Jul

18

Peter Pan’s Dark Side.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The headline, “How bad was J.M. Barrie?” screams sensationalism, and, although she does try to be balanced, Justine Picardie doesn’t seem too comfortable with Barrie the person. She opens with a “curse” Barrie “scrawled across the pages of one of his last notebooks”, “May God blast anyone who writes a biography of me”, and she […]

May

22

It’s Magic!

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

May 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“The template is, if a chick is on stage, she’s wearing a bikini or holding something.”–Maritess, Queen of Magic
The June/July 2008 issue of BUST, the magazine “for women with something to get off their chests”, has an article titled “Use Your Illusion”, an all-too brief history of women magicians. Fortunately Julie Sobanski, a Milwaukee-based magician, […]

May

8

Where No One Has Gone Before.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

May 8, 2008 | 2 Comments

A new Star Trek film has a lot of fans excited. It’s been called a “reboot”, a way to inject new life into a franchise many of us grew up with, but there are concerns as well. While some shows like Battlestar Galactica are willing to confront contemporary issues with philosophical ambiguity, trying to examine […]

May

3

The Past Is So Bright…

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

May 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Over at BoingBoing, Cory Doctorow has a brief article with a link to a short Czech film from 1957 which has a surprising vision of the kitchen of the future: shopping by television, foods quickly prepared in glass ovens, the cokery (sic) book replaced by punch cards…well, at least they were right about stoves which […]

Mar

20

Among The Stars.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

March 20, 2008 | 1 Comment

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, born December 16, 1917, died March 19, 2008. Reading through news articles about Clarke, I found this brilliant quote: “I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarian and we’re skeptical.”
I have to admit I’ve never really been a fan of Clarke. I’ve read four of his books–2001, 2010, Childhood’s End, and […]

Mar

14

Ten Little Doctors.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

March 14, 2008 | 1 Comment

“The thrill is in the chase, never the capture.”
After a surprising shortage of literary figures in the original Doctor Who (broadcast from 1963-1986), they’re in danger of becoming a cliché in the new Doctor Who, which began in 2005 and, in its third episode, gave The Doctor a chance to meet Charles Dickens. In 2006 […]

Feb

25

Book ‘Em: The Best Medicine.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

February 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

Once, in a discussion about zodiac signs, a friend of mine proudly declared, “I’m a Cancer, the sign of the crab. I’m two diseases nobody wants.” This was hilarious even though, in my experiences with cancer, it’s been really hard to laugh. I’ve been lucky enough to never have cancer (I’ve never had crabs either, […]

Jan

28

Book ‘Em: Attend The Tale of Sweeney Todd.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

January 28, 2008 | 1 Comment

With Johnny Depp nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, some might be tempted to ask, Was there a real Sweeney Todd? The subtitle of Robert Mack’s book The Wonderful and Surprising History of Sweeney Todd: The Life and Times of an Urban Legend gives away the disappointing truth: he […]

Jan

23

Checkmate.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

January 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

The death of Bobby Fischer put chess, briefly, back on the front page, at least in the United States. Fischer, the strange, eccentric genius who took on the Soviet chess juggernaut and won, then disappeared and descended into madness, appearing only occasionally to make outrageous and often anti-Semitic or anti-American remarks, is considered by many […]

Jan

21

Book ‘Em: To Be Or…

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

January 21, 2008 | 1 Comment

“We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”-Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead
The richness of Shakespeare’s language and the depth of his characters has created an interesting phenomenon. We sometimes talk about them as though […]

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