Another year and another Super Bowl has come and gone.

However, what's a Super Bowl without its fair share of talent, controversy, entertainment and food?

This year a whopping 111.5 million people tuned in to see the reigning champs, the Seattle Seahawks, take on the New England Patriots. While last year's Super Bowl was a slow and painful blow out, this year's game consisted of tension, suspense and an all out brawl to top it off.

The 2014 Super Bowl ended with Richard Sherman, a cornerback for the Seahawks, shouting at the delicate Erin Andrews about being the best. This year's game left him with a slightly different expression.

Prior to the game, the 2015 Super Bowl had a bit of controversy surrounding it. The New England Patriots had been caught allegedly using footballs that were deflated
below regulation, creating a possible advantage. This is not the first time the Patriots have been suspected of cheating. This tension was believed to drive ratings, ticket sales, and commercial slot prices up. It did exactly this, because who doesn't love a good controversy?

Ticket prices were at an all time high this year. With a face value of roughly $500.00 to $1,500.00, tickets were sold on average for $8,000.00.

Football has become a sport that can bond friends and make enemies in a three-hour time span, but it is clearly something people want to feel a part of.

Personally, I'm a New York Jets fan and I know my boys are not going to make it to the Super Bowl in my life time, but there is something about the event that draws me in every year without fail. Part of that draw comes from the sport and the players, but a large portion of it is the halftime show.

The Super Bowl halftime show has had its fair share of show stopping moments, both good and bad. Who could forget Janet Jackson's nip slip?

This year Katy Perry rode in on a tiger and soared around the stadium. While Snoop Dogg was not in attendance, Perry did have Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott as special guests.

The halftime show is a moment for fans to pull away from the nerves, the joy and the hostility, and watch stars perform on neutral turf. While there was nothing terribly shocking during the half-time show, the game did come down to a few crazy plays and ended in a fistfight.

The struggle of the Super Bowl tends to be bathroom breaks. When is the right time to go? If you leave while the game is on, you run the risk of missing a game changing play.

However, if you leave during commercials you know you are going to miss the best commercial of the year. This year, a commercial of 30 seconds cost $4.5 million. Should you really miss it? Every year the typical car, chip and insurance commercials clutter the ad time, but every year, without fail, the Budweiser commercials shine through. The classic bull-terrier puppy and Clydesdale horse, capture the hearts of millions of viewers. This year was no exception.

This year, in my house at least, the food section did not disappoint. Chips and dip lined the coffee table, pizza, wings and burgers covered the counter tops, and beer and soda stocked the coolers.

Maybe you've been watching your weight as a new year's resolution and are giving yourself a cheat day. Maybe you've promised yourself you'll hit the gym tomorrow morning, or maybe you've chosen to not think about the amount of delicious food and beer that your ingesting. Wherever you fall, I hope you enjoyed the game!

The Super Bowl does three main things to Americans; it brings them together, tears them apart and stuffs them full of food and advertising.

But hey, we love it!

Diana Ross -- Miss Ross to you, Diane to family and (Motown) friends -- heart-stoppingly opened Brooklyn's restored King's Theatre last night (Feb. 3) by entering from the back of the vast, spectacularly refurbished auditorium.

On the way to the stage, very appropriately singing "I'm Coming Out," she passed me within five feet. She was wrapped in a ruffled and fluffy celadon robe and looking very much like a Floating Island dessert, looking like Bali H'ai sailing by. For a woman now 70, she also looked as she has for the couple of decades since she's sported the signature flying coiffeur.

She also sounded as she has ever since the earliest Supremes days. The barely altered voice is bright, strong, slightly nasal and filled with jubilation. I contend now -- and have since I was reviewing her singles and albums for Record World, the now defunct trade magazine -- that the smile was the major impetus for Ross's enormous appeal. It's the source of her charisma and is lodged in the Great Silver Screen Smile Pantheon with the smiles of Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Julie Christie and Julia Roberts.

Once Ross reached the stage, she beamed throughout and certainly through the four -- count 'em 4 -- costume changes. Those who were present expressly to see the wardrobe will have noted that the celadon robe and glittery green body-hugging gown (everything she wore hugged the still thin and supple form) was followed by a red outfit, a silver outfit, a yellow outfit and a black outfit -- "my going home clothes" is how she described the final frock.

(Who's behind the meant-to-dazzle ensembles? Since no word on a designer has arrived by press time, this bedazzled spectacle spectator can only guess at Bob Mackie or maybe the lady herself, who once thought about designing fashions.)

What did she sing? What do you think she sang? The first segment of the tireless 70-minute show was devoted to the Top 40 (usually chart-topping) Supremes singles. Walking back and forth across the wide stage and frequently raising her arms to embrace the sold-out house, she delivered trimmed versions of the hits. They were mostly reduced to repeated hooks, as if she'd had them arranged to reflect contemporary songs that simply repeat one or two declarative phrases until they finally stop.

Was that bothersome? Was it bothersome when glaring, blaring lights above the proscenium hit the crowd every time she sang "Stop!" during her bow to "Stop! In the Name of Love." No, it wasn't bothersome. It might have been if she'd skipped the modulation in "Baby Love" that ranks with the most enthralling modulations in the history of arrangements. But, thank providence, she didn't exclude it.

(In place of Supremes Mary Wilson, Brenda Ballard and Cindy Birdsong, she had Valerie Pinkston, Lamont Van Hook and Fred White behind her. She referred to them not as "back-up singers" but as her "voices.")

For her second section, she covered the post Supremes years. For the third, she included the movie songs -- "Ease on Down the Road" and "Don't Explain," and for the fourth, "I Will Survive," which she'd covered after Gloria Gaynor had declared herself the original survivor. For most of the familiar material (a sizable hunk of it now 50 years old) she flashed the famous wide, rectangular smile and sauntered elegantly. The only time she stopped moving was when she sang Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain."

And if you ask me, the "Don't Explain" rendition, recalled from her Lady Sings the Blues triumph, was the high point. For the only time in the set, she acted the lyrics, proving she's an accomplished jazz stylist as well as the actress we all know her to be. She never impersonated Holiday, as, for instance Audra McDonald recently did sublimely on stage in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill. Instead, she brought herself to the role--and still is bringing herself to it.

Needless to say, it wasn't the sensational Motown house band playing for Ross but a nine-man combo that helped her raise the stunningly gaudy King's Theatre roof off its renovated hinges. They were George Svetich, Michael Sechrest, Gerald Brown, Cecil Thomas, Mark Miller, John Isley, John Scarpulla, Carl Fischer and Ronald Powell.

They handily recreated the unique Motown sound, and it's unlikely that any of the Motown men could or would have done what percussionist Powell did: roll a tambourine up one arm, around the back of his neck and down the other arm. That was only one of the devices used to cover the minutes Miss Ross was in the wings changing.

In all, you have to say that while appearing to be enjoying herself completely--adored while not begging to be adored, as too many divas do--she gave the audience exactly what they paid to see.

She also had the good grace to praise the theater where she'd been tapped to break revived ground. She encouraged the crowd to look around, which is just what they should have made sure to do in appreciation of what $95 million has done to reopen a 1929 edifice, designed by Rapp & Rapp. As part of its history, it was shuttered in 1977 and left to fall in on itself for too long.

Now revitalized by Martinez + Johnson Architecture, it's intended by the money spent ($50 from the City, $45 from private donors like Goldman Sachs) not only as the reintroduction of a neighborhood pleasure palace but also as the fulcrum of a Flatbush revival. Which makes especially cogent its arrival the same week Mayor Bill de Blasio begins plugging for citywide rezoning.

How quickly King's Theatre will fulfill that part of its mission remains to be seen. (A proposed new and nearby hotel isn't promised imminently.) Nothing, however, can gainsay Diana Ross's five-star inaugural appearance in the hallowed space, making it not one but two comings out.

February 6 is National Wear Red Day, a day to raise awareness for heart disease in women. I admittedly don't know much about heart disease, but I felt like this upcoming awareness day was the impetus I needed to do a little research and become more, well, aware.




A simple Google search led me to dozens of articles with information ranging from "this is kinda scary" to "I am going to die today." I had to stop. I think an overall awareness of diseases and ailments is a good thing, but it's easier (and way more fun) to pretend to be invincible.

While I won't ruin your day with a cloud of saddening statistics about the number of annual heart disease-related deaths and types of heart disease that exist (have you ever heard of broken heart syndrome? Because that's a thing...), I will share with you the one fact that stuck out to me the most:

Heart disease is highly preventable. Hooray for one positive fact. Thanks, Internet!

When I was little, my mom always quoted this saying to my brothers and me: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This token "mom saying" was always met with a combination of resonation and resentment. I appreciated the sentiment, but sometimes I just wanted to be a kid and have some fun. Why worry about an ounce of prevention or a pound of cure when you could have an immeasurable amount of enjoyment by ignoring troubles altogether?

As I reflect on my reaction then versus my reaction now, I realize one slight perspective shift that makes a lot of difference. I think I often associated the word "prevention" with worry. I thought that preventing a thing would put more thoughts of the thing itself into my head, and that sounds like a whole barrel of misery. What I realize now, though, is that that's not true.

Prevention doesn't have to be some all-consuming endeavor where everything you eat, breath, say, and do is an active attempt to ward off some overriding circumstance (be it a disease, event, or other). That, to me, translates to unhealthy obsession or fixation. The best approach for myself, I've found, is to not think about the thing I'm preventing at all, but rather to focus on the prevention itself in the form of living a "healthy lifestyle."

Let it be known that I'm using the term "healthy lifestyle" loosely for fear of being overtly hypocritical (being covertly hypocritical is another story). I am no Gwenyth Paltrow. You're still gonna see me ordering fries, I'm still gonna skip the gym every so often, and I'm definitely not attending yoga class anytime soon.

What I mean by healthy lifestyle is an overarching attempt to choose healthy options over unhealthy ones. If you're on the go, maybe grab a protein bar instead of a candy bar. If you're gonna hang out with a friend, maybe go for a hike instead of a lunch. If you're craving something sweet at night, maybe don't have a gallon of Baskin Robbins on hand in your freezer, you gross slob.

My mother was a health nut. She ran every day and routinely practiced her Jane Fonda workout videos. She chose shampoos and conditioners that didn't have chemicals in them. She ate a heaping plate of steamed vegetables every night for dinner. Health was a consistent hobby for her.

For me, health is a little less undeviating. There are times when I'll do a two-day juice cleanse, feel great, and then have an In N Out hamburger for breakfast the next morning. There are times when I'll run ten miles in a day and then go a week without working out. There are times when I'll shop at Whole Foods and times when I'll grab snacks at the gas station. Establishing a sustainable healthy lifestyle is certainly a challenge, and one that I have clearly struggled with. I think part of my difficulty is that I waiver between mentalities of "health is fun!" and "health is too hard."

Sometimes, when I fall off the wagon, I get so upset with myself that I realize I am doing more harm than good. What good is prevention if it's causing all this stress and inner turmoil in the process?

If you're anything like me and you face those falling-off-the-wagon moments, I want to encourage you -- just like I try to encourage myself -- to keep moving forward. Just because you had that doughnut doesn't mean you're a failure. Just because you didn't work out today doesn't mean you have to become a curmudgeon. As long as you are consistently making an effort to choose good over bad, that's all you can ask of yourself. No matter how small a baby step is, it's still a step.

Speaking of baby steps, I have to go babystep to the Baskin Robbins I have in my freezer. I am deciding right now whether I will throw it away or eat it.

The Vanity Fair Oscar parties seemed like a prom filled with all the high school kids who maybe didn't have a good time at their own proms and were making up for it now as adults," Sessums says of the magazine's legendary annual celebrity gathering. Here, Sessums is flanked by (from left) Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jim Carrey, Lauren Holly, Tom Cruise and Cruise's producing partner, Paula Wagner.



Kevin Sessums may just be the absolute best person on the planet to take as a companion to an event -- any event -- be it a fancy Broadway premiere, your sister's wedding or a seedy afterhours bar. Of this, I'm quite sure. And since I've been close friends with Sessums for nearly three decades starting in the me-me-me '80s that was New York City, the fact that he also happens to be the single best magazine celebrity interviewer this country has ever seen is a fascinating curiosity for me, someone who also happens to swim in that particular pond.

I first met Sessums through a mutual friend (a co-worker of mine at Esquire) when I had just graduated from college and Sessums was the executive editor at Interview, Andy Warhol's oversized magazine and the unofficial bible of all that was cool in pop culture. We hit it off immediately. We're both keen social observers (though Sessums is an out-and-out introvert compared to my more gregarious approach), we're both exceedingly clever with words and puns and, most importantly, we share a biting, merciless sense of humor. No one is spared in our sphere, least of all each other.


(at right)
Kevin Sessums at his desk
in San Francisco.

I was instantly drawn to the Mississippi native's (ever-so-slight) Southern lilt his voice revealed but, mostly, I marveled at how self-deprecating someone in his position appeared to be. Media has always reigned in Manhattan and being the top editor at Interview, then later the undisputed king and principal celebrity cover story writer for Tina Brown's revitalized fame temple, Vanity Fair, made Sessums unstoppable for a very, very long time. He was breathing rarefied Hollywood air. And deservedly so.

To read any of Sessums' hundreds of celebrity profiles he's done over the many years I've been reading celebrity profiles (his work has appeared in Allure, Playboy, Elle, elevate, Marie Claire and many more), reveals something curious: Sessums is just as important a player in his stories as the famous subject he's writing about. It's a ballsy, precocious approach to be sure, but the fact that I buy a magazine expecting to read a long cover story on, say, Julia Roberts, and instead I'm treated to Sessums' own impressions of how Julia Roberts treated him, is not only unusual, but unprecedented. The reader ends up -- impossibly -- caring for Sessums (and his opinions) in disproportionate ways. How Roberts or Tom Cruise or Bette Midler or Madonna or Matthew McConaughey or Barbra Streisand or Johnny Depp or any other star treats Sessums is all there for the world to see in his brilliant, conversational, potty-mouth prose. I couldn't get enough. And I wasn't alone in that sentiment.



As St. Martin's Press readies to release Sessums' expertly written second memoir, I Left It On The Mountain his first was the best-selling and achingly beautiful childhood tome, Mississippi Sissy -- it strikes me as odd that the entire country doesn't know my friend's name. It may be too easy to compare Sessums with other literary superstars who happened to be Southern gay men who also happened to chronicle and be surrounded by the most famous people of their day (Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams), but it's also true. Sessums is a sort of Truman Capote/Tennessee Williams hybrid, a dishy cocktail by anyone's standards. But in this blink and you're old news social media bullet train we're all on, reading a Kevin Sessums story remains the closest I feel to experiencing my buddy curled up on my sofa whispering fantastical bon mots from his latest celebrity encounter.

Kevin Sessums is a storyteller. The best I've ever known.

Sessums and I also share the fact that we've both magazine editors in chief, two related, but vastly different roles (think of it as the architect and the landscaper of a house; same house, different jobs). Currently, Sessums is the EIC at FourTwoNine magazine in San Francisco, a stunning, pop-meets-culture-meets-words publication that has Sessums' unmistakable touch on every perfectly executed page. Editing Sessums' writing -- something I've had the privilege to do fairly regularly for decades -- is both thrilling and fraught with danger. A tightrope I must admit I enjoy more than I should.

I was founding editor in chief of POZ, a groundbreaking magazine about living with HIV that just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and Sessums was tasked with interviewing Ty Goldwater (Ross), the Republican firebrand's grandson, as Ty revealed for the first time in POZ not only that he was gay, but living with HIV. It was a huge exclusive for a new publication out of the gate and Sessums' own notoriety would give the story additional gravitas to help propel the fledgling magazine (the accomplished celebrity photographer, Greg Gorman, also agreed to shoot the striking, graphic cover).

When Sessums turned in his first draft of the piece, I read it through and felt nothing -- absolutely nothing. It was a competent, by-the-book magazine profile and I was more than confused. Where was the Kevin Sessums I expected? Where was the humor, the ego, the circular prose landing in that sweet spot I expected -- no, demanded -- from every profile that man writes? So I called him out and he admitted  to committing something that is as grave an offense between subject and interviewer as there is in the magazine business: Sessums and Goldwater had sex. Damn.


(at right)
Courtney Love gives
Kevin Sessums some sugar.

