Michael Moore's latest movie, Where to Invade Next is instructive, disturbing and infuriating, but Moore ends it on a note of hope. He "invades" several countries, supposedly stealing their great ideas about education, women's rights, treatment of prisoners and other...
I'm caught up on all the episodes of The Walking Dead and here's my main question: if more humans turn into walkers every day and the remaining humans are increasingly unpleasant -- as one must be to survive in such an environment -- what's the point of trying to...
In November I began watching The Walking Dead. I plowed through all the seasons available on Netflix and then downloaded part of season six from iTunes. Season six resumes tonight. Here's what I think so far. 1. What insanity/stupidity leads women (Lori, Maggie) to...
In 2012, work began on the impressive challenge of turning Ann Patchett's novel Bel Canto into a staged, modern opera. Now Bel Canto is playing at the Lyric Opera through January 17, 2016. I heard about it at the beginning of December and, even though I'd never been...
Now that I spend more time with people who weren't born in the U.S, I see American culture differently. I'm fascinated by the things such people identify as being good and bad about us. I have new appreciation for our American never-say-die attitude and the way we're...
During Chicago Ideas Week I attended Univision's seminar on "Marketing to Hispanics." This is what I learned from the data collected by Univision's marketing department. General facts There are 58 million Hispanics in the U.S. which is 18% of the total U.S....
I was talking to a friend who regrets upgrading her iTunes application because now her phone won't charge with the adapter she was using. Many of us had upgrade remorse last month when Hulu.com produced a terrible version of its app that didn't allow us to watch...
During a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Jon Krakauer said his 1996 climbing of Mount Everest was a mistake. This is startling because in his 1997 book Into Thin Air, he explains that reaching that summit was a dream he'd had all his life. In many ways, it...
Released last May 2014 Katie Couric produced and narrates the documentary Fed Up, which might seem like just another film about the effects of the standard American diet on our health, but this one has a very specific and heartbreaking focus: the effects of sugar on...
I think I've watched all five seasons of the original Twilight Zone series enough times to be able to read this book. It's Stewart Stanyard's Dimensions Behind The Twilight Zone with a foreward by Neil Gaiman. It was a gift from my sister and it's not only a good...
Last night I watched one of Robin Williams' last movies: The Angriest Man in Brooklyn. I don't know when he finished the movie, but it was released in May 2014 and came out on video-on-demand (VOD) in July 2014, weeks before Williams' suicide. I can only find bad...
Nyctophilia is the love of nighttime or darkness and I am a big nyctophiliac. It’s nighttime now and I sit in a dim living room, lit only by the pinkish glow of two Himalayan salt lamps and, of course, my laptop screen. Although I prefer rooms that are bright with...
It's not hard to make my hair go 80's (taken on 2/21/2015, before the party) A couple of weeks ago I went to a 1980's party that took place at a bar downtown. The '80s were my coming-of-age decade: I was 13 on January 1, 1980 and 23 on December 31, 1989. My high...
Holly Phillips, Judy Gold, Larry Wilmore, Zooey O'Toole and Mike Yard discuss vaccination. Hey, looky here: it's a BLACK MAN WITH HIS OWN LATE NIGHT SHOW. This hasn't happened since Arsenio Hall, only this time the man is hilarious and I can't get enough! Larry...
A friend insisted that I try Game of Thrones, which I'd never watched. I'm finishing watching the first episode of the first season. I don't have much patience for a show that doesn't grab me on the first viewing, so this is all I got. Pros: Peter Dinklage A couple of...