I was raised godless. Churchless. Creedless. Without spirituality except for one thing. Once a week, on Sunday nights, we made a big bowl of popcorn, flavored with Lowrey’s seasoning salt, and gathered on the couch to watch Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking and breathtaking science for the masses series, “Cosmos.” The show is back for a new season, and the first episode has a special guest who’s an old friend.
Category: Film & Television
The Tribes of Dracula
Juda debuted in Israel in 2017 and got an American in 2019. Since then, I’ve been anxiously awaiting season two. Show creator Tzion Baruch has teased me with stills from production on his Insta, so I know it’s in the works. It just seems forever to get here.
Land of Ice and Fire and Gay Vampires
What now, with the world changing? What if you don’t want to pretend your life’s love is “just a friend” any longer? What if you are no longer content to lurk in shadows, afraid to step into the light?
Long in the tooth: Dracula revisited
A few months back, I joyfully received the news that a fresh new take on the old Dracula story was headed to my telly. A joint production from Netflix and the BBC, this version of the Dracula story promised to be a fresh, modern take on the great-granddaddy of all vampire tales. It would be smart. It would be sassy.
A man who didn’t show up to work for six years stayed home to study Spinoza instead
It’s really no testament to the man’s work skills or general camaraderie that no one cared that he had vanished from the office for six years. No one raised a stink until he failed to show up to get a longevity award for keeping the same job for so long. Which, you know, is makes this a masterwork of irony.
I know why the tethered goldfinch sits there
I may not know why the caged bird sings. But I sure as hell know why the tethered goldfinch just sits there staring at you. He’s pleading for help. Because if he didn’t have that chain on his ankle, he’d be off flying in search of a plot.
There’s no such thing as a Dutch vampire*
There’s no such thing as a Dutch vampire. Or is there? Does the vampire actually have to be Dutch or just speak it? Ah, no matter, #TimesUp for the vampire world.
Juda – a (mostly) kosher vampire story
Simply the fact that the world has yet to hear of an Israeli vampire would make Juda a fresh and different take on one of my favorite genres. But the series takes it a step further by shunning many of the tropes that plague vampire fiction (even though I love some of them).
Vampire politics: Vote for Vlad 2020
If you’ve spent any time at all reading about vampires, watching vampire films or even doing vampire role play, then you know that the three most synonymous things to vampires are blood, sex and … politics.
The Miniaturist: A (partial) historical accounting
I finally did it: bit the bullet and got the PBS Passport membership so I could watch “The Miniaturist.” Suffice it to say, I loved it. But it also got me thinking, how good was it, historically speaking?
Amsterdamned 