If I had been the editor in chief at, say, Vanity Fair, I would have absolutely killed the story on the spot -- no question about it. If the writer sleeps with the subject, the story is killed. Magazines 101. But since I was the editor at POZ, a magazine specifically targeting people living with HIV, and navigating head-on the powerful realities of sex, suffering, mortality, fear, I implored Sessums to re-write the story revealing everything. I asked him to "leave it all on the page." The story Kevin Sessums wrote remains one of my proudest achievements in my career and all I did was just let it happen. His tale was nervy, silly, heartbreaking, joyous, sexy and, ultimately, it was the scorching truth. I challenge you to read a better, more revelatory magazine story this or any other year.

POZ was a media sensation from the premiere issue due to no small part to Sessums' emotionally honest cover story and it got me thinking how different the magazine landscape -- particularly when discussing the celebrity feature -- has become. Long gone is the era of spending days (or even many hours) with a famous person to get the real story. Today, if you're able to get the celebrity at all, it's usually within earshot of a publicist who cuts you off at the mere hint of an interesting question.

But through all of the changes Sessums has experienced in his celebrated career and truly remarkable life -- his latest book I Left It On The Mountain is an absolute must-read -- I still think of that first meeting oh so many years ago when I met my slightly older brother from another mother, this Kevin Sessums from Mississippi, and I knew then we'd be friends forever. I was right.

This is worth repeating: Kevin Sessums is the single-best magazine celebrity interviewer this country has ever seen. Not everyone may know that fact, but now you do. Go buy his book and let a master storyteller tell you his story, one of the greatest you'll ever know.

Kevin, reading so many of your celebrity interviews for decades now, I suspect we have a similar approach to asking the famous questions: We just ask what we want to know. Fair?
To quote Jimmy Carter, "Life isn't fair."  But this is as fair as it gets, I guess. God, Richard -- have we already lost everybody by my quoting Jimmy Carter at the beginning of this interview? [Laughs]

Let's talk about your career. Tell me about your first paying journalism job? Was it  really thrilling?
I feel like you're interviewing Belle Watling now. [Laughs]



(at right)
Kevin with Jared Leto and Jude Law.

Which celebrities have tried to seduce you (or at least heavily flirted with you) hoping for a positive piece?
I would hope their flirting with me had nothing to do with the story. All interviews are about seductions. The subject is seducing the writer and the writer is allowing himself or herself to be seduced -- which is the ultimate seduction. I've often said a great interview is like a love affair and a marriage all rolled into one. Then you sit down in front of the computer to write the story and that's where the divorce occurs -- an amicable one. You get to share custody of the story that results.

What was the absolute worst question you ever asked a subject you were profiling?
If I had ever asked them what was the worst thing they had ever asked someone that would have been the worst question. [Laughs] In other words, I have no idea. I tend to block out bad moments. And move on.

What was the absolute best question you ever asked a subject you were profiling?
I tend to block out the good moments, too.



(at right)
James Franco and Kevin Sessums
kidding around.

Kevin, here's another parallel question I know you're so fond of [Laughs]. Vanity Fair, your home for so many years, was the best place to work because...
They paid their truck drivers well. And your phone calls were returned. And, for a long while, it was a family to me. It was where I found a sense of belonging. But then you finally have to realize your work life is not your family. Your work life is where you do your job. We don't live in the world of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But I do tend to miss those people and that life at times.

Vanity Fair was the worst place to work because...
I fell out of favor for a variety of reasons. It made me sad. And sadness is a hard place in which to live.

If you could dictate what the next 20 years of your career look like -- without regard to money and logic -- what would you be doing?
Writing books. And, at the end of each day, handing a few well-written pages to someone I love that would tell me the truth about them.

Tell me the difference between being a magazine editor in chief and a celebrity interviewer.
Responsibility.

Change one moment from your life.
Two. When each of my parents died within one year of each other when I was seven and eight years old. That double echo still bounces about in the canyon of my life.

What brings you peace?
Walking my dogs. Waiting for a good sentence and that precise moment it arrives. Nothing beats the arrival of a good sentence. Maybe the arrival of a good man -- but I'm still waiting for that. [Laughs]

Who was the one celebrity you always wanted to interview and never did?
If they're alive, there's always a chance I will. There's always hope, Richard. Always. [Laughs]

Now It Counts is the new destination for Americans 50+ covering financial, health, beauty, style, travel, news, entertainment and sports. Read more at; http://nowitcounts.com

This year, the Oscars will be replete with pregnant celebrities. Mallory Moss, co-founder of Babynames.com, offers up her predictions for who should win the coveted statue for Best Baby Bump 2015.

1. Kira Knightly & musician James Righton.

Twice Oscar-nominated best actress, Keira Knightly will be walking down the carpet with her first-ever baby bump. Judging from her Delpozo gown at the Critics' Choice awards, Keira is putting intense thought into her gown choices and we are up for a treat on Oscar night. Knightly was nominated for this year's The Imitation Game and 2005's Pride and Prejudice -- both films that illustrated her versatility in both acting and fashion. Father of the babe is The Klaxons band member, James Righton.

2. Benedict Cumberbatch & actress/director Sophie Hunter.

I'm not quite sure what they put in the bottled water on the set of The Imitation Game, but Benedict Cumberbatch is joining Keira Knightly in the baby race. Sophie Hunter, Benedict's fiancée, is an actress and director. Nominated for best actor, this first-time dad is also a first time Oscar nominee. Benedict is also well known for his several Emmy nominations (and one win) for his turn as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC show, Sherlock.

3. Jeff Goldblum & actress/gymnast Emilie Livingston.

Jeff Goldblum (62), one of the stars of the best picture-nominated film The Grand Budapest Hotel, is also an excited first time dad-to-be. His and his wife, actress and rhythmic gymnast Emilie Livingston (32), were married late last year. Not only was he in the highly acclaimed Budapest, but Jeff was nominated for an Oscar in 1996 for best short film (live action) for the film Little Surprises.

4. Stanley Tucci & literary agent Felicity Blunt.

This year will also be a super win for actor Stanley Tucci, co-star of The Hunger Games and Oscar nominated actor for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for 2009's The Lovely Bones. Stanley is married to Felicity Blunt, a literary agent and sister to Into the Woods star Emily Blunt.

5. Alec & Hilaria Baldwin.

Actor Alec Baldwin and his wife are expecting another child, or so says Hilaria's Intagram page! They already have one daughter - Carmen (age 1) - and used a picture of Carmen touching her mother's belly as part of the announcement of Baby #2 on January 1st. Alec was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Cooler in 2004.

6. Jon Bernthal & Erin Angle.

Actor Jon Bernthal and his wife Erin Angle are expecting their third child. Jon has been part of several acclaimed films and television shows including Brad Pitt's Fury, best picture nominee The Wolf of Wall Street, and AMC's The Walking Dead. Since 2010, Jon has been married to Erin, the niece of professional wrestler Kurt Angle.

Honorable Mention:

Rosamund Pike & mathematician Robie Uniacke.

Rosamund Pike, Oscar nominee for best actress this year for Gone Girl, just escaped an Oscar baby bump by giving birth to a son on December 2, 2014. Married to mathematician Robie Uniacke, the couple also have a son, Solo Uniacke, born in May 2012. The couple is very hush hush about their infant son's name. These are only guesses, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw any of the following name choices for Solo's brother: Duo/Due, Han/Luke/Skywalker, or maybe even Allan/Turing to give a nod to Robie's mathematician nature.


Dr. Mallory Moss is a board-certified nurse practitioner in psychiatry and a founding partner of BabyNames.com. Since its launch in 1996, BabyNames.com has been heralded as one of the top parenting sites on the internet. Dr. Moss' passions lay in community-based mental health and destigmatizing mental health diagnoses. Dr. Moss was also the editor of the popular online parenting advice column, "Ask Grandma Maggie."

If you're in a relationship, the pressure is on to conform to some predetermined way of expressing love for your partner. If you're single, the pressure is on to feel lousy about being single. Either way, you can't win on Valentine's Day, so why not curl up with a good movie that shares the same ambivalence toward this whole 'love' thing that you do? Here, in alphabetical order, are nine films that will help you recover from The Notebook.

The Apartment (1960)

The happy ending feels like an afterthought at the close of this excoriating view of the commerce involved in human sexual relationships. Jack Lemmon plays Bud Baxter, a nebbish who rises up the corporate ladder by letting his superiors use his apartment for extramarital trysts, one of which involves the woman he loves, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). We will probably never again see that incredible combination of cynicism and humanism always so deftly achieved by Billy Wilder, working here with writing partner I.A.L. Diamond.

The Beguiled (1971)

Imagine you're a Union solider wounded during the Civil War and taken in by the members of an all-girl boarding school in Louisiana. Nothing can go wrong there. Least of all deceit, heightened gothic Freudian overtones and revenge-driven murder. Clint Eastwood's long-standing director Don Siegel works from a script by Albert Maltz and Irene Kamp that practically drips with humidity, based as it was on Thomas P. Cullinan's Southern Gothic novel A Painted Devil.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002)

Audrey Tautou as you have never seen her! To say more would only reveal a few whopping spoilers in this brightly-lit but dark-as-they-come and uncategorizable confection. Co-written (with Caroline Thivel) and directed by Laetitia Colombani.

Head-On (2004)

Writer-Director Fatih Akin's terrifically alive treatment of a traditional romantic comedy premise (the marriage of convenience) is used as a springboard to examine Germany's Turkish immigrant community, the emotional messiness of sexuality, personal grief and the urge some of us have to destroy ourselves on the way to eventually surviving. The fact that Head-On's protagonist, Turkish-born Cahit Tomruk (played with galvanizing intensity by Birol Ünel, a tightly-wound actor often called the Turkish Klaus Kinski) meets his fellow suicidal Turk and lady love Sibel (wonderful Sibel Kekilli) in the booby hatch (after running his car headlong into a wall) already lets us know we are in a rather more frank and enervating milieu than that of a Hollywood romance. And if we needed a further reminder, we could witness how Sibel tries to persuade Cahit to marry her: by slitting her wrists in the recreation room, her spurting blood flying everywhere. It doesn't get more anti-Valentine's than that.

Masculin Féminin (1966)

Nobody gets a break in Jean-Luc Godard's 1966 protest-era firecracker and ode to "The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola." Not only is the film filled with Godard's signature off-putting long takes, abruptly shocking incidents and angry sociopolitical tangents, but also the young men are all self-absorbed poseurs who fancy themselves radicals and the young women are all self-absorbed fashion and pop-culture addicts. Completely frustrating, completely endearing and utterly not a joyous Valentine's Day e-card.

Marnie (1964)

The disturbing undercurrents of Alfred Hitchcock's late-career film make such themes as the implied necrophilia in Vertigo look like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Sean Connery plays Mark Rutland, a self-professed "sexual blackmailer," who ropes Tippi Hedren's Marnie into marriage in return for keeping quiet about her long history of fake identities and embezzlement. Part of that history involves her sheer terror of the color red. Jay Presson Allen wrote the screenplay from Winston Graham's novel. Watch it with someone you love and see if you can still muster any emotion after the devastating epilogue rips out your heart.

The One I Love (2014)

Mark Duplass and Elizabeth Moss star in a heady, mind-bending ode to insecurity and the other selves we secretly wish we were--when we imagine (erroneously of course) that we have compromised our other selves just to stay in a long-term relationship. When a young couple gets sent to a remote rental property in order to repair their marriage, the result is something akin to a They Might Be Giants Song written by Rod Serling. Charlie McDowell directs from a script by Justin Lader.

Please Give (2010)

Writer-Director Nicole Holofcener delivers a bitterly funny and brutally deadpan ensemble film about commitment, human kindness and relationships in the Big Apple. Catherine Keener, at her brittle best, plays a woman whose questionable career choice and moribund marriage to Oliver Platt are sending her running for potential volunteer opportunities, none of which she is in the least emotionally prepared to do. Meanwhile, she is waiting for the next door neighbor (terrific Ann Guilbert, from The Dick Van Dyke Show) to die so she can have her apartment. Her obstreperous teenage daughter (Sarah Steele) and the grandkids of the neighbor (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet) round out the cast of hopelessly disconnected misfits. The perfect movie to watch with your anti-Valentine.

The Princess and the Warrior (2000)

Tom Tykwer's third feature, and the follow-up to Run, Lola Run again stars Franka Potente, this time as a far more reserved character, a nurse at a mental hospital who is on a very long road to escaping from the loony bin of her own making. Part heist movie, part psychodrama, and featuring an emergency tracheotomy and self-mutilation, you will have a long way to go to get the happy ending. But get there. Tykwer's assured hand promises that the tough stuff will be worth working our way through. Rather like life itself.

More of James Napoli's web content can be found here.

Samantha Ellis is the author of How to Be a Heroine.

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With the current slate of Alaska reality TV airing, you would think that networks will pick up just about any program that features shots of a menacing bear noticing the camera, a moose chomping on some trees and a crusty bearded Alaska man. However, that is not the case.

There are many shows that never make it to a second season, and some only make two episodes. Because some of these are hilarious, but mostly because I'm traveling and haven't had a chance to catch up, I would like to dedicate this column to the ones that got away.

"Alaskan Women Looking for Love" featured a handful of young women "from Kodiak" (I think most of them were actually from Anchorage) who traveled to Miami to live in a sweet beach house, get drunk, find a man worth husbanding and bring him back to Alaska. It was filled with classic fish-out-of-water moments; they'd go to "da club" wearing Xtratufs and wonder why people were staring at them.

"Alaskan Gold Diggers" was another fish-out-of-water show, but in the exact reverse of "Alaskan Women." It followed four sisters on their journey from Southern California to Alaska, as they try to reopen their grandfather's historic gold mine. It aired on Animal Planet, but if one is inclined, one could purchase all six episodes on Amazon Instant Video for $1.99 an episode. According to the show's Facebook page, "Gold Diggers" aired in India over the summer. A lot of canceled shows still air overseas, keeping their Internet presence going and keeping us #blessed.

READ MORE AT ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS

Image courtesy of AdamLasherBand.com

It was a little over a week ago when Adam Lasher first appeared on American Idol. Lasher's pre-audition interview with Ryan Seacrest revealed that he is the nephew of guitar legend Carlos Santana, but his famous uncle was just the beginning of what would be a rather strange and wonderful audition.

The next three minutes were a whirlwind of oddities that culminated in Adam performing his original song 'These Shoes' and a golden ticket to the American Idol Hollywood round.

Adam wore a bright blue headband that appeared to be more functional than style oriented. His face and dark beard instantly reminded Jennifer Lopez of Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon -- her comments must have made it back to New York because the next day Fallon was dressing up like Lasher on his show.

After the Jimmy Fallon frivolity came to an end Keith Urban asked, thinking it was Lasher's phone, about a small case clipped to his guitar strap. It wasn't a phone in the case, rather Adam has type 1 diabetes and was wearing his Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM) so that he could watch his blood sugar level.



When the time came for Adam to play, the judges finally realized that the thumb on his playing hand was broken and wrapped in what Harry Connick Jr. called, "a raggedy-ass lookin' cast" but non of that mattered because soon, despite his broken thumb, tossed hair, type 1 diabetes and an only so-so Fallon impression, Adam Lasher's music is revealed to be as soulful as it gets, and he earns a ticket to Hollywood Week.

During Hollywood Week a rabid base of Idol viewers, many who live with type 1 diabetes in their lives, cheered for Adam as he moved on to the next round with his rendition of 'Wicked Games'. Judge Harry Connick Jr. was heard saying, "I think he's a superstar... I think he's got something."

To find out more about Adam you can listen to him on The Juicebox Podcast talking about his Idol experience, diabetes, how he broke his thumb and much more.

Wow! In the last 26 days, gifted actor, producer and MC Common has won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture (with John Legend), received an Oscar nomination for the same song, played the role of James Bevel in the powerful movie Selma, narrated two Microsoft Superbowl commercials and appeared on the Today Show. For many, Common has exploded on the scene, but this explosion has been a long-term testament to discipline, patience, hard work, consistency, strategy and friendship.

I met Common 20 years ago when I was a kid working as senior brand manager for Sprite. We'd recently launched the Obey Your Thirst marketing campaign and were heavily involved in finding and showcasing nascent music talent with big cultural potential. Common was one of the first to bless the mic for Sprite (thank you.) Common's manager, Derek Dudley, is a dear friend. Derek and I met on the campus of Howard University (Bisons, stand up) many moons ago where I was invited to speak on a music panel. Together they have deftly built Common's career from seminal MC ("I Used to Love H.E.R."), to actor, to ad man, to producer, to iconic poet, to humanitarian, to global citizen, yet still Chicago's very own. Occupying all roles with equal dexterity and grace. We saw it all come together during his epic Golden Globe acceptance speech. I hope he and John win the Oscar because I really want to see, hear and feel the pearls of wisdom he'll share.

