EXTRA CRITICUM

Hurricane Coverage: What does it take to fill the screen in our new HD world?

In the runup to Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers were treated to several official press conferences given by the governors of NJ and NY and the mayor of NYC.  As I watched Cuomo or Bloomberg or Christie sharing official news, I kept waiting for the graphics of swirls and the ticker of running commentary to yield to a full-screen picture of these guys' faces. But that never happened.

Just seems interesting to me that a press conference from a government official doesn't rate high enough to jettison (momentarily of course) the barrage of motion graphics that generally fill our screens. Here are 4 screenshots.

When Life Imitates Art imitating Life... ONCE

NOW PLAYING: nothing

How do you know there's a storm coming to New York City? A serious storm? Walk down 12th Street and look up at the Cinema Village marquee:

"Mockingbird Lane" - thoughts?

Love the work of Bryan Fuller.

Love Eddie Izzard.

Above all, I love love love “The Munsters.” Watched them all the time as a kid and that show made me love the classic Universal monsters.

I’m the guy on the Universal Studios tour who squeals with glee when the guide offhandedly points out the Munster house, while everybody else is squealing and instagramming pics of Wisteria Lane.

A failure to "adapt"

There are a number of small theatre companies and directors these days in various artsy pockets of this great world that use source material from other forms in order to put together an evening of live theatre. Sometimes this source material is a novel. Sometimes it's transcriptions of interviews. Or an essay. 

To my thinking, it doesn't really matter where these texts originated, the problem is not in the impulse to adapt but in the failure to actually do so in a way that makes for an engaging evening of theatre.

The Joy of Chamber Music Tonight in Westport

Hard to believe a year has gone by since I last attended the Leon Tec Showcase in which young musicians play chamber music together. Such a cool thing my Dad put together. Here's what I wrote about it last year. I'll be there tonight, 8PM at the Unitarian Church in Westport, for those of you in the Fairfield County area. The music is great. And tickets are free. Details here.

'Helen & Edgar' as told by Edgar Oliver

The Greeks believed that music had the capacity to rearrange us from the inside out. I think they were on to something. On Thursday night I attended a concert hoping for this sort of molecular realignment but was sadly disappointed. But that's okay. On the following night, I wandered down to the East Village to the Theatre 80 on St. Marks Place, where I have seen all sorts of different shows and films, some of which moved me more than others. Friday night I bought a ticket to hear Edgar Oliver tell a story in five parts called simply: Helen & Edgar which is a chronicle of the unique bond he shared with his sister Helen.

Today is Sunday. I only first spoke about the experience this morning over breakfast with a friend. Prior to that I was too shaken up, too altered (molecularly?) to begin to put into words how moved I was. But why?

Patrick Daniels Talks Charlie-Victor-Romeo

In between navigating the terrifying landscape that is Charlie Victor Romeo, actor Patrick Daniels was kind enough to field a few of our questions. Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It's FAA regulations, after all.

Q:
The Charlie Victor Romeo road has been a long and winding one. How much time was there between your first production and this current one running at 3LD and how has that changed your perception of the project and/or your performance? Also, you’ve toured the show in the intervening years. Has the show morphed with each new venue?

Thunder Every Day (sizzle reel)

Here's a sizzle reel for the film project that's been occupying much of my imagination lately. Curious to hear what comes to mind.

In Search of Lost Time with Ross McElwee

I’ll be honest, when I first encountered Ross McElwee’s work I was less than thrilled. It wasn’t his fault. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. It was his film, Sherman’s March, that I was responding to after all, but my response had more to do with where I was as a viewer at that time, and as John Landis said, “Everything about a movie is who you are and where you are when you saw it.”

Cartoon: The New Season

Book Review: Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide

They come from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy (a LOT come from Italy), Pakistan and many other places around the world. They can be giant productions, like the upcoming Brad Pitt vehicle World War Z, reportedly costing more than $170 million, or made for practically nothing, such as Colin, which supposedly cost $70! (I’m sure that doesn’t include P&A.)