Playlist 11-12-10
A 65th birthday salute to Neil Young, using his least popular tunes. A scratchy signature song from Hartford native Sophie Tucker, a bunch of Smokey Robinson in honor of his…
Bristol Palin’s Success Conspiracy
She’s been one of the worst dancers of this or any season, but Bristol Palin has still made her way to the “Dancing with the Stars” final four. This week…
A Nature World of Slo-Mo
As satisfying as these big new sweeping HD nature series on cable are, one thing that gets to me is how often they slow the action down so often, to…
Playlist 11-5-10
Started with a salute to the late Gregory Isaac, turned to some newly released rarities from Jimi Hendrix, added some dance music, an acoustic segment led by Peter Case, who…
From ‘Carrier’ to ‘Circus’
The last time Maro Chermayeff and Jeff Dupre produced a long-form documentary for PBS, it was about life on an aircraft carrier. But what’s different about “Circus” from the 2008…
Rent Still Too Damn High
He didn't win the governorship of New York, but Jimmy McMillan of the Rent's 2 High Party did get his single of the same name out on the same day.…
Marion Jones Tells Her Story in Film
Marion Jones, the former Olympic track star who was imprisoned for her use of performance enhancing drugs at first wasn’t interested in retelling her story for ESPN’s “30 for 30”…
Halloween Haul 2010
It was a sad Halloween; the first without kids here as a home base or trawling the neighborhood. Nora was off at a friend’s, in another neighborhood, so there was…
The Rally Takes a Capra Turn
After its morality plays and its songs, its crow participation and its scripted skits, The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, having vanquished Fear, in the form of Steven Colbert’s…
How Glenn Beck Spent the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity’
It seemed the opposite of sanity that on the day of Jon Stewart’s big rally with Steven Colbert on the National Mall, that Glenn Beck, who inspired the gesture with…