Both Common and Derek have brilliant minds and they are one of the most formidable tandems in entertainment. For many years they could make their smart moves in relative silence, now the secret is out. It takes a few days to build a birdhouse, yet it takes years to build a pyramid. We're watching in awe as you continue to build pyramids of life and career.

So for anyone who thought the success of Common has come out of nowhere, please study the totality of his stellar career and his partnership with Derek. I realize what I'm requesting is odd in the world of tweets, sound bites and 24-hour news cycles. I promise you will be entertained and educated digging into the evolution of Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.

Congratulations Common and Derek, I'm very proud of your accomplishments and example. Can't wait to see what's next.

Respect,

DC

The former boy wonder, Xavier Dolan, who is now 25, sauntered into New York about a week or so ago with a new movie, Mommy -- his fifth -- for which he won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and received a 13-minute standing ovation. Well, truthfully, he shared the prize with Jean-Luc Godard (Goodbye to Language), which is inarguably like winning a second award. After all, having one's name forever linked with a kingpin of La Nouvelle Vague is nothing to sneeze at. (Who will ever forget Streisand and Hepburn sharing a Best Actress Oscar? New guard joining old guard.)

Talking about the Oscars, Mommy was Canada's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category, and Dolan had been politicking on the West Coast -- to no avail, apparently -- to get it a final nomination. So, this afternoon, the French-Canadian was a bit zonked because, on top of flying over Utah and Iowa after his fruitless campaigning, he had been giving interviews since nine in the morning, and the caliber of the questions from most entertainment journalists make any article in Entertainment Weekly seem like a dissertation on Hegel. Consequently, the director/actor/screenwriter/French-language-dubber for both Taylor Lautner (The Twilight Saga) and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter) was a stone's throw away from vexation.

But, what's there to be vexed about? Each of Dolan's previous efforts (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats, Laurence Anyways and Tom at the Farm) have received immense critical acclaim. And, now with Mommy, the easy-on-the-eyes filmmaker has been catapulted in to the top ranks of world directors -- up there with Almodovar, François Ozon and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Even the New York Times's A.O. Scott couldn't soft pedal his adjectives in his review:

[Mommy is] a pocket opera of grandiose self-pity, a wild and uncompromising demand for attention, a cri de coeur from the selfie generation.

And that, like Godard's latest effort, Scott continued, is manifest proof "that cinema still has the capacity to surprise, provoke and astonish."

Clearly, Mommy does offers up a rash of extraordinary performances, dialogue and direction as it tells the tale of Diane "Die" Després (Anne Dorval), a hard-living Canadian mother who loves her teenage son, Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon), who is a rather dysfunctional, at-times charming, intermittently violent, skateboarding typhoon of a challenge to live with. Sometimes, when Steve is having a fit, she even has to lock herself up for protection. Life for the pair is sort of a seesaw of sorts, with an equilibrium seldom reached. Enter Kyla (Suzanne Clément), the next-door, stuttering neighbor, who was a teacher until a tragedy she can't shake struck her household. Here's a threesome where boundaries will be hard to honor.

By the way, it should be noted that Mommy is often extremely funny, always energetic and never less than visually engaging.


Xavier Delon gets royal for L'Uomo Vogue, December 2014.
Photographed by Shayne Laverdière.

So, after completing Mommy, his first effort devoted totally to the travails of heterosexuals, does the openly gay helmer sense that the recent gains by the gay pride movement and the continual march to equality for the LGBTQ population will have any effect on his future subject matter?

"No," Delon insisted in a roundtable with me and seven other reporters.

The themes that mark you and prey on your mind all of the time, and concern you and touch you, are related to the things that left an imprint on you when you were a child. So being gay, as a child and today, still has brought me moments of being misunderstood. [I've felt] like a misfit, [trying to find] my voice and my path, and trying to define myself in the eyes of others, and in the eyes of mothers, and in the eyes of women and in the eyes of men.

"So that's why," he continued:

I feel that I have a natural inclination towards the characters who are in the exact same sort of position. Women are like gay men, trying to fit into society that is a space that is shaped for [heterosexual] men, whatever we say... I mean, whatever the progress seems like it is... it's still defined by the predominance of males.

After taking a sip of bottled water, Delon added:

So, I think women are trying to fit in and are fighting, and that's why I associate with women characters. It is through women characters that I feel that I can most effectively and efficiently express my claims. Do you understand what I'm saying? I hope it's clear, and it's not lost in translation. What I'm trying to say is that... in my life, I have been watching women fight a lot more than I have been watching men fight.

But, of course, we are not defined by our gender. We are defined by our quests and who we are as individuals. But, as it so happens, in my childhood, I was surrounded by women, and they are the figures who I have seen fighting for who they were and are. So, naturally I do write a lot for women and mothers.

So, has the recent acclaim made Dolan, who now has a Jean Cocteau portrait on his left shoulder, feel more confident?

"I was never insecure," Dolan insists, which might be true. After all, he started acting at age four and directing at 19.

I'm passionate about what I do. I love working with actors, and I love acting and writing these stories -- and nothing has ever made me feel insecure. Some reviews have hurt me, but they have always been educational at least. So, no. The thing that I'm the most satisfied with is when I read the reviews on a movie.

However, I don't see the plethora of influences listed that people have rejoiced in pointing out.... That has always been very tiresome. I don't have a very large culture, so the influences that the people have identified as mine are almost always systematically wrong.

Instead of exploring cinema, Dolan admits that he would rather get some sleep: "There is only so much time that I can spend really binging on films and trying to catch up on a century of filmmaking."

And in the coming months, there will be even less time. His next project, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, his first English-language project that is already in pre-production, will feature Jessica Chastain as a vicious gossip columnist out to destroy an actor known for his superhero parts (Game of Thrones' Kit Harington). Her weapon: his correspondence with an eleven-year-old fan. Kathy Bates and Susan Sarandon co-star.

As for Dolan's dubbing, did he ever meet Taylor Lautner or Rupert Grint?

"Yes, I met Taylor. He knows."

Did he say you did a good job?

"I don't think he's ever seen [the Twilights with my voice] or ever will."

Are you of the view that it was funny that Taylor was on screen while you were with a microphone, making believe you were the be-muscled teen idol as he hissed at vampires?

"I don't think it was funny. I have been doing this all my life."

I meant the whole difference in your characters, sensibilities and physical attributes. Wasn't it a bit ironic?

Rising from his seat, with his publicist by his side, and a water bottle in hand, Dolan slyly smiled and noted, "We're not so different."

In the winter of 2013, I set out in the Greater Yellowstone wilderness of Southern Montana to try to share what I believe to be the most honest possible version of what hunting is. I worked with Henry Roosevelt of Native Boy Films (@NativeBoyFilms), and together with Tim Bowers of Bear Paw Outfitters, we rode on horseback up and down mountain trails for five days. Henry's jaw-dropping cinematic talent captured some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, and the story of our hunt has been doing rounds in the film festival circuit.

The hunt itself changed my life forever, and the complex cocktail of emotions it triggered have totally altered how I think about food. The experience of eating game meat you have hunted is not even in the same galaxy as anything you have ever bought from a store. To some extent we are all killers, either having the killing done for us on concrete floors or to stop animals from eating our vegetables before they reach stores. The further we put ourselves from the source of that act, the worse the impact for everyone and everything in the chain.

Though many may find elements of the video troubling (and to some extent, we all should), I think it's only right that the eater, rather than a third party, absorb the emotional, environmental and physiological burdens entailed in eating. That goes for all conscious diets, meat-eating or not. It is our fear of facing the gruesome consequences of our own choices that leads us to outsource the "sausage-making" to third party leviathans, whose increasing power have left us disconnected from the wild.

Generation Y has inherited the most polluted planet in all of recorded human history. The impact of this is felt everywhere, but no more viscerally than on our dinner plates. The question of where our food comes from is on the lips of everyone today, with books like Food Inc or The Omnivores Dilemma fueling a rethink on what food and eating mean in the 21st century.

In reaction to this, a lot of us are looking for pesticide-free and hormone-free products in stores, or have switched to diets free of animal products altogether. The social and environmental costs of animal food production are extremely high, accounting for around 18% of worldwide carbon emissions and requiring millions of dollars of environmental clean-up. Vegans can't pat themselves on the back, either. The demand for cheap produce leads to exploitative labor practices for migrant workers, land erosion and farming techniques that result in an estimated the collateral death of 1.8 billion animals per year.

As a generation, our entire generation faces a choice: either continue the disastrous environmental, and economic food policies of the Boomers or make new choices regarding how and what we eat.

It's time for us to start hunting.

For most of American history, people had a direct and personal relationship with the food they ate. Farming and hunting traditions were passed from one generation to the next, and parents taught their children how to hunt in the wild. After World War II, hunting activity suffered a massive decline when the Baby Boomers became the first generation to decide that hunting was no longer a primary source of food, but rather an act of leisure. Times had changed, food was now space-aged, it was tin-foiled and microwaved, it was processed and manipulated, and it was prepared in factories by machines and migrants. This period created the greatest distance between people and their food, and it is no coincidence this period was also the most environmentally devastating in human history.

This shift from individual responsibility for sourcing food to relying on large factory farms made us lose direct sight of the impact of our eating choices. Those who rely most on nature fight the hardest to protect it, and those of us who outsource its production and processing pay for it in environmental, health and social costs. Because hunting connects people to the wild, it creates a more direct and honest relationship with food. In this dichotomy, there is hope.

Recently, the construction of the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska was halted. The mine itself posed a massive threat to Alaska's last remaining wild salmon fisheries, something most of us eat on a relatively regular basis. But it was not the consumers of Salmon (a huge number of people), but rather the relative few Inuit and commercial fishermen who led the charge to stop the mine. They did it because they relied on nature directly, every single day.

America is uniquely blessed with massive areas of public land, where Government controls access to wildlife and Hunters pay fees to harvest from the wild. This arrangement generates billions of dollars to fund important conservation activities. There is no silver bullet, but even slight changes in behavior make a huge difference. Until we take responsibility for the impact our actions have on the environment, we will continue the destructive course set over previous decades.

It will take strong voices to make a cultural change, while hunting has its brutality, people don't think twice to Instagram their food with dubious origins. There are emerging voices in this fight, authors like Steven Rinella (@stevenrinella) and Hank Shaw (@Hank_Shaw) remind us that the best food is wild, and that the story of what is on our plate matters just as much as how it tastes.
- Michael

I was waiting to buy a ticket to see the new film American Sniper when the guy next to me provided a capsule review. It was a fantastic movie, he told me. The main character, Chris Kyle, was a great guy, and the film really showed what the war over there was like.

"And the Taliban are evil," he added. "They were just doing terrible things, using kids to throw bombs and stuff."

The fellow told me that the movie had inspired him to look up more information about Chris Kyle on the Internet and learn about his tragic death. But despite this additional research, he still believed that Kyle was fighting against the Taliban. In fact, American Sniper is about Kyle's four tours in Iraq.

My fellow moviegoer can't really be blamed for the confusion. American Sniper doesn't dwell much on the targets of the American army. Of course it mentions several times that Kyle was deployed to Iraq. But the locale of the movie doesn't really matter. We are supposed to be spending most of our time in Chris Kyle's head, and Kyle was focused on killing the bad guys wherever they might be.

In both American Sniper and that other controversial recent release The Interview, Americans are the heroes and foreigners are the targets. And not just foreigners but furriners: an undifferentiated group of people so alien in their ways that they are practically subhuman. Although the first movie is a drama and the second is a comedy, they espouse a similar philosophy. The Americans in these films don't negotiate with evil, as Dick Cheney once famously said; they defeat it: one on one in a test of wills.

In a bizarre coincidence, both movies even climax in identical ways. In scenes that show the slow-motion trajectory of a deadly projectile and the graphic death of the chief villain, the American cowboys get their men. In another parallel, the films haven't gone over well in the countries of these villains, neither in North Korea nor in Iraq.

In war and regime change, furriners are an inscrutable bunch. They are obviously bad guys, or we wouldn't be trying to kill them or oust them from power. They lie. Some of them even pretend to be our friends. But ultimately, as these two buddy movies demonstrate, furriners can't be our buddies. They don't just envy us, as George W. Bush would have it. They want us dead.

So who can blame us for standing our ground and hitting them before they hit America?

Inside North Korea

First I have a confession to make. I found parts of The Interview very funny. Critics have generally been lukewarm about the film, calling it inane and sophomoric. And the North Korean government didn't like it very much either, largely because it features the assassination of its leader.

James Franco plays TV host Dave Skylark and Seth Rogen plays his handler Aaron Rapaport. As in previous movies like Pineapple Express, Franco and Rogen use The Interview as a vehicle to explore male bonding. The funniest parts come at the beginning, when Skylark tries to establish a rapport with a straight-faced Eminem, and then later compares his friendship with Rapaport to various pairings in the Lord of the Rings -- which occasions the most unsettling impression of Gollum that I've ever seen. Also priceless is a hilariously awkward meeting where a former journalism school classmate who works at 60 Minutes ridicules Rapaport for the trashy "news" he produces. The meeting inspires Rapaport to aim higher.

If The Interview had remained in the United States, it could have been a very funny send-up of what passes for TV news these days -- and saved Sony millions of dollars in damages connected to the hacking that took place in December prior to the film's premiere. But no, just like their characters in the film, Franco and Rogen wanted to raise their game. Making fun of America's tabloid journalism -- and relying on body part humor -- was too easy. They wanted to take on a dictator, and a real one at that. And that's when things got complicated.

The creators of The Interview certainly know something about North Korea. The Pyongyang airport is appropriately empty of traffic. The children performers at the dinner banquet could have come directly from the Children's Palace. And Kim Jong Un, played by Randall Park, worries about his father's approval (though Kim Jong Il's accusations of effeminacy were actually directed at his other son, Kim Jong Chol). Finally, given the leader's friendship with Dennis Rodman, it's not so far-fetched that he might develop an interest in someone as gonzo as Dave Skylark.

But a little knowledge proves here to be a dangerous thing. North Koreans are portrayed as entirely credulous people who, once they learn that their leader goes to the bathroom like everyone else, will shed their illusions and rise up against him. In fact, judging from defector testimony, even members of the North Korean elite no longer subscribe to the personality cult.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, is in many ways a showcase city, but not quite the Potemkin village portrayed in the film. Skylark becomes enraged when he comes upon a food-stuffed grocery store, which he'd earlier glimpsed from the backseat of a car, and discovers that the fruits and vegetables are made of plaster. But how would he have reacted to the private Tongil Market in Pyongyang, which is genuinely well provisioned, but only for those who can afford it? Would he rail against it as a sign of totalitarian inequality or celebrate the emergence of capitalism in North Korea?

But The Interview doesn't live or die on the faithfulness of its representations of North Korea. It's not, after all, a documentary. Rather, as the action shifts to Pyongyang, it's becomes progressively less funny. There are a couple of amusing scenes in which Randall Park's Kim is at his most human -- singing along with Katy Perry and partying with Skylark. The rest of the humor relies on one joke: North Koreans are wooden. And since when exactly was assassination funny?

In 1991, Colin Powell declared at the end of the first Gulf War that he was running out of enemies and only had Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro left. The same holds true for Hollywood, in terms of not only who are the villains (always Nazis, sometimes Russians, occasionally Muslims) but who can be the butt of humor. The only people who can be safely made fun of in a collective way are obscure (the Kazakhs of Borat) or the roundly vilified (North Koreans). They don't have strong lobbies in the United States devoted to image control.

But at least The Interview features one decent North Korean, who has been transformed by the love of an American. That's more than can be said for American Sniper and its approach to furriners.

Sniper vs. Sniper

The director of American Sniper, Clint Eastwood, is no stranger to westerns. He starred in them and directed one of the best (Unforgiven).

He sets up his latest film according to the basic principles of a western, transplanted to Iraq. Chris Kyle is a modern-day cowboy, quite literally, for he starts out as a bronco rider with a keen sense of right and wrong imparted to him by his father. There are sheep and wolves, his father tells him over dinner, and then there are the sheepdogs that protect the innocent weak from the evil strong.

Kyle becomes a Navy Seal and, based on his marksmanship, does four tours in Iraq as a sharpshooter. There he builds up a reputation as "the Legend," with more than 160 kills to his name. He saves his buddies, he goes after the unmistakably evil Butcher, and he suffers no qualms. As he explains to a psychiatrist at the VA, he only wishes he could have saved more American soldiers.

Eastwood is no fool. He wants to celebrate the sacrifices made by American soldiers. But he also wants to inject some ambiguity into the film, if only to appeal to a larger, more liberal audience.

