The Imitation Game -- and Rediscovering Our Heroes
When I had the opportunity to screen the upcoming must-see film The Imitation Game, which stars actor Benedict Cumberbatch as the late British cryptographer and computer scientist Alan Turing, I was...
View ArticleThe Illusionists: Jeff Hobson, aka "The Trickster", Brings the Magic
Broadway audiences members will experience both magic and entertainment starting this Thursday, with the opening of The Illusionists. I caught the show at a preview performance last week, and one of...
View ArticleWhy I Make the Movies I Make
After the first preview audience screening of Love & Basketball a 17-year-old Black boy said, "The movie taught me how to love." Fourteen years later, after the first preview audience screening of...
View ArticleIs That Legendary Ballet Edward Villella Choreographing Ice Skating? Yes, It Is!
So it's Saturday night, date night, and I'm looking for somewhere fun to take my wife. Then I see there's something called Ice Theatre of New York. And The New York Times has called it one of the 10...
View ArticleBarbra Streisand Is the Mastermind Behind a Gay, Liberal Conspiracy to Make...
In Mother Jones this week, David Corn reports that Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) told him several years ago that Barbra Streisand was behind a vast conspiracy to fool us into believing that climate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A-Sides with Jon Chattman: Sweet and Not-So-Sweet Emotions: Joe Perry Gets...
I can go weeks, sometimes months, and even a year without talking to my sister. When you're family, it can be like that. But, it's easily fixed in many cases once you reconnect, forgive and forget (or...
View ArticlePeter Pan: My First Lesbian Role Model
NBC is devoting its primetime block this Thursday night to a live production of Peter Pan. I'm excited. Peter Pan was my first lesbian role model. Wait, you say. Peter Pan wasn't even female, much less...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Excerpt: Management, and Fun, by Wandering Around
(This is an excerpt from the forthcoming book, Field Notes from a Music Biz Life.) January, 1973. PARIS, FRANCE U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho sign a...
View ArticleA Night at Indie Film's Gotham Awards
This year's Gotham Awards, the indie film world's Academy Awards, were marked by a giant jump in etiquette. Unlike last year, the guests at the packed cavernous Cipriani Wall Street refrained from...
View ArticleLesbian Romance on Gotham
The world of comics has always been traditionally reserved for men. It is a sphere in which formerly emasculated or traumatized, miniscule, brainy men are transformed into formidable fighters, pillars...
View ArticleAmericans Must Begin to Have That Awkward But Crucial Conversation on Race
The troubling decision of a grand jury not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown understandably sparked varied forms of protests, spirited commentary and...
View ArticleUmphrey's McGee on Yoga, Brotherhood and 2,000 Shows
It's been a banner year for rock band Umphrey's McGee. They released their eighth studio album, Similar Skin, and played their 2,000th show last month. In this video interview, keyboardist Joel...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Boxtrolls Makers Talk About the Magic (Video)
Stop motion animation is a fascinating, painstaking process. It's been around for quite some time but was utilized to some new effect this year with the hugely popular The Boxtrolls. I had the chance...
View ArticleClik here to view.
7 Must-Have Gifts for Colbert Report Fans
Can you believe The Colbert Report is almost over? The final episode airs Dec. 18, which means it's approaching even faster than Christmas itself (by exactly a week). If someone you know will be going...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It's About Time: The Science of 'Interstellar' With Brian Greene
In the movie Interstellar, the hopes of humanity swirl around the event horizon of a giant black hole named Gargantua, which warps time, space and starlight. Through the wormhole at its center, a team...
View ArticleThe Best Albums of 2014: Here's What They Have in Common.
For the past few years, my year-end music column has focused almost exclusively on lists of singles, from which I've tried my darndest to mine rubies in a slew of digital slush. Looking back on 2014, I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Doha Ajyal Diaries: For the Love of Cinema and Khalil Gibran's The Prophet
I fell in love with Arab cinema right here, in Doha. I hold the Doha Film Institute absolutely responsible for me catching this fantastical bug five years ago. This beautiful city, with its azure seas...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Movie Review: Wild -- Take a hike. Seriously.
Based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, Jean-Marc Vallee's Wild offers an exceptional visual version of what could have been largely an interior journey. Indeed, Strayed herself refers to her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Greasy Hands, Gritty Roads, and the Rebirth of the American Chopper
Choppertown: The Sinners -- greasy hands and true grit The tradition of custom Harleys and choppers is in many ways a uniquely American story, with a cultural influence similar to the impact that...
View ArticleHamm-Strung at the Gotham Awards
The annual celebration of indie films kicking off the vibrant awards season every year gets more glamorous, honoring the outstanding and risk-taking films that are going to make it to Oscars -- like...
View Article