Curiosity Quills
From ‘Downton Abbey’ to ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ we’re all soap opera addicts now
Greetings! So glad you could make it. Welcome to the first in a continuing story … sorry, the continuing adventures of – no, that’s not quite right, either. All right, I’ll say it first: I’m a soap opera addict. I am a soap opera addict. I love stories that go on and on, with intertwining…
Read MoreNo paper, no pen: On the loss of Robin Williams, a great American writer
“What will your verse be?” — Robin Williams as John Keating, “Dead Poets Society” (1989) Just hours after the news that Robin Williams had killed himself broke on August 11, Bostonians opted to continue their dialogue with the late comedian. They went out to a bench in the city’s Public Garden, where Williams had filmed…
Read More‘Boyhood’ is full of storytelling magic, minus the story and any wizardry
Modern movie stories generally goes a little something like this: Hero. Hero travels to a different world (you can go metaphorical or literal on this one). Hero meets companion. (In Western society, this companion is almost always of a minority race, or disabled, or female. Look, this is what they taught me. I don’t make…
Read MoreA twist in the tale: Why too many ‘Twilight Zone’ endings can ruin the surprise
One summer, I spent my days lounging around the pool, reading “The Twilight Zone.” Not watching. For one thing, “The Twilight Zone” reruns were on way late at night. I wasn’t quite a teenager, VCRs were in other peoples’ homes, and the Internet was still a good decade or so away. So I’d only seen…
Read MoreNot seeing the forest for the trees: ‘Into the Woods’ and other ways Hollywood gaffes in retelling classic fairy tales
“Into the Woods” fans, brace yourself: The Disney adaptation of the award-winning, long-running, grown-up thinking fairy tale musical by Stephen Sondheim – one of the stage’s pre-eminent writers – is getting neutered. As the New Yorker reported recently, during a master class in New York City Sondheim told the audience of high school drama teachers that…
Read MoreAnd then we came to the end: Why the series finale is the most important episode of all
In the last seconds of “The Sopranos” finale seven years ago (yes, it has been that long), my television set suddenly cut to black. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” cut off right on the word “stop.” Crap! My cable died just at the exactly most important moment of the entire iconic series? Then I got it.…
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