Month: January 2013

Coming Attractions in Film: February 2013

January 30, 2013
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February is a rich month for film-lovers, filled with screenings of alternative movies and film festivals. There are classics, documentaries, genre films, science fiction, appearances by filmmakers, and cinema from around the world.

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TV Commentary: “American Horror Story” — The Homeland as Asylum?

January 30, 2013
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American Horror Story: Asylum didn’t skimp on the scary; there’s enough disturbing images per episode to satisfy the most discriminating taste in horror.

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Author Interview: Suspense Stories With a Twist — Writer George Harrar

January 29, 2013
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George Harrar is not really a mystery or suspense writer, per se. His work is noir and tension-filled, but there is a philosophical and psychological sub-strata that’s more reminiscent of Kafka than Robert Parker.

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Fuse Theater Review: An Inspiring “Family Happiness”

January 27, 2013
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After seeing many flat and boring adaptations of books over the past year, I recommend director Piotr Fomenko’s playful adaptation of Tolstoy’s Family Happiness to writers and directors wanting to turn literature into drama.

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Poetry Review: A Provocative Step Out of the Shadows — Poet Anna de Noailles

January 27, 2013
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Literary history credits Rainer Maria Rilke with establishing European poetry’s seminal concern with the duality between inner and outer worlds. Could it be that Comtesse Anna de Noailles was his precursor in this regard? Translator Norman Shapiro and Black Widow Press should be thanked for bringing her back into the discussion.

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Visual Arts: Ambergris and Alchemy — A Pilgrimage to John Singer Sargent’s “Fumée d’Ambre Gris”

January 27, 2013
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At times I leave off my avid samplings of one entrancement after another in a great museum. Instead, I make a pilgrimage dedicated to a single work, such as John Singer Sargent’s intoxicating woman in white in “Fumée d’Ambre Gris” at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

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Visual Arts Review: Cartoonist Roz Chast Reveals Her “Theories of Everything”

January 26, 2013
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For those who missed this evening, pick up Roz Chast’s “Theories of Everything,” which is a wonderfully huge collection of her cartoons published in “The New Yorker.”

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Arts Remembrance: Be the Rock Star — A Tribute to Jules Siegel

January 26, 2013
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Legendary music journalist Jules Siegel died of a heart attack on November 17, 2012 at the age of 77. There was no “New York Times” obituary, no mention in “Rolling Stone.” But to me, he was a rock star.

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Theater Review: Another View of “Other Desert Cities”

January 25, 2013
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Life can be found under any stone, in any crack in the sidewalk. But I admit I yearn for being taken on a grander voyage, higher, deeper than any sitcom can take me.

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Classical CD Review: Two New Releases from BMOP/sound — An Indispensable Label for American Composers

January 24, 2013
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Musical quibbles aside, the performances on both albums from Boston Modern Music Project’s in-house label, BMOP/sound, are top-notch.

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