Category: Television
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A ‘Bluey’ song exploder
One of my Christmas presents was Bluey: The Album on vinyl. My wife got it as a joint present with my son since we’re both big Bluey fans. The first song on it is an extended version of the theme song I’d never heard before called “Bluey Theme Tune (Instrument Parade)”: After the standard opening, […]
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Athena. Come for the gangbusters opening 10 minutes—stay for the tense, heart-pounding drama of Children of Men-meets-The Battle of Algiers in a French apartment complex. (Streaming on Netflix.) The End of Education by Neil Postman. My third Postman book after Amusing Ourselves to Death and Technopoly. Would probably rank it below those […]
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Barbarian. Despite being a big baby about horror films, I went to see this opening weekend when I came into some unexpected free time. To say it’s surprising in many ways is a gross understatement. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Thus far it’s managing to strike the right […]
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Our Art, Our Lives: On ‘Salty’ and ‘The Last Movie Stars’
When we make our art, we are also making our lives. And I’m sure that the reverse is equally true. That line is from Look & See, the beautiful documentary about the life and work of Wendell Berry. I think about it often, and I thought about it again recently as I feasted on two […]
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan. An excellent oral history of one of the greatest films ever made. One of the many tidbits: George Miller’s first choice to play Max was Heath Ledger, which I now can’t stop thinking about. The Northman. A […]
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My son’s media of the moment
A spinoff of an ongoing series Bluey. A not-small number of times after watching an episode I’ve thought, “Was that one of the greatest episodes of TV ever?” Hot take: the only TV shows a kid needs, really, are this and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood—the yin and yang of instructive, high-quality children’s entertainment. Picture books aplenty. […]
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Long live the limited podcast series
My recent experience with the Band of Brothers podcast made me realized I’m very much a fan of the modern trend of “official” companion podcasts released alongside limited series by the show’s creators—Watchmen and Station Eleven being two recent examples I enjoyed and appreciated. These are slightly different beasts from the popular post hoc recap […]
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Courage & Camaraderie in ‘Band of Brothers’
Band of Brothers, the 2001 Tom Hanks-produced HBO miniseries that dramatized the history of Easy Company paratroopers throughout World War II, was a formative viewing experience for me, especially on the heels of Saving Private Ryan. That was as a youngster interested in history and World War II, and as the grandson of a veteran […]
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Everything my son consumes. Obvs. Love on the Spectrum. Just finished the second season of this heart-warming and instructive Australian reality dating show on Netflix featuring people on the autism spectrum. The delightful dynamic between Michael and his mom should be its own show. Abbey Road. I previously wrote about encountering the […]
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Two favorite Ted Lasso scenes
We rewatched season 1 of Ted Lasso in advance of season 2 coming out next month. Among the many wonderful scenes in this marvel of a show, two scenes stuck out this time around. One is from episode 7 (“Make Rebecca Great Again”), when the shy groundskeeper Nate gives a (NSFW) pregame speech/roast with Ted’s […]