-
Where Do You Go From Here?
I discovered this week that my seven-day Chicago Sun-Times delivery subscription rate had increased by more than thirty-three percent in one month. The Sun-Times rep couldn’t explain such a substantial increase, which she insisted had been shared in an email that I couldn’t locate even in my spam folder. She also couldn’t explain how this…
-
Perhaps It Pays
CRIME 101, which has received generally positive reviews, is a search for meaning story confined within a crime caper. Serial jewelry thief Mike / James Davis (Chris Hemsworth) has rules for his robberies, which he hopes will enable him to amass a predetermined amount of money to compensate for his childhood poverty. He is pursued…
-
More Than That Please
I saw Send Help, which is more aptly titled than I realized. Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), who is a useful and reliable if also awkward employee, has been promised a VP promotion by the CEO who has recently deceased. This promise, which was known to other senior employees, is broken by the CEO’s son Bradly…
-
No Holiday For Me
Chicago theater critics seem more entertained by Holiday, which has been extended reportedly by popular demand than I was. This Goodman Theatre production is a “contemporary adaptation” of a 1928 “classic play” by Philip Berry that had also been twice adapted into movies, including a second in 1938 with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. This…
-
A Money-Hungry MLB
Major League Baseballs reminded me again at the start of spring training this year how much more it cares about money than fans. It notified me last week that MLB at Bat, which is its online radio subscription, was now called MLB+. It also indicated that the annual cost had been doubled. I have always…
-
Unto Ourselves?
The movie Islands, which was written by Jan-Ole Gerster, Blaž Kutin, and Lawrie Doran, is an engaging exploration of appearance, reality, and aloneness that never quite coalesces into clear conclusions. Tom (Sam Riley), a former tennis pro and current resort coach, has an apparently ideal life at least to Canary Islands tourists. The sun is…
-
Theater Today
I attended the final production of Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch this past weekend, and was elated at the outset. I had forgotten how thrilling live performance can be. I unfortunately had sufficient time throughout the rest of the performance to contemplate the relative absence of theater in my life. Its presence dramatically diminished once…
-
Texts Today
I’ve had my issues with the Chicago Sun-Times, but I’m objecting this time to recent comments from one of its writers. Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg wrote one that was ostensibly about why Chicago Children’s Museum had missing lights on a recent national broadcast. He elsewhere described it as “a columny sort of column” from “a…
-
The Bigger Political Problem
Each day seems to bring more alarming news about the current Trump administration. Recent reports offer more details about Trump’s Board of Peace proposal, which he announced last week, for conflict in Gaza. Among others are the one billion dollars permanent member fee, his permanent appointment as its leader, and the inclusion of the Russian…
-
Plagued By Its Own Success
The Plague, which was officially released on 24 December and nationally available soon thereafter, was good but could have been even better. This psychological thriller, which is set in a summer water polo camp, immerses audiences within teenage social dynamics. Ringleader Jake (Kayo Martin) and the other campers act as if Eli’s (Kenny Rasmussen) acne…
“There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.”
–Nikki Giovanni