Although he doesn't speak of it, Kyle is worried about the nature of his job. After all, he is not exactly protecting the weak. He is keeping watch over highly trained and well-armed Marines who are going door to door scaring the bejesus out of mostly Iraqi women and children. Of course, the movie suggests that some of these women and children are also legitimate targets, but Kyle is clearly struggling with the burden of determining which of the people in his sniper scope are friendly and which are not.

When one of his fellow Seals gets shot and killed, Kyle attends the funeral stateside. The victim's mother reads her son's last letter, which speaks of the war turning into a "wrongful crusade." Kyle dismisses this sentiment and tells his wife that it was the letter that killed his buddy.

In some sense, he's right. The war required absolute faith on the part of the soldiers, and agnostics like his fallen buddy could not last long out there. The moral quandary Kyle faces is expressed most unexpectedly when, at a birthday party back in Texas, he assaults a real sheepdog that he believes is attacking a child. The war has made him lose his moral compass.

All of this may well be too subtle for most American moviegoers. The film, after all, is structured like a video game with four levels. If he kills enough "savages," Kyle can return to the States and prepare himself for the next level. The last stage of this "game" features the ultimate competition, the High Noon standoff that caps all westerns. The Legend must kill or be killed by Mustafa, an insurgent sniper who'd once won a medal at the Olympics for his skills. It is a fitting match-up.

But even though Mustafa is doing his job, just like Kyle, and even though the rival sniper also acts as a sheepdog in his efforts to protect his flock from murderous outsiders, he receives no sympathy in the film. He is just another "savage."

Here was Eastwood's opportunity to humanize the adversary. He failed to do so. They all remain, in the end, furriners. The ambiguities of war are inserted only to make the American hero more complex. The furriners are just sniper fodder.

Too Soon to Humanize?

I don't expect the creators of The Interview to go out of their way to humanize North Koreans. They've produced a comedy that, like the characters in the film, hews closely to the politics of the U.S. government.

Clint Eastwood is a different story, his conservative politics notwithstanding. As a director, he created a two-part epic about the battle of Iwo Jima: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. He filmed the two movies back to back, the first looking at the battle from the American perspective and the second from the Japanese viewpoint. Indeed, Letters from Iwo Jima features an all-Japanese cast, is in Japanese for the most part, and features not furriners but real people. In a supreme irony, Letters from Iwo Jima did better at the box office than its American counterpart.

But of course neither film was a blockbuster -- in stark contrast to American Sniper, the highest-grossing war film of all time.

Japan today is a stable, more or less democratic country that the United States counts as a major ally. The passage of time and the tides of geopolitics, in other words, have done much to transform the image of the Japanese in American culture to make a work like Letters from Iwo Jima possible.

The Iraq War, however, is too fresh a wound in the American memory. And in some sense we are still fighting that war today, on the ground with advisors and in the air against the Islamic State -- just as we continue to fight against North Korea with full-spectrum surveillance and economic sanctions. It's not surprising, then, that in their depiction of furriners, Hollywood movies continue to wage their version of war as well.

This blog post was cross-posted from Foreign Policy In Focus.

No single holiday brings up more consternation and confusion than Valentine's Day. Whether you love or hate the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, one thing the film is doing by debuting on this romantic and commercial holiday is putting a punctuation mark on the dividing line that exists between women and men on what this day means and what's expected by each person participating in it.

One huge problem with Valentine's Day is that it means different things for women than it does for men.

Women think of romance as revolving around emotions and love. Their partners are often expected to understand this without any hints from the woman as to what she expects from him. The less developed your relationship, the trickier it gets.

For men, Valentine's Day equates to spending money they often do not have, but also the reality that even if they "deliver," they aren't guaranteed to get what they want in return for their efforts. Uncertainty pervades the day, especially with friends watching and judging from the sidelines.

"I don't do romance. My tastes are very singular... you wouldn't understand," Christian Grey says to Anastasia Steele. Translated, it means that Christian Grey wants sex, not the trappings of romance that don't deliver satisfaction to his "very singular" tastes.

Most know the basic story of Fifty Shades by now, so you also know that Anastasia Steele won't relinquish her desire for love and commitment and is willing to let go of Christian Grey to get what she wants.

It's not that she won't deliver beyond the "vanilla" sex that won't meet Christian's needs. It's that she also wants something in return -- her own emotional satisfaction.

What runs through Fifty Shades, even if you're not into the BDSM sexual adventurism, is a negotiation between two people. Once Anastasia Steele reveals she's open to hearing about Christian Grey's "tastes," it foreshadows the promise of wider possibilities, though it takes time and patience for them to navigate. What she's not willing to do is sacrifice love and commitment just because their connection is molten.

Debuting Fifty Shades of Grey on Valentine's Day is a challenge to traditional American cultural norms, because this is a story that openly admits, even confronts, that we are first glued to one another by physical attraction and lust. Fantasizing about the two main characters going through this ritual of first connection has riveted over 100 million readers readers across the globe, in innumerable languages. It dares to say sex and romance are not incompatible at all, but inextricably linked, and it does so by expanding the traditionally acceptable norms of intimate experience to a wider definition.

Women want romance and all the trappings on Valentine's Day.

What's always left out of the equation is what men want, which begins with making the woman happy, but also includes what they'd like in return if they deliver. Men don't want to spend a lot of money on one day's whimsy, especially when reciprocation isn't forthcoming. What men want in return for the romance they deliver is to be appreciated, and nothing says that better than sex.

When Christian Grey says Anastasia won't understand his sexual "tastes," this is something I heard a lot when I was talking to men in my job as relationship consultant, my actual title at the time. Whether it was in emails, on the phone or in other discussions, men said they looked to pornography, phone sex and other mediums, because they didn't think the woman in their life would appreciate their fantasies. They were also scared to be embarrassed or judged for their desires. Men often don't think women will understand their sexual proclivities, no matter how benign.

Even when a man is fully satisfied in his relationship, he still can have a secret sex life playing in his head.

The sales of Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as the romance industry and erotica women have always perused, prove women do, too. Women are as carnal as men about their sexual fantasies. This is nothing new; it's just that mainstream American culture isn't honest about it.

When Anastasia says "enlighten me," she challenges Christian to share his deepest secrets. Of course, at first it doesn't go well, which can happen when you surprise someone with sexual passions they've never considered.

Friendship has always been the gateway to solidifying a long-term relationship, and considered the most important part of a marriage.

Liberation blew this dynamic to smithereens.

Two people have to be great friends and communicate openly, but the one thing that separates long-term relationships or marriage from other interactions is the physical relationship and connection you enjoy, but also must continually nurture. It doesn't stop when you reach a certain age or a point of comfort -- that is, if you want to protect your partnership.

Fifty Shades of Grey on Valentine's Day dares to say that love and romance are fundamental and that sex matters equally. You can't be scared or worry about judgment when sharing, because "singular" desires won't disappear in order to please someone anymore than a desire for commitment and love will.

It's about taking a sexual leap of faith and trusting your partner will stay present and be willing to participate as your connection deepens.

Romance in full bloom is emotional and erotic, not just a commercial exercise on Valentine's Day that follows a script where only one of you gets what you want.


Taylor Marsh is an author and speaker living outside Washington, D.C. Her latest book, The Sexual Education of a Beauty Queen -- Relationship Secrets from the Trenches is on sale for the month of February for $1.99, with an audio introduction available on iTunes.

I'm constantly being contacted by people who have read some of my blogs about participating in reality television and have questions about jumping into the game themselves. I get it! I know the feeling. Believe me, if there had been a "Doing Reality TV for Dummies" book available when I signed up to make Wedding Island for TLC, you can believe I would have bought it. And read it cover to cover. Taking notes. Twice.

But there is no guide like that, and that's not by accident. Production companies and networks are perfectly comfortable with the idea that new reality talent have absolutely no idea what they're doing. Seriously. It makes their jobs easier.

Reality television programming has grown dramatically because it is CHEAP to make. They don't pay the stars diddly-squat in the first couple of seasons -- the goal for the "talent" is to have a successful show so that you have some leverage when you go back to renegotiate your contract after you've had a couple of seasons of solid ratings.

Two of the most business-savvy reality television women I've seen in recent years are JWoww and Snookie from Jersey Shore. They took a drunken summer at a beach house and turned it into more television shows and entire product lines! They are the extreme example of reality television business success -- but that's not what it's like for everybody.

We joke that there is an underground "Reality TV Survivors Club," but that's not really a joke. A lot of us have become connected, even though we've done different shows with different networks and all had different experiences. However, there's a common thread in all of our histories -- we all wish we'd known more before we signed up to make a show.

That doesn't mean that any of us wouldn't have gone ahead and made a reality show, it just means that everyone I've ever talked to went into the process somewhat blind. I asked six zillion questions but still had no idea what I was in for when the actual process began. And I had good attorneys and an agent.

Although it's not a Dummies book, I'm hopeful this blog will be helpful to other future "talent" out there who are considering taking the plunge. Here are the 10 most common questions I'm asked -- and the answers to them!

1. Do I NEED an agent before I sign a contract to do a reality show?

You don't need an agent. You just need a good entertainment attorney. This is not a job for your family attorney. Entertainment law is a specialty -- and those who are good at it have a lot of experience working with the networks to get the best deals for their clients. They know how to protect their clients. Getting a good entertainment attorney might require a referral, but if you already have a contract offer on the table, you can simply do your research and cold-call one, and explain that you need assistance. Some will refer you to a colleague if they don't have time to help you. Spend your time getting a GOOD entertainment attorney and don't worry about having an agent until you've survived your first season. Most agents won't touch you before you've been picked up by a network anyway, unless you're already famous for something else or have a connection. A good entertainment attorney will be able to advise you on the basics, and in the beginning, all you really need help with is negotiating your development deal and then, hopefully, your network contract.

2. What will having an agent do for me?

If you do have an agent, you have one more person playing in your court. And unlike your attorney, this one doesn't bill by the hour. A good agent wants you to succeed because when you make money, your agent makes money! It's not hard to get an agent if you already have a network offer (that's how I got mine), most agents are happy to help a client who already has a mostly-done deal on the table. But if you are first-season reality television talent, you may not get the red-carpet treatment you were expecting from having an "agent." It depends how many clients they have and where you rank on the priority list. Before you "sign" with an agent (and most of them don't have you sign anything because they don't want you tied to their agency if they switch companies - which they do as frequently as Congressional staffers switch offices), you need to have a very clear and open conversation and ask EXACTLY what they're going to do for you. If you're shooting on location somewhere and all hell breaks loose between you and the production company, are they going to get on an airplane and come help you get things sorted out? If you can't get a clear "yes" on a question like that, then what's the point in hiring them?

3. How much should I have to pay for the development deal?

Say what? Making a sizzle reel or participating in development of a show with a legitimate production company should not cost you money. No, you don't get paid for the development aspect of the project even if you have to put in a ton of time. This is when the production company is creating a pitch about your show to sell to the networks. That's their job, and your job is to make yourself available for filming and provide any background and pictures that they need to complete their pitch. We shot my first demo with two cameras in three days on a week's notice. It was low budget, but the production company did a good job and the show got several offers from different networks. Any company that wants you to commit money to developing the pitch is somebody to be avoided. That's not how it's supposed to work. Chances are the episodic rate you'll be paid to make a first season of a reality show will just about cover your legal fees, if you're lucky. Don't put any other money into it.

4. Will they have fixed cameras in my house/office? Can I make phone calls that aren't filmed?

Every production company is different. Depending on what kind of show you're making, you may or may not be filming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you've signed up for a Real World-type of show, they make the rules. The talent (that's you) has to follow them. And there's little room for negotiation. But if you are making a show about your own life or your own business, you have more bargaining power. The trick is to make these concerns known to your attorney during the contract negotiation process. The lawyer knows what goes into the contract and what gets worked out on site with production when filming starts. If you never want cameras in your bedroom, you have to say so. If you want to make sure that cameras stop rolling in the case of a personal medical emergency, you have to cover your butt on the front end. If there's something that's off-limits for your show, you have to make that clear up front to your attorney. And if it's not something that goes in the contract, your agent or attorney should be able to help you handle it if it comes up later.

5. Do I have to worry about them being sneaky when they're filming us? Can't I just take off my microphone?

Production companies really do use tricks to spice things up. Things like extreme sleep deprivation will make you a little crazy during filming. That's how they get the best footage, right? And the microphones are always on, even when the cameras are on the other side of a door. But being aware of the potential for this, and knowing up front what kind of production company you're working with, will go a long way towards helping you be prepared for what's to come. Some companies are known for their guerilla-style tactics and won't hesitate to sneak around or try to film things they shouldn't. Others are far more respectful of the talent. It just depends on the corporate culture of the company and the style of show you are filming. If you sign up to do a show where they're trying to catch you doing stupid things, expect that. But if you're signing up for a show about your business and you don't want to risk ruining a professional reputation that you've spent years to build, you have to lay down some limits from the beginning.

6. Should I quit my regular job? How much time will I have to take off from work to do a show?

Remember, you have no guarantee that your show is actually going to air until the filming and editing is done and you get the word from the network. Many, many shows are produced but never actually shown on television, for any number of reasons. And even if your show does air, you don't have any guarantee of a second season until they tell you that you've got it. It may be a one-shot deal and the last thing you need to do is have your business implode because of the cameras, or not have a job when they're done filming. No matter what, don't count on making money off your first reality show. You'll be lucky if they pay you enough to make up for the income your losing when you're filming.

7. The contract says I have to be there for 30 days? What happens after that?

Most reality television "talent" have to go back to real life as soon as they finish filming. For me, real life never stopped because they were filming my company executing weddings for real clients, and that's what we continued to do after the cameras were gone. But for "talent" with real jobs in real offices and other sorts of business, it's a vicious reality check back into real life. With that said, you're not finished with production when the cameras leave or you return home.

8. What do they mean by post-production obligations? What happens after they finish filming the show?

There will be post-production follow up work when they're editing your show, and you may have to travel to film pick-ups and record voiceovers. You won't always have much notice and your employer will have to be a little bit understanding. Your network contract obligates you to do these things. You may think you're signing up for a 30-day commitment, but be sure to read the fine print. Television shows don't make themselves and if you're one of the stars, you have to help finish what you started.

9. Who handles my social media and interviews with reporters about the show?

You will be expected to put A LOT of time into promoting your show YOURSELF when it finally airs. Depending on your network, you may have some support in this, but most reality television talent in my underground network report they got zero media training or social media coaching. Heck, I was a Twitter virgin til the third episode of Wedding Island when my interns and staff literally forced me to live-tweet. Most network contracts will require you to drop everything and be wherever they tell you to be to do media, if the show promotion requires it. That's fine if your job lets you just roll out at the drop of a hat, but for a lot of reality "talent" who go back to real life after filming their first season, being available when the network whistles can be hard and you have to be prepared for it. In a best case scenario, there's a lot of media interest in your show and you have to do a lot of appearances. That's what you want, for sure. But since you're not likely to know when your show will actually air until within 60 days of its launch date, you have to make sure your professional obligations at home are met before the shit hits the fan.

10. What do I need to watch out for as far as my existing business and life are concerned?

If the goal of participating in a reality show is to grow your business or become famous, you have to protect yourself before you start. By "protect yourself," I mean you need to get your social media stuff organized, buy the domain with your name if it's available, and finishing setting up any new businesses that are in the works. Once you belong to a network, they get a piece of anything that comes your way as a result of the success of the show. BravoTV is making a fortune on its celebrity's books and other spin-off business -- they set the gold standard for staking a claim on future earnings resulting from reality television fame. If you've already got the concept and the ability to do so, register your new business legally and set up a real website for it to establish the fact that it existed before the television show. You should also have your entertainment attorney protect your intellectual property if you're a published writer or have created something else unique and different. What was yours before the show should remain entirely yours after the show, but it won't if you don't protect your assets.

Reality television can be a lot of fun, but when strangers call me for advice about whether or not they should take a deal, my first question is always "do you have an entertainment attorney?" If you don't, you need to get one before you do or sign anything. Starting your career in reality television off on the right foot is the first step towards building a successful entertainment career.

Best wishes and good luck!

I'm currently in the process of interviewing 100 people about a dream they made come true for my next book, and about 40 interviews in, I'm noticing one very clear pattern -- each person's reaction to the following question:

"Can you tell me about one failure you had on the way towards your dream and how you overcame it?"

They all chuckle and say some version of this: "Only one failure? Ha. There's so many. Let me pick one."

Not one person has said: "Failure? I don't know what that's like."

I've been reading some version of "failure is necessary for success" in almost all my research so far, and yet that that really means is becoming clearer and clearer as I do these interviews and listen closely to the media around me.

