Extra Criticum

Cartoon: Accentuate The Positive

2012-01-26T13:14:26-05:00

Athena Film Festival opens Feb. 9

2012-01-24T15:27:15-05:00

Thanks to our pals at Indiewire for drawing our attention to this inpsiring festival trailer. If you're going to be in Manhattan in February, head uptown to Barnard College for the Athena Film Festival - a...

Is it just me? Or is this poster creepy?

2012-01-24T10:14:43-05:00

And why would I not be surprised if the entire book to this musical contained not one instance of the word "died," as in "he or she died," rather than the more socially acceptable yet ultimately...

Is there a backlash against single-camera sitcoms?

2012-01-22T16:03:27-05:00

Salon's Kartina Richardson doesn't like this season's live-audience sitcoms (few critics do), but she's hoping for a rejuvenation of the format: When we watch these shows, we are part of an audience in a way that...

Top 100 sitcom episodes of all time (a list in progress)

2012-01-21T01:59:19-05:00

After months of bugging acquaintances for suggestions, I've finally started posting my list of the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time” at my personal blog. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward...

A Boy Who Really, Really Liked His Horse

2012-01-19T12:14:34-05:00

So…War Horse. It’s a juggernaut. It won six Oliviers. It won five Tonys. It won Best Play on both sides of the pond. It has been made into a giganto new movie by Steven Spielberg that...

A New Novel Gives Actors a Hug

2012-01-11T10:06:52-05:00

If creativity is an inheritable trait then Esther Freud certainly benefited on that account. The 48-year old British novelist is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund, yes that Sigmund; daughter of the famous painter Lucien Freud (who died...

The Color of Our Audience

2012-01-09T09:25:35-05:00

I have a dream that we will one day live in a nation where our choice of play will not be based on the color of the skin of the actors on stage but by the...

The Show Must Go On (Hawaii style)

2012-01-09T09:19:59-05:00

[Ed note: This post was co-written by Chuck Babbitt] We stay up too late Saturday night and Lisa awakens too early and can't get back to sleep. That afternoon she has the final showing of the...

Photo Essay: Mr. Brainwash Art Show 2011

2012-01-07T19:12:59-05:00

A few months ago, word got out that Mr. Brainwash was taking over an abandoned warehouse on LaBrea in LA.

Interview with Filmmaker Aimee Madsen

2012-01-06T15:25:09-05:00

In the spring of 2010, a Google Alert mentioned a documentary in production about Paolo Soleri that wasn't A Life's Work. I was curious and reached out to the filmmaker, Aimee Madsen. We've communicated since about...

The Portrait of a Failed Playwright

2012-01-02T14:33:11-05:00

“It’s a strange, compulsive business, the urge to make plays. To act in them, or write ‘em, or produce ‘em. It’s no use appealing to reason.” That’s Henry James counseling a friend in Author, Author, a...

In Praise of Francis Ford Coppola

2011-12-31T19:15:50-05:00

The ways in which this country is fucked up are too manifold to go in to in this humble little blog. But I would like to take up, for a moment, the issue of this country’s...

Can stripping away government funding actually erode patron loyalty?

2011-12-23T08:39:44-05:00

It's that time of the year. When end-of-year appeals from all the non-profits come crashing into our mailboxes and INBoxes. I opened one such letter from Channel Thirteen, our locate PBS affiliate and my reaction was...