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Author: DSquared

  • Yellowjackets: Showtime’s Terrific Drama Returns for Season Two

    A girl being chased through a snow-covered forest is suddenly impaled by falling into a hole filled with large, sharp sticks. Fast forward 25 years and a journalist asks, “what really happened out there?” This was the enticing and foreboding opening of Showtime’s Yellowjackets, the network’s latest outstanding contribution to Sunday night TV. It completed…

  • Oscar 2023 Predictions: Will Everything Everywhere All at Once Carry the Night?

    In my previous posts on the Oscars, I’ve discussed the dismal ratings for the ceremony and the ongoing attempts by the Academy to improve them. Let’s not worry about all that this time. The Best Picture nominations this year run from blockbusters (Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water) to critical favorites that…

  • Borgen: The Engrossing Danish Political Drama and Its Well-Deserved Encore

    “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” A salient quote from one of history’s great thinkers leads off each episode of the terrific Danish political drama, Borgen. Originally, a DR production (the Danish public broadcast company that previously produced The Killing), Borgen is “The Castle,” the informal name of the…

  • Concept Albums: An Enduring Symbol of Rock and Roll

    Concept Album: “An album whose tracks hold a larger purpose of meaning collectively than they do individually, typically achieved through a central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical.” In this age of singles and streaming, the thought of listening to a 40-minute album straight through does not register to younger people.…

  • The 95th Academy Awards: No Slaps or Big Surprises, Lots of Tears

    After sweeping the Directors, Producers, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Golden Globes and Spirit Awards, Everything Everywhere All at Once was a shoo-in for Best Picture. Nominated in eleven categories, it won seven, including Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, and Editing. All Quiet on the Western Front had…

  • Perry Mason: Season Two of HBO’s Striking Revival Series is Here

    “Months after the Dodson case has come to an end, the scion of a powerful oil family is murdered. When the DA goes to the city’s Hoovervilles to pinpoint the most obvious of suspects, Perry, Della, and Paul find themselves at the center of a case that will uncover far reaching conspiracies and force them…

  • Tom Verlaine: Remembering the Innovative Guitarist, Singer, and Songwriter

    (Full disclosure: this post was not composed by ChatGPT.) Tom Verlaine, front man in the band Television, passed away at 73 years old on January 28th after a short illness. He was born in New Jersey in 1949 as Thomas Miller. Inspired by the Rolling Stones, specifically “19th Nervous Breakdown,” he picked up a guitar…

  • The Wailing Souls in Concert: Roots Reggae Lives On

    I like reggae. It really hits the spot sometimes, especially outside on hot summer days. It does tend to sound the same, however, so I can’t listen to it all the time. But it’s repetitive by design. The staccato chords of the guitar (or piano) playing on the offbeat of the dominant rhythm section. It’s…

  • Emily the Criminal: Aubrey Plaza’s Bleak Battle with Debt and Employment

    Emily is $70,000 in debt with college loans. Each time a job looks promising, the background check with her felony conviction, crushes her chances. She struggles at a Door Dash-like job. She storms out of an interview for an assistant designer position after it turns out to be an unpaid internship. A fellow food deliverer…

  • Your Honor: Now on Netflix, A Once-Respected Judge Faces His Demons

    Post Update: This post originally ran in January 2023 after the premier of the second season. I’m re-publishing it because it just started streaming on Netflix. Take a look if you missed it on Showtime. Michael Desiato is a prominent New Orleans judge when his son kills another teenager in an accidental hit-and-run collision. Michael…

  • A Potpourri of New Music to Start Off 2023

    Once again with my new music posts, these are a mix of bands that have been around awhile and those that are just getting started. They all have new music out recently. I just previewed a song or two from each, but first impressions were positive enough for me to recommend exploring them more. The…

  • Meet Me in the Bathroom Review: The NY Rock Scene of the Early Aughts

    Meet Me in the Bathroom is a documentary film directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, based upon the book of the same name by Lizzy Goodman, and the name of a Strokes song from their 2003 album, Room on Fire. So, it’s no surprise that The Strokes are the headliner of this ode to…