In the book The War of Art (a book I HIGHLY recommend), Steven Pressfield recounts his experience with failure. He wrote the screenplay for the movie King Kong Lives and watched it bomb at the box office.

I'll tell you how he reacted at the end, and why I think it's so profound, but first you must know a few things:

I'm obsessed with learning from those who succeed in arts and entertainment, or in any sort of public way. I'm enamored by how much failure is involved in that journey and how profoundly public those failures and criticisms are. So many people plant their dreams in these crowded fields of public recognition, hoping somehow their seed will grow and flower. And yet this field is harsh, brutal, and fertilized with rejection.

For example, when TV shows I like get cancelled after a season or a movie that brought me much joy is scorned by critics I often think, What does it feel like to be the people who were involved in this project? The writers? The actors? The producers? The people who put their heart and soul into this? What do they tell their friends and family? How does this make them feel?

And, most importantly:

How do they go on? And what could we learn from those that do?

Jimmy Kimmel hosts a wildly popular segment on his show called Mean Tweets, where celebrities read mean things people say about them on Twitter. The celebrities read the tweets, perplexed, and with tons of humor.

I laugh. But then I think: Wow, how would I feel if such mean stuff was said about me on the internet? How do celebrities and other people who's work brings them into the public space deal with that? What do they say to themselves to not let it bother them? I've always wanted to ask (oh, hey, any celebrities out there reading this who want to talk to me about this for my book email me. I'll be totally cool and like not even ask for a selfie with you and I won't ever brag about knowing you; I'll just casually use your first name in conversations, like, Omg that reminds me of something my friend Reese said the other day.)

And then I realized, there is one public figure and songwriter who's already given some clues into how she deals with this kind of thing.

Taylor Swift. In interviews I've always noticed her pure love of songwriting. For example, her after school activity in high school was working with and learning from top songwriters in Nashville. She's been training, and working, and writing, and honing her craft for years. I don't think her success is by accident. While of course I haven't talked to her about this in person, I think there are some tremendous clues in her songs about how she continues to grow and succeed despite more and more public criticism. Here is what I've learned from my friend Taylor (see what I did there):

1. It's okay if criticism hurts.

In the song "Mean," Taylor writes of a critic: "You can take me down with just one single blow."

It hurts. You're human. Steeling yourself against criticism doesn't mean it doesn't sting. It's what you do after the sting, I think, that keeps those remarks from keeping you down.

2. Instead, focus on your dream.

In "Mean," Taylor goes on to counter with confidence: "Someday I'll be livin in a big old city and all you're ever gonna be is mean."

Here Taylor is imagining where she's going, the road she's on, her dream perhaps. It's strong enough to help her move forward. (And, she's actually living in a big old city now. So, yeah, that happened.)

Write your dream down. Imagine it. Read it every morning. Find something so strong, so exciting, that it pushes you and gives you strength against the harsh words.

3. Work works.

In the song "Shake it Off," Taylor's solution is to, as we all know, shake it off, let it go, have fun.

Her counter to criticism this time, though, instead of imagining herself in a big old city, is: "But I keep cruisin, can't stop won't stop movin..."

From what I can tell from afar she seems to really focus on her work, not the critics. Sometimes the critics inspire her work -- some of her best work, in fact. But the focus seems to always be on the work, the craft. She's writing, working, and the results are obvious in the unprecedented sales of her albums. This strategy seems to work. And I think it could work for all of us.

In whatever you're doing, model Taylor and don't stop moving. Don't let the mean people take a second of your time. Focus it on the great work you're doing and the things you're pursuing, and then focus on doing them really well.

4. Make nice music in your head.

In "Shake it Off" Taylor also writes: "It's like I got this music, in my mind sayin it's gonna be alright."

To me, the music in Taylor's mind is the kinder voice, the voice that trumps the harshest critic of all -- yourself.

I've noticed this harsh internal voice is one of the strongest barriers the people I've interviewed cite most often. Learning to quiet it seems crucial.

Steven Pressfield (remember that guy who wrote The War of Art and King Kong Lives; I'm coming full circle here; see, I promised I would) calls it resistance.

In The War of Art, Steven explains that when King Kong Lives came out it bombed. He thought maybe it would have more traction at his local theater, and so he went and asked the kid at the ticket booth, "How's King Kong Lives?" The boy replied with a thumbs down and a "Miss it, man. It sucks."

Ouch.

As Steven explains:

I was crushed. Here I was, 42 years old, divorced, childless, having given up all normal human pursuits to chase the dream of being a writer; now I've finally got my name on a big-time Hollywood production...and what happens? I'm a loser, a phony; my life is worthless, and so am I.

I felt so relieved to know Steven had felt this way. I have been there. That's the "mean" voice in your mind. The one that, sometimes more than the critics, is the hardest one to overcome. Critics and failure can feed that mind, if you let them. But there's also another way.

When Steven told his friend Tony about his failure, Tony asked Steven if he was going to quit. Steven said no way. So Tony said, "Then be happy. You're where you wanted to be, aren't you? So you're taking a few blows. That's the price for being in the arena and not on the sidelines. Stop complaining and be grateful."

According to Steven, "That was when I realized I had become a pro. I had not yet had a success. But I had had a real failure."

When I read this yesterday I wanted to jump up and down. This is great music to sing in your mind, to remind you that "it's gonna be alright."

I'd always wanted to ask people in arts and entertainment how they deal with these kinds of public and personal blows. And thanks to Steven Pressfield and Taylor Swift, I now have some insight, and I couldn't be more grateful.

The idea of being a pro, to me, is incredibly profound. It's something I'd been contemplating deeply as I move forward with my own goals, weighing if I'm ready for the kinds of failure and criticism that come with the business of going for a big professional dream.

Can I shake it off?

I'm learning that if I want to be a pro, I have to. It's not optional. It's required.

The "nos" and the "you're awfuls" hurt. I haven't met anyone yet who says they don't. But it seems to me that those who move forward are indeed able to shake it off. Not because it doesn't hurt or that they don't care. But indeed, quite the opposite. It's because they care so much about their craft that they know they can't and won't be stopped.

(Special thanks and inspiration for this article goes to page 73 of The War of Art (Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2012), Steven Pressfield, and Taylor Swift and her album 1989 (Big Machine Records, 2014))

Dear Empire critics,

In a society that is currently more observant of media and entertainment pitfalls than ever before, sometimes we are too quick to judge. The speedy jolt of a tweet to pass prejudgment, or the too-full-of-assumptions Facebook essay to sound off on a quick observation, continues to reflect a culture that misinforms more quickly than it educates.

To all those who quickly critiqued Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lee Daniels' groundbreaking prime-time drama Empire as nothing more than another television show that is "failing black people": Take several seats and look carefully.

Your misplaced condemnation proves not only that you are showcasing total personal bias but that you are also out of touch.

Critics who pan this show are typically divided into two spheres: They're either advocates of making black television a respectability-politics showcase or they want to improperly use critical race theory.

The former wants programs that showcase blacks in a "proper" light, living behind nice picket fences with both parents in the household and all the children getting along just fine and no "ratchetry" to be found among this well-educated faith-based unit. Basically, these narrow-minded critics secretly desire to recreate The Cosby Show in any way possible, because it makes them feel acceptable under the white perception of a fantasied middle-class black family that ignores the socioeconomic disparity of their peers in America.

The latter also wants to police black imagery. They try to apply very strategic and scholarly approaches to every single aspect of the show. If there are gay black men in the episode, they are quick to misconstrue the inclusion and rather inappropriately cite all the times mainstream programs "emasculated the black man." If they see that a black woman is ever upset or violent, they are quick to act as though the media is in a conspiracy to depict the "angry black woman" trope at every opportunity. They ignore the context of a plot and setting and apply everything they see to their academic prerogative.

What both of these types of critics have failed to realize is that Daniels is a black gay man who is getting the chance to artistically produce his imagination and expression of society for network television to see. This show is not intended to garner white people's approval of our existence -- and if you have been keeping up with the headlines, you should know that your respectability won't save you. It's a prime-time drama for entertainment and reflection, people, not a political editorial or a public-policy initiative. Daniels is a creator who should be given a right to fully explore his cinematic talent without being constrained by the narrow social confines of "making black people look good."

If you are looking carefully at what I and the increasingly impressive millions of viewers are watching every Wednesday night, you will see a multidimensional cast of black characters who all meaningfully contribute to the plot. You will see various depictions of wealth and success, levels of education, shades and body images of black women, sexuality and acceptance, music and style -- a unique and inclusive look at what issues and discussions we are having in 2015.

The show is relevant and bold enough to be presented on network television and tell a tale that doesn't revolve around a white observance. Where else can you find that on television? While Blackish tries to show a black family adjusting in white suburbia, Empire owns the place. While Olivia Pope is chasing after a white president, Empire has their black CEO talking to President Barack Obama. While How to Get Away With Murder (which I am a die-hard fan of as well) has a black leading actress, she still has to put up with the racial confines of her self-identity and vulnerability. Empire has black women who are motivated, complex and self-driven while not having to take into consideration what white people think.

Empire is our Dallas. It transports us into a reality where we can see ourselves as one of the characters on the show. Whether snobby or reckless, gay or straight, dark or mocha, disabled or not, there is more to be seen from just the story line alone. It is one thing to criticize "reality" television that runs the risk of trying to depict black life disproportionately in one light as opposed to a scripted drama led by a black filmmaker who is guiding the plot.

For those critics who argue for diversity in prime-time in one breath but are then quick to tear down a black program that hasn't even made it to its second season, check your reasoning. If we are to demand more diverse programs, we have to also respect the nuance in them as well.

No, every show can't be a black family sitcom or an investigative crime spoof. If we are to actually recognize all aspects of black life, we need to recognize that there should be room for the highly educated as well as the working-class. There have to be shows that have heteronormative relationship dynamics but also gay, interracial ones as well. We need to accept that black programs are not reflections of just our own personal and social views but those of the many multitudes of the diaspora.

Empire is a phenomenal step toward encouraging us to see more levels and faces of the black experience than ever before, and we should be celebrating that alone. If that type of subject matter does not appeal to your taste, then respectfully agree to disagree. But just like the many white-dominated prime-time programs that I see on a regular basis that I don't prefer, you don't see me on a campaign to denounce their existence. Let's give our black filmmakers and actors more respect and understanding than that.

The skill set from your high level of inspection and critiquing of this show would be best applied to the various loopholes in wealth disparity in this country or possible discriminatory laws that have yet to reach the Senate floor, not on an evening program that has not even completed its first season. Do better with your educated efforts and theories analytically.

Here's to hopefully seeing you as part of the high ratings on Wednesday nights.

Ernest Owens is a black television connoisseur who is an advocate for more variety beyond Cosby sweaters and political laid-hair folklore.

DYLAN GARDNER'S "TOO AFRAID TO LOVE YOU" PREMIERE

Newcomer Dylan Gardner's latest video is for "Too Afraid To Love You," one of the key tracks from his album Adventures in Real Time. A full interview with Dylan, fresh from his recent Warner Bros. signing, also appears later in this post. But first, check out the premiere of "Too Afraid To Love You"...



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A Conversation with Carlos Santana

Mike Ragogna: Carlos, I attended your Corazón concert in Mexico a little over a year ago and it was a beautiful experience, the music, the guests artists, the love for you from the crowd...

Carlos Santana: Oh, thank you, it was very inspiring for me, too! Great energy, a lot of inspiration. I'm very grateful and proud of how everyone presented themselves. I really believe that we touched a lot of people's hearts in a positive way.

MR: Your new book is titled, The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story To Light, and it seems that you've brought your life to light on a daily basis.

CS: When a lot of children cross the street, especially in New York, you've got to hold on to your father's hand or your mother's hand or someone you really trust. I think since I was a child, I was aware that I needed to hold on to the hand of something that is very tangible. I feel really grateful that music has served me correctly by keeping me with health and a good life, out of distractions and trouble.

MR: And your music and you seem thoroughly intertwined.

CS: I'm just grateful. I'm attentive to the frequency.

MR: As you allude to in your new book, you were born into a very musically devoted family, like you had no choice but to be drawn to music.

CS: You know, that's a good way of putting it, but I'm glad I didn't have a choice because everywhere I went, there was always something to remind me that there's a higher purpose. I think Rick Fox last year said to me, "What is the collective lesson we can all learn from this about love?" In any situation or relationship, what is the lesson that we can all learn today about love? Love is really expansive. Fear is very constricting and very limited. It has a very, very low ceiling, like a coffin. Love has no fear, so the sky is the limit--if there is such a thing as a limit as far as your imagination or your contribution or your achievements. It's more important to promote in billboards the divine qualities that each person has. People have such a hard time believing that they are divine or that we have light, we invest more in being wretched sinners and useless, hopeless, worthless, helpless. That energy is so boring! So with the book or anything that I do, I like to inject the reality that if you just take a deep breath and close your eyes and actually feel the center of your heart, you can access this essence that creates miracles and blessings.

MR: When you're creating music, do you feel that essence? Is that what drives you?

CS: Yes. You get really calm, really clear, and you have clarity, certainty and courage!

MR: You refer to having used drugs through a certain period in your career. I don't want to talk about that, but you mention how they supplied an opening of sorts. Was that a major change in how you created or looked at music from that point on?

CS: Yeah. You'll never be the same. How do we say it? Once you see the invisible, you can do the impossible.

MR: Beautiful. Around 1972, there was a jazz influence that began to creep into your work. What was the experience of shifting from an Afro-Latin style to something that was more improvisational, more of a jazz approach?

CS: Thank you for asking that. I think that it is important for any person. Everyone is an artist. If you can compliment life, you are an artist, no matter what your vocation or profession or way of doing it is. It's important to open the cage and let the hamster out. The hamster likes to just go around and around and around on his wheel, but just spinning your wheels can become very boring. That's more scary than anything, for me, to just be safe like that. I've been blessed with the right people at the right time in the right place; Michael Shrieve bringing me records of Coltrane and Miles Davis or learning about Olatunji and African music, or even The Grateful Dead. Especially someone like Bill Graham, it was a must for him at his concerts. "If you want to see Santana, you've got to hear Miles Davis; if you want to see The Grateful Dead, you've got to see Buddy Rich or Roland Kirk." Impresarios nowadays don't do that as much, but promoters back then wanted you to expand your horizons, especially as an audience, so being in the sixties, you would have to learn about Nureyev and José Greco, Manitas de Plata, Picasso. It can't just be something limited. If you listen to The Beatles, even they were listening to Ravi Shankar or Segovia. So real artists are not afraid to expand their wings and go for the unknown.

MR: You had a partner on your musical journey in Clive Davis. It seems he played almost a Godfather role and allowed you to continue creating your own vision.

CS: Yeah, you know, I'm very grateful because both times that he came into my life he has created a humongous door for me to walk through and then we're able to bring to all four corners of the world something that I can still say--this second--is relevant. Like Bob Marley or Michael Jackson. Santana's relevant. We're still here. We can coexist with Andrea Bocelli or Sting or Prince or the new people, Lady Gaga or even newer people. And I'm glad to see that Tony Bennett is the same way. That's the mark of a true artist, where you can coexist and make it relevant.

MR: Musicians recognize you as an icon, and I imagine playing or duetting on one of your albums would be a deep experience. What is that process like when you combine your talents with others?

CS: It's very rewarding to have your phone ring any day or night and it's Pharaoh Sanders or Wayne Shorter or Miles, back then, or Stevie Ray or Iago. I'm not dropping names, I'm just saying who I am. I am them. I am them because I love them. When my phone rings and it's John Lee Hooker and he says to me, "Man, when I hear your voice, it's like eating a great big piece of chocolate cake." I was like, "Damn." I just levitate because I love John Lee Hooker so much, and Jimmy Reed and Otis Rush, all the same musicians that Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page listened to. We grew up with them. They're our teachers and heroes.

MR: Every great teacher seems to say, "You don't get knowledge until you're ready for it." Did you find that there were definite times in your life when you were able to say, "I'm ready for it" and only then move up?

CS: Pretty much. At the right time, I was able to listen to Coltrane and Monk and say, "Well I know they're playing the blues, but it's not what I'm used to. I need to listen to it over and over until I can identify with this frequency because I love this frequency, but I don't know how to articulate it." Some things I'm never going to learn. Charlie Parker and Coltrane when they get really out there, or Wayne, or Herbie, this is why I say that some musicians are like an ocean and other musicians are like a humongous lake, and other musicians are like a swimming pool. I'd rather hang out in a big lake. I can't go with Charlie Parker and Miles and Wayne, not this incarnation. It's a different kind of vocabulary but it doesn't stop me from loving it.

