Zoom-based production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots).
Really enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.
Obviously I would have preferred to see it live, but the pandemic-era video presentation — with clever graphics that indicate stage actions and pop-up text that augment the recorded performances — was subtle and touching.
