Short Takes
February 26, 2012
Josh Ritter: ‘Bringing in the Darlings’
Josh, on his new, 6-song effort, recorded and mixed in 4 days: “I knew I wasn’t making my next album here, but something smaller, and that smallness felt really good. I was listening to a lot of early Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, and the Everly Brothers, and the mood struck me one day to sit down and put to tape some songs that felt graceful and uncomplicated. Simplicity was what I wanted, musically and lyrically. During the winter months, simpler fare sticks to the ribs, but I hope it tastes just as good.” [To buy the CD from Amazon, click here. For the MP 3 download, click here.] Oh, by the way: This video of “Love Is Making Its Way Back Home” is made from 4 trillion paper cut-outs.
February 21, 2012
‘A Separation’ won an Oscar. Will you see it now?
Now that it’s won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, ‘A Separation’ will be opening in more theaters. Please, if you can, make it your next film. (Like: what else is there to see?) The night we went, no one moved for 120 minutes. And when it was over and the credits were running — in Farsi — no one got up. How can this be? It’s just…a little movie. No. It’s not. It’s a lot more.
February 21, 2012
Is ‘Smash’ anything?
NBC, desperate for a hit series, reportedly spent $25 million promoting ‘Smash.’ It sounded like an unpromising cross between ‘Glee’ and ‘Chorus Line,’ but the creator is top-drawer and it features Angelica Houston, so I gave it a try. Granted, I wasn’t coming in at the start of the show, but the few minutes I saw were grating in the extreme. First, in a posh restaurant, Houston threw a drink in a man’s face. I said, ‘Didn’t the Writers’ Guild outlaw that bit in the 1950s?’ My wife pointed out that I can be overly harsh on scant evidence. Then came a very lame Siegfried & Roy joke. I moaned. ‘You’re right,’ my wife said, and I changed the channel. Is ‘Smash’ really such a dud? If not, please school me.
February 9, 2012
Maureen Walsh: ‘I don’t miss the sex’
Maureen Walsh serves in the legislature in Washington State. Watching this, it is very hard not to fall in love with her.