MR: The roster of the group "Santana" changes frequently, adding techniques and qualities of that musician before they move on. Do you think you can define the entire exploratory process of Santana as spirituality?

CS: Exactly. Spirituality is not mechanical. There are mechanics to grace, but spirituality is about taking a leap of faith. This is why we love Wayne Shorter so much. Any musician who leaves my band is because what they're hearing is louder than what they're playing with me, so they have to follow their own voice. We grow, and they grow, in a different way. There was a time for Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon to create Journey and there was a time for me to embrace Weather Report and Miles. Sometimes people accuse you of "committing career suicide," but for me, it's really more about following your inner voice. It will always take you to the Land of Milk and Honey.

MR: Carlos, what advice do you have for new and emerging artists?

CS: I'm not into telling people who to be, what to do, or how to do it. I am into inviting everyone to make everything quiet in your mind and listen to that inner voice that has got oceans and oceans and galaxies of creativity. Those three words again: Clarity, courage and certainty.

MR: Was there any time when you felt like your direction or choices were not for the best?

CS: Only one time. I don't remember necessarily when it was, maybe the eighties, but I think that I was overly trying to appease a producer and then I said, "Wait a minute, I'm going to be playing this music, not him. So after a while, I said, "I think I overextended myself in trying to please someone who doesn't really understand my heart." I had to re-record half of the album in a different way. So I learned not to listen to producers that much. I honor them but I'm the one that's going to play the music for the rest of my life, not them.

MR: As you were writing The Universal Tone, did you have any revelations, maybe you saw things in a newer light?

CS: You know, I don't live with regrets or grievances, I think that everything that happened, as long as I could look at myself in the mirror and say, "I did my best with what I had and who I was back then," then I'm okay. I have asked forgiveness or apologized to whoever, and then I go on. I don't like to be stuck. If there's anything I'd tell anyone, it's don't get stuck with yourself. Keep going.

MR: Wonderful. Are you feeling creative in a certain way that'll send you on a new musical adventure?

CS: Yes, right now I'm busy listening to Sonny Sharrock, Alice Coltrane and Larry Young. A lot of Tony Williams and, of course, John McLaughlin. But mainly, I think, right now, I'm listening to Stevie Ray and other guitar players. I haven't listened to guitar players in a while, so right now it's like Stevie Ray and Sonny Sharrock and Alice Coltrane.

MR: Carlos, at this point in your life, do you feel that are you still learning?

CS: I'm learning to trust more and thrust more and be more economical with energy. When you get to a certain age you lose half the power and speed, but what you gain is finesse. Finesse is like a diamond that'd going to shine and be really brilliant. I'm not afraid of any of that stuff. If I am learning I'm learning to present myself more gently with humility. I have so much conviction that a lot of times it's misconstrued by arrogance. You have to have confidence if you're going to do anything. Sometimes people confuse your confidence with arrogance. I wanted to work more on humility and presenting the way Herbie and Wayne do.

MR: What do you think when you look at what's happening in the world today, as someone on a path of positivity and evolution?

CS: It's almost like when you throw up and you lose everything that's no good for you. A lot of stuff that we need to throw up is a lot of what we believe about God and the constitution. A lot of stuff in the bible is God-zilla. God is just love. You won't throw up with God.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne

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A Conversation with Bobby Rush

Mike Ragogna: Hey Bobby, what's happening?

Bobby Rush: What's happening is me! I'm Mister Happening, man! [laughs] I say it in a joking fashion, but I'm so happy to be in the position. Now, I'm already a winner, I'm gonna win it. Whether I lose or win, I'm going to win it, because in this race, you're a winner just to be in it.

MR: Absolutely man, hope you get it. So it seems you've spent a lot of time with the blues, but this is your second consecutive "blues" album among the many albums you've recorded, and the second blues album nominated in a row.

BR: Yeah, it's not my first, but it's the first time they've been back to back. It makes me feel like eight years ago when I won the Blues Album of the Year and the Acoustic Album of the Year. I think that's the first time in history it's ever been done, one man winning both categories in the same year. But now, back to back is pretty hard to beat out, too. If we walk away with it we're happy, if we don't walk away with it I'm happy because we're in good company with the guys around us. Everybody does it to win, but if you're in this kind of race, you can pick cotton.

MR: Bobby, the album we're talking about is, of course, Decisions. It's backed up by Blinddog Smokin' and you've got Dr. John as a guest. What's the story behind you're association with Carl Gustafson, another of the projects participants?

BR: I was in New Orleans cutting a song and Carl Gustafson who is the writer for this song, wanted me to do it. When I first heard it, I thought he was putting down New Orleans. I'm from Louisiana, I didn't want him putting down my home state and my town that I thought so much of, but when I looked at it from all angles I found out he was talking about making sure that we as a people don't zip our lips when we see what kids are doing or old people are doing or what anybody's doing. Don't just say, "It's not my child, I don't have anything to do with it." It is our child. It takes all of us to raise a village. New Orleans is one town, but wherever you live, that's your New Orleans, if thing's aren't going right there.

MR: That's beautifully said. How did you get Dr. John on board?

BR: Dr. John came over, heard the song and said, "I want to be a part of this!" "Do you like the song?" "If I didn't, it I wouldn't be here." [laughs] You know Dr. John. It was like a great family reunion kind of thing for him and I. We're fifty years friends and being both from Louisiana we had something else in common. It just worked out perfectly for both of us.

MR: Bobby, so far, you've already won many awards with Decisions.

BR: It's well-written, it's well-recorded, it's well done. It's a new thing, but yet it's got the old elements in it. We haven't forgotten what it was and yet we modify what it is. It's just an all-around good CD.

MR: What is it about this album that resonated so big this time out?

BR: I think they're good songs, Dr. John brought some good elements to it with our friendship, I think the way it came off people can hear the honesty and the innocence of us doing it and we feel good about it. It's a good song that everybody should link on to when you're talking about "Murder In New Orleans" and then when you leave that song, you're going to the title song of the album because you've got to be careful making decisions. When you're making a decision, you're not only making it for yourself, it's for your family and the people around you. Even when you put a record out you don't just put a record out because of the record, you're thinking about who it's going to touch, what home it's going into. You've got to be careful what you do and say, you hope to say something positive that will be beneficial to everybody who listens to your records. This is that kind of CD. It involves all kinds of elements in this CD.

MR: Your last album, Down In Louisiana has been referred to as an "updating the sounds of the swamps and junkyards." It pushed the genre's boundaries.

BR: I'm always trying to modify things I do. I'm not trying to change the wheel of the wagon, but I'm trying to modify it and make it run better and reach more people and younger people, because younger people are the ones tearing up all the roads. Let's face the facts. My children and grandchildren are the leaders of this world. We try to do things that they can relate to, that they know about, and try and educate them and modify what we do. We don't want to take them too far and too fast, I'm an old man, not a rapper, but I do want to have some sayings that they can relate to so young people can get into what I'm doing.

MR: In your opinion, what unique thing do you bring to the blues?

BR: I haven't changed my story, but I change the approach to what I'm doing. I think I say, "Here, this one can have a little rap." I'm not talking about what Snoop Dogg or some of the other rappers do, but at least I can relate in that song fashion, the way I approach it so that young people can say, "Hey, this guy's up to date with us." It's almost like writing in our business twenty five or thirty years ago, we couldn't talk on the phone and do interviews, we had to be present, but now it's all digitized and we can do things on the phone and what we don't like we take out and what we shouldn't have said we can block out and make it right. That's what I try to do with my music, I try to think about where I'm going and who I'm singing it to so I can make it right for them. If you're selling candy to an old folk home they may like it, but they can't chew it. You have to put it in a form or fashion where they can digest it. Same thing with music. You've got to bring it to them in a way they can digest it.

MR: Bobby, you seemed like you had a great time on The Tonight Show.

BR: [laughs] Let me tell you! I hope that Dan Aykroyd can get this message: He did something to me that nobody hasn't ever did for me. He took me under his wing and respects what I do so well and I'm one of the last of the kind doing what I do, and he embraced me so well, I just love the man for what he's done. I could never pay him for feeling the way he feels about me in any kind of way. We haven't talked about this, but I'm hoping that somewhere down the line he and I can get together and make a black and white Blues Brothers. I'll never forget what he did with me. Jimmy Fallon's show was great, everybody treated me so well, it was red carpet and I hope we can do it again.

MR: And you also have that Take Me To The River connection.

BR: Right, that's the documentary, I'm playing a big part in that, Snoop Dogg's playing a part in that, Al Green, Otis Clay, William Bell, Lil' Peewee, Frayser Boy who's done some things with me, the late Bobby Bland and a lot of other artists were involved with this. It's down at Sundance now. It's gotten a lot of attention because it's great and because I'm part of it. On top of that I'm up for the Grammy nomination, I hope we win it and if we don't win it we're still winners because we're in the race.

MR: Where do you think blues is headed?

BR: I believe that Bobby Rush can make a big difference. If you think about the black entertainers today you think about B.B. King, Buddy Guy and me. If you think about black entertainers period then you've got to add in Little Richard, Chuck Berry and all the guys over eighty years old who have played a big part in what the young guys coming up are doing now. Entertainment-wise Elvis Presley played a big part for me because I'm out kicking my foot across the stage, but Elvis Presley did the same thing I do. He can get away with it, so did Tom Jones. They kind of opened the door for Bobby Rush along with B.B. King and all the guys who have come before me who set a trail for me to come through the door. Now I'm one of the top five who are left to do this and I thank God for putting me in this position. I never thought that I would be an icon as the leading role of the blues cats, man, especially the black blues cats. I never thought I'd be here.

MR: Do you look at that concept and feel a burden or a responsibility as a torchbearer?

BR: It's a responsibility. When you're the king of blues you've got to be careful what you say and do. Everybody's looking at you to carry this thing on. Now I'm finding guys who understand me and respect what I'm doing to try to pass my legacy on to someone else and keep it going. That's what you have to do. You've got to educate the people who don't know about it and encourage the people who are doing it so they can make a living at doing it.

MR: I know who influenced you, but do you feel their ghosts are still around when you're making music? Do they still influence you in that way?

BR: Oh, yeah! When I get on stage I can close my eyes and see them around behind me. I see Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf saying "Go, boy, go." Yes I feel that. Yes, man. I feel the presence of a lot of guys. I feel the presence of my father who was a preacher and never came to see one of my shows. Being a preacher he never told me to sing the blues, but he never told me not to. So with that in mind, I always feel I'm okay in the blues world because my daddy didn't tell me not to sing as a preacher. Muddy Waters always said, "Hey boy, you're going to be a big man one day, you're going to make a lot of money." "You mean I'm going to make a lot of money off something I would do for free?" It's not about the money, it's about the love of the music, you know?

MR: Where do you feel the blues comes from?

BR: Blues comes from a state of mind. Whether you're black or white, it's a state of mind. It's how you feel. The blues isn't always stuff that makes you feel bad, but it's not always stuff that makes you smile. When I lived on the farm as a country boy, on a Saturday night we'd come out of the cotton field and go to the juke joint and hear the blues because we were going to meet all our favorite girls, or if we didn't have a favorite girl we'd look at them and hope they'd be our favorite girl. That was a good time. The saddest time was late Sunday afternoon because Monday morning was a work day. That's when you had the blues because it was over and it's time to go to work again. You'd be glad the blues was coming back again on Friday because Saturday you'd go out to play. Everybody really sings the blues, because everybody wants the same thing: A good house, some money, some good health, a good girlfriend or boyfriend, you want to be peaceful in life; everybody wants the same thing. If you don't have that it'll make you feel sad, but if you have it it'll make you feel good. The blues can make you feel good, or it can make you feel bad. Someone asked me, "Why do you sing the blues? Because your woman left you?" You can have the blues when your woman leaves you, but you can also have the blues if they stay too long.

MR: [laughs] What are you going through when you sing the blues?

BR: When I really create, I'm by myself. Most of the time it's when I'm in the car and I don't have a pencil or my tape recorder. Things really come then, when you don't have anything to write on. Give me some toilet paper and I'll write on that! Write something on your pants leg and hope it comes out. I create from what I know, what I think, and what I wish. Where I wish I was, where I think I want to be, where I used to be, or some things that I'd like to do. All those kinds of things. When a man writes, he pretty much writes about what he knows. It's like writing a book: You can only write what you know. Other than that is fantasy. You can have fantasies about things you do or what you don't want to do and you write about those kinds of things. When I was a kid, I started to write about animals, my first big gold record was "Chicken Heads." At the time Louis Jordan had this song out about how a monkey and a buzzard were good friends, but the monkey was a better friend to the buzzard than the buzzard was to him, so the monkey said, "Mister Buzzard, straighten up and fly right." I got into writing about things that I could relate to on the farm. I watched the cows, the birds, the chickens and I started to write about things I could relate to. Then I started writing about the rooster, the boy, and the hens, the girls. I took those kinds of things and related them to me as the rooster and the girls as the hens. If you think about it, it's nice to be in the barnyard when there ain't a lot of roosters but there are a lot of hens.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

BR: Look in the mirror and face the facts and do all you can while you can, cause there comes a time that you can not do what you want to do. What I mean is be honest with yourself. You're either cold or you're hot, there's no lukewarm. In my position I guess I got caught up in a situation where I'm a performer. You've got to understand that this business is an entertainment business. It's not about singing, it's not about playing the guitar. All of that is good, but you've first got to be an entertainer. You can teach a man how to play a guitar, you can teach a man how to play any other instrument, but you can't teach a man how to perform. An entertainer's born, not made. You have to look at yourself and say, "Am I made, or am I born?" If you're born, it ain't much you have to do, but if you're made you have to know that and say, "Listen, I've got to go out on the road, I've got to work hard, I've got to rehearse and rehearse. Most of the time you don't have to rehearse if it's natural. If it's not natural, then you'll have to work on it. Work on your publishing, write the song and be independent, where you can control your destiny.

MR: You speak with such authority, do you think some of that comes from your dad being a preacher?

BR: Oh, yeah! I remember when my dad told me, "Son, I've got ten children, you're one of them, I want you to drop out of school because you seem to be more apt than all the rest of my children. I want you to help me do some things in the field so you can help me make a better life for the other children." I didn't know how to take that. I thought it was some great thing to do, I got to step out of school and I got a job at a gin and I was making twelve dollars a month. Three dollars a week. That was my first job. My job was to bring him the news. The news was, we as black people didn't know about Dow Jones, but people in the gin would pick up what they were going to sell, sell the cotton for this, sell the beans for this, sell the peanuts for this. My daddy would come in on a Sunday morning and go into the church for service at ten and tell them to meet him at nine or nine thirty so he could tell them what to sell or not sell by my information.

MR: You were the school.

BR: I was the newspaper, I was the school. I told them what to sell. My daddy would walk in and say, "Son, what you heard today?" I'd say, "You can't sell no peanuts today. You can sell some cotton, but you can't sell beans. They went down this week, they'll be up next week." That was the Dow Jones.

MR: That's amazing. I want to ask you a delicate question. It seems like as a country, we've certainly made big progress towards a non-racist society. But a certain level of racism was revealed with what happened in Ferguson and in NY this past year. What are your thoughts on this?

BR: Here's my thoughts. The more things change, the more they remain the same. They've got highway signs saying you should drive fifty-five, that's for the ones who have the desire to speed. But then if a man is a wife beater who learns not to beat his wife, he still is a wife beater. When you don't have a desire to beat your wife, that's the Godly principle. You can change the laws so they say that every man is equal, but that doesn't have anything to do with the heart. "The law says this is what we've got to do," but your heart is different. We have to understand that what we want is different from where it is now. We've come a long way, but yet not far enough. I'm sitting in a position different from a lot of guys as an entertainer, because I have crossed over to a white audience and I did not cross out of the black audience. So many men--and I'm not calling names--have crossed over to a white audience but they just no longer have the black people following them. I'm a blessed man to have this middle-of-the-road kind of thing going. Not everybody knows me, but it's growing. I'm so thankful to people that see me and accept me for who I am and what I do. That doesn't happen to every man.

MR: Do you know what you're going to say when they give you the Grammy?

BR: [laughs] I'm so thankful because when I walked away with the nomination it was already done for me. If I walk away with the Grammy in my hand it's just a plus for me. If I win, there's going to be somebody who loses, and I feel for the person who loses behind me like they feel for me when I lose behind them. Charlie Musselwhite won last year and I took my hat off because I love Charlie Musselwhite. Everybody's out here fighting for the best for them because winning the award will give you the upper hand to get more wood. At my age now I need more wood, I need more kindling. I'm working, I'm in pretty good health, let me do something so I can make some money to take care of my family and spread the good news about this blues thing. And maybe, just maybe, some young man, black or white will come up and say, "Hey, I'm going to pattern myself after Bobby Rush." I'm hoping that some day I do something right enough for them to follow me and that leads them to something that'll do good for them and their family.

