Episodes is my catharsis, a full cleanse before leaving Southern California after nearly nine very trying years and arriving in Las Vegas, a hedonistic paradise and the true home I’ve always wanted. I’m still not happy with how much time was wasted here, with how…
Remember the gritty black-and-white cinematography of Clerks, how it made you feel like you were in the Quick Stop with Dante, Randal, and outside of it with Jay and Silent Bob? Well, first, think of Billy (William Leroy), proprietor of Billy’s Antiques & Props, as…
What a treat, and what a relief! Designing Women: 20 Timeless Episodes, another pleasant release from Shout! Factory, judiciously ignores seasons 6 and 7, likely because the former was only just released on DVD early last month, and the latter is being released in mid-July….
I think of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, one of countless examples of staged entertainment. Celine Dion and Elton John are currently enjoying cozy residencies there, and Shania Twain will join them in December with her own residency. There are set lists,…
To get to Hash House a Go Go on 5th Avenue in San Diego, famous for its enormous sage fried chicken on top of enormous bacon waffles, you have to walk. There’s no parking lot to the right or left of the restaurant. We parked…
Photographer Francesca Woodman died years ago. It is apparent from how her parents, sculptor Betty, and painter George, speak distantly of her. The pain is still there, but it’s not as acute as it must have been when they found out. The Woodmans are a…
To hope for more episodes like season 2’s “Hazel’s Day Off” in Hazel: The Complete Third Season is too much hope, but an observation is unearthed that went unnoticed before: Episodes are marginally better when the Baxter family isn’t occupied with domestic matters. This should…
On a Friday in February 2005, with my parents at a taping of the fourth-to-last episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, I saw Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, and Monica Horan at work, but I was more interested in watching director…
The German title of Young Goethe in Love is Goethe!. The exclamation point is supposed to foster hopes of exuberant energy and good humor that would be expected from 23-year-old Johann Goethe (Alexander Fehling), a deliberate failure at his law school, intent on becoming famous…
My favorite moment in A Charlie Brown Christmas is when Linus calls out “Lights, please,” before he explains the meaning of Christmas. Not the actual meaning, although I know that has touched millions and it’s why the special remains a perennial favorite. I love watching…