MR: That's wonderful. So you're eighty years old now, right?

BR: I didn't say, I didn't say! [laughs]

MR: So we already know what you did for the first part of your life, what are you going to do for the next eighty years?

BR: [laughs] Oh, for the next eighty, I'm just going to play music and sit more down on the stoop so I can relax. I won't have to jump as high, I won't have to pat as hard, so I won't go so hard on my heart. And I'm going to try to keep makin' love. Because when you make love, love will come back to you.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne

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KRISTIN ANDREASSEN'S "LOOKOUT" PREMIERE


photo credit: Laura Crosta

According to Kristin Andreassen...

"Hurricane Sandy hit New York hard. My apartment was left high and dry, so when the storm cleared, I went to offer help at a friend's house in the shoreline neighborhood of Red Hook. Their basement apartment had filled up with enough water to float their upright piano, but they as much help as they could use that day, so instead I spent the day clearing muddy furniture and mementos from the basement of a total stranger. 'Lookout' is about friendship and community in the face of tough times. It's also about the inevitability of hardship as time and age makes everybody's journey more challenging."

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A Conversation with Dylan Gardner

Mike Ragogna: Dylan, last time we spoke, you were releasing Adventures In Real Time yourself, going the indie route. Now you're signed to Warner Bros. and it's coming out on that label. What the heck happened?

Dylan Gardner: Well we put the record up on Spotify and about two weeks later I was sitting at Panda Express and I opened Spotify to check the numbers--not thinking anyone would know it came out since guerilla marketing takes so long--but "Let's Get Started" had eighty three thousand plays. I was just wondering what happened. It turns out a lot of people clicked on the record when it came up under "New Releases" on Spotify and it got added to all of these different playlists. People shared it and shared it and it got on a lot of big Spotify playlists and suddenly the record started getting played over and over again and before I knew it "Let's Get Started" had a million plays, and then it had two millions plays and the rest of the album was racking up a hundred thousand plays, it was quite insane. Warner Bros. took notice and contacted me which was great because I personally think Warner Bros. is the greatest American label and it feels amazing to be in a company of legend.

MR: Yeah, it's awesome that they got what was going on with you as an artist.

DG: They completely got what was going on. They're an artists first label.

MR: There must have been someone who championed you at Warner Bros. and said, "We've got to sign this kid." What's the signing story?

DG: Just going through the ringer. I've been doing this since I was fourteen, shopping my songs around and showcasing them. You meet more people and you meet people who know people and you go to all these things. I went to Capitol Records in about 2012 and met some people there and showcased for them and it turned out that the demo got around the office and the people from Capitol ended up going over to Warner Bros. and kind of took me with them on their departure. As soon as they got there I already knew some people at Warner Bros. just from playing around and before you knew it there was this giant family there of people that enjoyed my music. Once I went in there and talked to them, they all just had this look on their faces and the legendary Lenny Waronker was in the room too and I was just like, "This is the best place on Earth." I feel like I'm going to be able to express myself artistically and be in the company of amazing people and I'm going to become a better songwriter, a better person and a better performer.

MR: Warner Bros. has a history of sticking with artists for a while, too. I think you're in a really good place.

DG: I'm definitely in the right place.

MR: Were there any tracks that they suggested to make changes to?

DG: No, it's solid re-release. They heard the record, they said, "It's your vision, it's perfect, let's not change it, let's not do the big corporate machine thing; this is your baby and we're going to put it out exactly how it is and we're going to pour gasoline on the fire." That's what we're doing. They trust the vision and I trust them and all the rest.

MR: How did the album itself come together?

DG: I started writing the songs about two years ago and I was demoing all the songs in my room. I must have demoed about a hundred songs, I took everything out of my room, got rid of all the stuff in my closet because I needed a vocal booth, I got all these instruments, went Goodwill shopping for some, and just recorded all night. We had all these demos and my manager and I looked at this and thought, "Well there's a record in here somewhere." So we tried to find someone to help realize this because my producing in Pro Tools as far as getting a record-ready sound was not up to par yet, so we went around looking for people that we knew and my manager who worked at A&M in the nineties signed Jack Drag, which is John Dragonetti's band. He was one of the people that we contacted. The first track that we tried out I think was "I Think I'm Falling For Something," he tracked a little bit of the record and I got to his house and listened to it and I was like, "Whoa, he's a producer. He's the one that will help me make the record."


photo credit: Jeri Heiden

MR: "I Think I'm Falling For Something" is probably my favorite track on the album.

DG: Oh thanks, it was definitely one of my favorite songs to record. The part that I have the most fun with while record making is getting to experiment and try new things. On that track specifically I wanted something to lift the chorus so I was listening to Pete Drake records, he's this slide guitar player from Nashville who plays with a talk box. He actually introduced Peter Frampton to the talk box. I wanted a lap steel through a talk box for the middle of each chorus and we were able to replicate that and it was awesome.

MR: "I Think I'm Falling For Something" is such a terrific recording that I predict it's goes Top Ten record if Warners releases it as a single. There. Said it, can't take it back.

DG: [laughs] Really? Wow, I hope you're right!

MR: Hey Dylan, this album just sounds so fresh. But when you finished recording and mixing the project, did you ever listen to an online station or the radio and feel like you needed to change things up?

DG: No, when I finished the record, my first thought was, "This is the record I wanted to make." It was the vision that I had in my head since in the first song that I wrote for the record. I was really proud of it. I try not to pay attention to the mood swings of the music world. There's always something that's there for five minutes and then it's gone. It's the "Harlem Shake" or something like that. I try not to pay attention to that because you fall under the same spell and try to make that and it might work if you put it out in that five minutes but then you yourself become a product of yesterday. I'm not in music to become a product of yesterday. I try to transcend all of the influences I have. There's definitely things that make those "five minute" songs special, don't get me wrong, but the vision I have is always what comes to me, it's never inspired by cashing in.



MR: Sweet. You've often said you were inspired by The Beatles, and I think one can tell from your music and the way you dressed in your video for Adventures' first track, "Let's Get Started," that they were quite a big influence on you.

DG: Oh, there hasn't been a bigger influence on my music, my life, and the way I behave than that band. Those four people, just the way they inspired everyone, let alone me, everyone who had a television set back in 1964 saw them playing became a fan. Some of the first memories I have are of listening to Beatles records. I had A Hard Day's Night cassette tape that I played until the magnetic tape was all around my room...I wish I still had that! There's just a magic in learning to play the songs, and there's never enough to learn about the band. They're just that kind of band.

MR: I think it's true that whenever one listens to music at different times in one's life, he or she hears it very differently.

DG: Oh yeah, I think you're always a different person every day. If you listen to the same song every day you're going to hear something different. I hear something different in my own songs every time I listen to them. If you put music down for a while and come back to the same piece of music you're going to feel slightly different about it. It's like listening to songs you used to listen to as a child, they've got a completely different meaning.

MR: Do you think you can see all these different layers because you're recording your feelings?

DG: Oh yeah, I go back all the time and see songs that were about one thing are actually about another and I didn't even realize it. The song "Feeling Of Love" I wrote as the euphoric feeling of love that hits you when you're in love, but I'm singing the song live and I realize the lyrics are shifted and that it's about my dog. [laughs]

MR: There are ten songs on here, did you arrange them with a Side A and Side B in mind?

DG: I didn't think of it in terms of Side A and Side B in quality, but in terms of a record listening journey and when it's appropriate to flip the record. I wanted the first song on the second side to be "The Actor" because when you listen to big stars' records Side A is rocking, "Boom, boom, boom," and then you flip it over and it calms down. I did think of it in terms of that, but as far as record making I thought of it as a collection of ten songs. I had song tracks but it wasn't until I had the final order that I thought about people who flip the record over, for vinyl buyers. It's a selfish thought, but to me, if it didn't come out on vinyl it didn't come out at all. That's just the only way I listen to music.

MR: There's a diversity on this album that is unusual. I think beyond Side A / Side B format, each song fits with the next in certain ways.

DG: Right, like I said, you're a different person every day and you're constantly going through different records that you pick up at the record store, or something happens to you in your life that you get interested in. If you look back at a collection of a lot of songs you wrote you have some diversity there. Change, for me, is always a great thing. I plan to have a wide scale in my discography. One person I look to for that is Elvis Costello. After Armed Forces he's never in the same place twice.

MR: That's a good point. And I think it's illegal to repeat the genius that is Armed Forces.

DG: [laughs]

MR: Rumor has it that as you recorded this album, you also had a few more albums' worth of songs in the can?

DG: I do. I could put out two records tomorrow.

MR: Is it the same team that approached the current record or have you got everything recorded on your end?

DG: This is all me. This is just me working in the backroom the entire time we've been making all of this stuff. That's all I do all day, I don't go outside or party or play with my friends, I just sit on my computer or at my piano and I write and record.

MR: And these tracks haven't been worked over by Dragonetti yet?

DG: Actually, he just heard the collection of songs I've got and we're super psyched on it. We're always thinking down the road. In terms of football, Russell Wilson said when he held the Lombardi trophy the moment he put it down he just thought about the next one. That's an artist's job. The moment you put the record out you've got to start thinking about the next one, whether or not anyone cares or even knows about it. I plan to make a lot of records in my lifetime and this is the start of the journey.

MR: So Dragonetti gets the tracks you've recorded and then he works on them from his end?

DG: Yes. But that process has not started yet because I'm still just writing and writing and writing. I want to have as many songs as possible for the official moment when we look at the record and go, "Let's make it."

MR: You must be champing at the bit to get to the next one...or are you kind of savoring what you did at this point?

DG: To be honest, I'm kind of in the middle of both. I'm constantly working on the future. Going back to football again, one of the wide receivers in the Super Bowl said he got to the Super Bowl early and was just catching balls for three hours beforehand and he was ready to keep it up when the game started. I'm constantly just working at it for the future. If someone comes to me and says, "Put the record out tomorrow," we'll start making it. I'm definitely on the bandwagon of supporting this album and getting this album out there. I wanted as many people as possible to hear it. That's why I'm going on tour for a month. We're touring the United States, we're going to put the record in front of all of these people, play high schools and do interviews--I want to be in front of the people, man. I want them to hear it and I want to give a great show.

MR: So touring is going to be extensive?

DG: Oh yeah, just going and playing a bunch of venues. I just added all the tour dates two weeks ago to the website, dylangardnermusic.com/tour. I'm so poorly traveled, I get to go to all of these places for the first time, I'm just going to play my heart out. I want to give people a sweet show. Full on electric. Just me, my brother [drummer], and my bass player, we have so much energy. Just wait 'til you see it, man!

MR: Looking forward to it! Dylan, what is your advice for new artists?

DG: My advice for new artists is work hard and practice at your craft every day. Never put something in front of what you want to do for the rest of your life. The day that you do what you love you never have to work again. It's really honest but you have to work at what you love. Follow your dreams, not in the sense of just saying those three words; You have to actually act on it. If you think you're an amazing songwriter or you think you're an amazing performer, practice every single day because you're only going to get better. If you want to be the best in the world at something you'd better start now.

MR: Now that you're associated with a major label, what do you still have to pay attention to in the same way you did as an indie artist?

DG: I still get to have all of the creative input, it's still always my input, "Hey guys, why don't we do this?" I'm still running all my Twitter and Facebook and stuff because I don't want someone who's not me to take that over and post boringly all the time, I want to interact with all of my fans. My artistic integrity is three thousand percent. Just a couple of months ago we wanted to put out another music video, so we said, "What are we going to do?" and I said, "How about 'Too Afraid To Love You?' We'll do a music video like this and we'll film it in this place," and everyone was like, "Cool." So that's the music video that's coming out pretty soon. They really helped me have all creative control of that because they're an artist-friendly label. So we've got this cool, exciting music video for "Too Afraid To Love You" coming and that's going to be really awesome.

MR: How do you think it's going to affect you and your music when you turn the corner and become a huge act?

DG: Success to me only means more people being able to hear the music. I still want to be in the same bedroom making the same music, I'm not in it to be on the front of People magazine. To be a songwriter and for people to hear my music, its success means more people hearing and sharing my music and collecting vinyl or listening to any of the artists I'm inspired by. That's a beautiful, wonderful thing. It really means just making more friends and making more music than ever.

MR: So this is your social connection?

DG: I put music first and word of mouth will hopefully get the music out there.

MR: FYI, your album is still in heavy rotation with both me and my son. That's really good stuff to come out of someone's bedroom.

DG: Thank you, man. Just wait for the future.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne

My first interview with Dylan Gardner can be found at this address: http://www.mikeragogna.com/introducing-popster-dylan-gardner-huffpost-5-1-14/

******************************

MAN OVERBOARD'S "ONE FIXED POINT" PREMIERE


photo credit: Ally Newbold

According to Man Overboard's Justin Collier...

"'One Fixed Point' is a really old Man Overboard song that we always liked but never had a place for. When Buddy from Senses Fail approached us about doing this split we were going through our trove of unused songs and came back to this... It actually didn't even have a name. We gave it an overhaul, gave it name and here it is."

The MO camp further explains...

"This Man Overboard track will appear on Man Overboard's upcoming split with Senses Fail (www.facebook.com/sensesfail) out March 3rd and includes an original song from each band as well as each of them doing a cover of one of the other band's songs. It's a co-release from Rise Records and Pure Noise Records. Both bands are going to be touring with Bayside and those tour dates can be found here: http://manoverboardnj.com/tour/"

Man Overboard:
http://www.lostapecollective.com
www.facebook.com/ManOverboardNJ

The best part of January and February for DVD and BluRay (and streaming) buffs? The fact that all the big award season contenders come flooding into your home. It's probably the best time of the year for hardcore film buffs who don't live near an arthouse cinema or just prefer to screen their flicks at home -- just like studio moguls and all the Academy members who choose the Oscars, by the way. Here's a rundown of big recent titles since the beginning of 2015.




JOHN WICK ($39.99 BluRay; Lionsgate)

There are good movies and bad movies and movies so bad you sort of enjoy them anyway. But there's another category, the sort that B movies and drive-in movies specialized in for a while. These are knowing movies -- not camp or movies intentionally so stupid that they'd hope you laugh. But the sort of guilty pleasure movies that dove into genre with unrestrained glee. They weren't striving for greatness and unlike some B movies, they knew even a certain underground greatness that might be recognized decades later wasn't in the cards. They're just good dumb fun. And here we have John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves as some sort of hired killer who has walked away from the game. Then some random bad guys give him a tough time at a gas station. When he isn't fazed, they invade his home, beat the crap out of him...and kill his puppy. You don't kill a man's puppy. Not a man like John Wick. All hell breaks loose, with massive gun fights and fisticuffs staged like a video game and so many shots of Wick shooting people in the head it could become a drinking game of dangerous proportions. It's all patently absurd and if you're in the right mood, unmitigated joy.





THE PALM BEACH STORY ($39.95 BluRay; Criterion)
THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VAN KANT ($29.95 DVD; Criterion)

For sheer, dizzying pleasure, it doesn't get any better than writer-director Preston Sturges. The Palm Beach Story comes right at the height of his powers. In the past, I've seen some weak prints of the film and it sure could use a complete restoration. But here Criterion has delivered the strongest visual presentation I've seen of the movie so far -- not quite a complete rebirth but much more convincing. Sometimes on TV I've been worried the movie might fade away before my eyes. Not here, so you can relish the absurdity of the plot with twins and double weddings and a nutty old coot worth millions and so much more. I've never quite understood how Joel McCrae does it. Some actors are just "present" and always convincing, like Spencer Tracy. Others act their bums off, like Marlon Brando. McCrae is sort of convincingly unconvincing -- whether in a comedy or drama he always seems at a slight remove from the action. And yet you buy him, even if he's telling you it's all a load of bunk. Whatever it is, I'm crazy about it and the more I see of McCrae the more I appreciate him as one of the greats. Claudette Colbert, I get. She's beautiful, a great actress and has the comic timing of a master. Of course every man falls for her; they're only human after all. What a joy this film is and if you've never seen it you're in for a treat. This set includes the usual extras along with a military training film Sturges wrote about the same time and a radio play adaptation of the movie done in 1943.

The reputation of Preston Sturges has just grown and grown among film buffs. Yet, he has four or five absolute classics so Sturges never ranks high on polls of the best films of all time. No one can agree on which one to focus their attention; plus, they're funny and you won't find a comedy on Sight & Sound's once a decade poll until you reach The General at #34 and precious few after that. Fassbinder has a similar problem. He has so many strong films in so many varied styles it can be hard to get a grasp on all he accomplished. I have the sense he's fallen out of favor in recent years. Happily, Criterion and others have been keeping his body of work front and center with their efforts. The Bitter Tears Of Petra Van Kant is as good a starting place as any. Inspired by his own obsession with a handsome young actor, Fassbinder's tale uses the melodramatic style of Douglas Sirk to inform his story of the twisted relationship between a brilliant fashion designer and her icy muse. The great Hanna Schygulla is ideal as the object of desire and Fassbinder is both broadly entertaining and subversive at the same time. This set contains various new interviews with his collaborators as well as a substantial German documentary from 1992.







DEAR WHITE PEOPLE ($24.99 BluRay; Lionsgate)
THE RETRIEVAL ($34.95 BluRay; Kino Lorber)

Why pair these movies together? They both tackle race in America with precision and intelligence. Otherwise, they are very different. Dear White People is a sly comedy that gained all sorts of deserved critical attention, strong press and some modest but encouraging box office for a truly independent film. (In the indie world, $4.4 million at the box office should translate into strong numbers on DVD and BluRay sales and rentals, VOD and so on.) The Retrieval was a festival favorite but its critical acclaim didn't even begin to garner press or ticket sales. But both are worth your time and both signal directors who might well go on to substantial careers. Dear White People has fun mixing in reality TV, talk radio, gay geeks and more into a combustible mix lit by a frat party with a racist theme. Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris is all grown up here and quite winning but the star of the show is Tessa Thompson as the voluble, smarter-than-you Sam White. Her tug of war between two men is no contest since one of them is such a drip chemistry-wise and the violent showdown feels utterly contrived and out of character. But some less effective acting in minor parts aside, writer director Justin Simien has declared himself one to watch.

Similarly, The Retrieval makes the most of a modest budget to tell its compelling story. In this case it's a drama set during the Civil War era in which a boy named Will (Ashton Sanders) is assisting bounty hunters who track down runaway slaves. One can't help but think of Huckleberry Finn as the film progresses. Writer and director Chris Eska has delivered the sort of little-seen gem that was made for DVD. Not so long ago, a movie like this would be screened in a big city or two and then disappear and if it was lucky get rediscovered on late nite tv or at a revival house. Today? Everyone has the chance to see it right now. And should.



FOYLE'S WAR SEASON 8 (streaming on Acorn.TV) -- I rarely discuss streaming or video on demand options; hey, it's hard enough to stay on top of the stuff coming out on BluRay! Nonetheless, I'll make an exception for Foyle's War, a show which launched with a brilliant first season and quickly became one of my favorite on TV for years. It's hard to say goodbye to a beloved series for fans and it's often just as hard for the people making the show itself. That's why so many great shows have drawn out their welcome, producing a final season or two (or more) that is far inferior in quality to the original. Think MASH or All In The Family or Little House On The Prairie or ER or a million other examples. (That's why I give the most credit of all to a series like The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Breaking Bad or The Office (UK), which know when to leave well enough alone.) So here is Foyle's War finally saying goodbye. If you have any interest in a series that was initially set during WWII, a mystery with a strong grounding in history as a fascinating backdrop to some fascinating stories, dive into season one. You'll find an excellent cast with Michael Kitchens giving a performance for the ages as Foyle, a man of integrity and few words. As all involved tried to walk away and then came back again and again for just a few more episodes, the quality has unquestionably dropped. It's been precipitous enough that I've had to downgrade the series overall from one of TV's best to one of those good shows marred by a drop-off in later seasons. Still, fans of the show will undoubtedly want to say goodbye and the only way to do so is to watch the final three episodes on AcornTV. That's where newcomers will find earlier seasons as well, along with everything from Rumpole of the Bailey to Doc Martin. It all began with Season 1, which of course is available on DVD for those Luddites who can't handle streaming. (But even my mom can, so it's really pretty easy and you do get one month free.) Watch that first season and you'll be hooked. And if someone can explain to me why creator Anthony Horowitz never wrote a novel around these characters, I'd be mighty pleased. That's the real mystery, as far as I'm concerned.




BOYS ($24.95 DVD; Wolfe Video) -- This is a gay coming of age tale, reportedly made for Danish TV and set in the world of high school track teams. The fascinating aspect of seeing gay films from around the world is seeing how starkly different different societies are towards gays and sex in general. Some countries, you feel like you're watching a gay film that would have been made in the US in the 1960s -- they try to be positive but are filled with self-loathing and stereotypes. Others make the culture you're in seem passe they're so progressive and cool about it all. The Danes are awfully forward thinking in some ways, but this was made for TV so it's not terribly explicit or envelope-pushing, though the emphasis on one boy's home life proves especially interesting. Sieger (Gijs Blom) is questioning and confused, vulnerable after his mom's death and drawn to friendship with Marc. Marc (Ko Zandvliet) is most definitely not confused and wants a relationship. The usual misunderstandings and twists and turns ensue. But the two actors have great chemistry. (Blom in particular is a find.) And the look of the film (by cinematographer Melle Van Essen) is top-notch. For those interested in the subject, it's a modest little find with one or two actors who might well break out into wider stardom.





DOWNTON ABBEY SEASON 5 ($54.99 BluRay; PBS)
TYRANT SEASON ONE ($39.98 DVD; FOX)

Have you switched to Empire yet? Primetime's hottest new soap of course is set in the world of hip-hop music but they're both essentially the same -- shows you watch for crazy plot twists and to see what happens next. Character development? Not so much. Downton Abbey began as a show that ripped off superior entertainment like its obvious precursor Upstairs Downstairs to the movie Mrs. Miniver and countless others. Now it's devolved into ripping off itself by just recycling storylines they've already done like Bates being accused of murder (again), Thomas being evil and then sympathetic and in the good graces of the family and then out of them and then in them again so often it's become ludicrous. (Surely at some point, they'd learn their lesson?) The cast is so skillful, pleasures are there to be had even for those who prefer a modicum of logic and continuity.

What's the difference between Downton Abbey and Empire or Tyrant? The latter two seem to know they're over the top fun and let you revel in it, without the pretense of high art. Mind you, Tyrant is from people behind Homeland so they might have considered it a bid for Emmy greatness. Tyrant is set in a fictional Middle eastern country run by a dictator, the father of the show's protagonist. Our hero who has made a decent life for himself in America reluctantly returns for a wedding. When the ruler dies, he suddenly finds himself drawn into aiding his brother, prodding the unstable man towards democracy while becoming embroiled in the usual palace intrigue. It's like Dallas, but a Dallas where JR can have you executed any time he chooses. Fun? Yes, not to mention well-acted in a soapy sort of way and given a nice jolt by the various real-life events that intrude onto the action, like the Arab Spring.









FURY ($34.99 BluRay; Sony)
PORK CHOP HILL
KING: THE THE MARTIN LUTHER KING STORY
A HOLE IN THE HEAD ($29.95 each BluRay; Olive Films)

Fury came out, got some strong reviews, did well at the box office and will surely find more fans on DVD. Fair enough. But if you could invest in futures on movies the way you do in other markets, this would be one to put a "buy" on. Its reputation is sure to grow in years to come. It's a classic war film, built around the denizens of a tank who face the horrors of war, the camaraderie of bonding under fire and all the other usual experiences faced by men in battle. Set during WW II, it's episodic and familiar in its way. But the cast led by Brad Pitt is excellent from top to bottom, with Shia LaBeouf doing more to rehabilitate his image by simply delivering a good performance and Logan Lerman proving yet again he's got an innate likeabilty that is one of the sure signs of a movie star with a long career ahead of him. It's a big leap forward for David Ayer, the writer of Training Day and the director of End Of Watch. Think Sam Fuller and you'll have a sense of the gritty reality this movie captures. It's a keeper.

Every scene of the Korean war film Pork Chop Hill starring Gregory Peck is emblazoned on my brain. Why? Because apparently the local TV station in South Florida where I grew up owned a print of it. Back in those days, they'd fill up a late night/early morning slot with whatever was at hand. Why go dark (remember when TV stations signed off?) when you could show something for free and keep the lights on? So week after week after week, Pork Chop Hill would invariably air at 1 am or 2 am after regular programming was over. I've seen it dozens of times and have a fondness for it far beyond the film itself. As a fledgling night owl, I didn't want to go to sleep any more than that local station wanted to sign off and we'd both fight off the inevitable with Peck and his men being ordered to take a hill. It was a meaningless gesture for a meaningless, militarily insignificant speck of land. But in war you did as you were told and didn't ask why, even if you knew the goal at hand was exceptionally pointless. The cynicism of the film is what makes it so lasting. Little did I know it was by director Lewis Milestone, who earlier delivered that classic anti-war film All Quiet On The Western Front. The casting was an early triumph of the great Lynn Stalmaster, who got his start in TV and began to break into movies with I Want To Live and this one. You'll recognize almost every actor, but many became familiar faces after this movie came out, not before. It's a minor gem and well worth any war movie buff's time. The BluRay looks quite good and is the latest example of savvy vault diving by Olive, which goes into studio archives and puts out titles on BluRay that might otherwise escape notice. Also just out is King: The Martin Luther King Story starring Paul Winfield (a nice companion piece to Selma), and the Frank Sinatra vehicle A Hole In The Head, one of the last gasps of the great director Frank Capra, and it shows. Still, you gotta love a movie with an advertising campaign that insists it's "The Most Wonderful Entertainment In The Who Wide Wonderful World!" Only Sinatra and Capra fanatics will agree but at least it's out and looking pretty good.



THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN ($39.99 DVD; PBS)

Who can understand the vagaries of DVD and BluRay? This critically acclaimed, landmark miniseries aired in 1984, won the Emmy for Best Miniseries and has been rather haplessly treated ever since. It garnered all sorts of accolades and brought new converts to the brilliant Raj Quartet series of novels by Paul Scott. It got excellent ratings. And yet, after a desultory release on VHS it's been treated like a red-headed step child. It came out on DVD but looked poorly. It was rereleased in a 25th anniversary edition..and still looked terrible. It came out in a much better looking version in the UK, but for some reason that's taken a decade -- a DECADE -- to come out in the US. So we're looking at a decade old remastering presented on DVD instead of BluRay. Nonetheless, it's the first time a decent edition of this show is worth watching in your home since it aired originally. The miniseries is notably adult and reserved in its tone and plot lines. The central character is the rather hateful Merrick (Tim Piggott-Smith), who becomes obsessed with the relationship between a young, London-educated Indian and a British girl right around the time India is beginning to decide maybe it doesn't want to be under the thumb of British rule after all, thank you very much. The great Peggy Ashcroft has a plum smaller role, Charles Dance made his mark and the cast throughout is exceptional. In trying to capture the scope of the books, the miniseries does bite off more than it can chew. Scandalously, I would suggest it's ripe for remake, perhaps as four seasons with ten episodes per. If you do it again, you better devote a lot more air time to a work that already runs to 14 episodes. But it is satisfying overall, thanks to the general care and intelligence that marks this work that along with Brideshead Revisited and I, Claudius and others made it seem like the British owned the miniseries for a while.



THE FACTS OF LIFE -- COMPLETE SERIES ($199.99 DVD; Shout Factory)

I remember a distressing number of episodes from The Facts Of Life, even though I swear it was never a favorite show of mine. Still, it was a key element in NBC's revival as the show was spun off from Diff'rent Strokes and helped launch The Golden Girls on Saturday night. A perennial Top 30 hit, it lasted for nine (!) seasons and gave Charlotte Rae the sort of showcase every journeyman actor dreams of. (Journeyman is a compliment; as in trouper.) It tackled countless hot button issues with a sitcom's half hour solution always at the ready, from acceptance of people with disabilities to weight issues and drinking and about a million other things. At the heart of it was an ensemble of characters who got along great. They certainly got long in the tooth by the time Rae stepped away after seven seasons (an old pro, she even knew when to get when the going was good) but Nancy McKeon, Mindy Cohn and the rest always somehow kept our good will. This set contains most everything and certainly everything Shout Factory could get the rights to include. You get the backdoor pilot episode that introduced the setting, two TV movies and a reunion panel discussion among other goodies. (The 2001 reunion movie is missing; God knows why but I'm certain it wasn't for lack of trying on Shout's part.) Most of all you get all 201(!) silly disposable, dated episodes -- each of them comfort food for those who grew up with the series and perhaps serviceable entertainment for kids a little bit younger than the characters on the show. For fans, this is as good as it will ever get.

NOTE: All prices are the suggested list price of the format offered for review. Typically, this is the most expensive format offered, such as a BluRay bundled set that includes a DVD and digital download. Most titles will be on sale and many will be available in cheaper editions. Additionally, some titles will also be available via streaming services and VOD. It would be exhausting and not terribly informative to offer all that info for every purchase, especially since sale prices differ from website to website and week to week. Just keep in mind, most everything covered here will be more available more cheaply (and often a lot more cheaply) than the price we list.

Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder of BookFilter, a book lover's best friend. It's a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way. It's like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide -- but every week in every category. He's also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.

Note: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs and Blu-rays with the understanding that he would be considering them for review. Generally, he does not guarantee to review and he receives far more titles than he can cover.

If Batman were real, who do you think his secret identity would be in the real world?: originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.



Answer by Ken Miyamoto, Produced screenwriter, former Sony Pictures script reader/story analyst, former Sony Studios liaison

Well, if you're really wanting to stick to the true mythos of Batman, you need the following:

• Wealth


• Inheritance of such wealth (Which cancels out the Zuckerbergs and such)


• A tragic loss of parents


• Suave public persona


• And then yes, good looks, business savvy, and athleticism

So who does that leave us? Well, if we're looking for the best match, then sadly, our real world original Batman died on July 16th, 1999.



John F. Kennedy Jr.

Born November 25th, 1960

• Heir to political and socialite Kennedy family



• Father tragically killed by an assassin(s) on November 22nd, 1963



• Heir to Kennedy fortune which on the record was a share of upwards of600 million, although grandfather Joe Kennedy was very secretive with family fortune, thus there could have been so much more.



• JFK Jr. was once known as America's number one bachelor and certainly New York City's (Gotham) most famous bachelor of all time. Was People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1988, the only person named so who was not a working actor.



• His love life was filled with a plethora of beauties, including the likes of Daryl Hannah, Madonna, Cindy Crawford and Sara Jessica Parker, until he finally married Carolyn Bessette.



• Tragedy. Wealth. Inheritance. Beautiful love interests. Public figure. Business savvy. Athletic. Adventurous.

Possible origin and story arc: After the tragic death of his father, JFK Jr. was deeply affected and haunted. While growing up in the public eye, he secretly studied the Martial Arts and learned the ways of American law. Disgruntled by the political arena of Washington, he relocated to the Gothic city of New York. Here he used the crime ridden back streets of New York City as his training ground as he fought crime in the shadows of dark alleys, fueled by his father's assassination.

By day he was the socialite son, after dusk, he lived by the code of vengeance as The Dark Knight.

One tragic day, JFK Jr. was reported as having died in a plane crash, although this was a cover story created by a media mogul with connections to the mob and to a secret ring of corrupt political villains who were responsible for his father's death.

In his guise as Batman, The Dark Knight, he had slowly unraveled the mystery of his father's demise that fateful November day in Dallas. As he closed in on the secret ring responsible for the assassination, the corrupt powers that be sent out their greatest warriors to destroy him.

Over a rainy night in the back alleys of New York and on the rooftops of its skyscrapers, Batman took them on one by one, defeating them all until one final foe remained. Matching Batman in strength and ability, Batman was thrown into the night off of a towering skyscraper after an epic battle. As authorities came to the scene, the final foe disappeared into the night, thinking he had prevailed over the Batman. Little did he know that the body found by authorities was that of one of Batman's conquests, face destroyed from the fall.

The Dark Knight, seemingly forever handicapped by the wounds from his battles, now lives an anonymous life in an unknown location, watching as the secret ring of corrupt political villains wreak havoc on the country, controlling the seemingly uncontrollable. He waits for the science and technology to repair him so he may once again return and vanquish these men and their heirs who killed his father and forever changed his country.

*This is written with all due respect to JFK Jr. and his family.


More questions on Quora:

• Hypothetical Scenarios: How would you make The Dark Knight Rises if Heath Ledger was alive to play the Joker?
• Sherlock Holmes: What would happen if Sherlock Holmes were to meet The Joker (The Dark Knight)?
• Superheroes: Given our current technology and with the proper training, would it be possible for someone to become Batman?