Review

WATCH CLOSELY: “Blood Sugar Rising” — Sweet Sorrow

April 21, 2020
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Blood Sugar Rising deals with difficult subject matter, but steel yourself to view this engaging and educational look at a growing public health crisis.

Rock Album Review: “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” — Fiona Apple’s Perfectly Imperfect Storm

April 20, 2020
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Not only is Fetch the Bolt Cutters the most stunning of Apple’s five albums, it’s the most impressive pop record of this young pandemic year, its bottled turmoil speaking to our own pent-up nerves.

Poetry Review: The Verse of Rowan Ricardo Phillips — Let’s Get Weaponized?

April 20, 2020
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Rowan Ricardo Phillips attempts to combine a woke perspective with his vast knowledge of poetry from the past.

Film Review: “We Summon the Darkness” — The Evil Eighties

April 17, 2020
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A fun and original slasher/romp that lovingly embraces a number of ’80s horror tropes.

Rock CD Review: The Messy Brilliance of The Strokes

April 17, 2020
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The Strokes are finally growing up — and their maturity is a sight to behold.

Book Review: “Woe from Wit” — A Great Russian Drama, Newly Translated

April 17, 2020
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One of the masterpieces of Russian drama is done justice in a English version that successfully captures much of the wit and fluency of the original.

Television Review: Growing Up “Insecure” — Season 4

April 16, 2020
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In its 4th season, Insecure remains a hilarious look at the lives of black millennials growing up in Los Angeles.

Classical CD Reviews: Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” Johann Strauss’s “Blindekuh,” and Mendelssohn’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht”

April 16, 2020
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The two best things about Simon Rattle’s new recording of Die Walküre are, well, Rattle, himself, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; a strongly played and majestically sung performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s unfairly neglected Die erste Walpurgisnacht.

Classical CD Reviews: Offenbach Fantastique!, Mascagni’s “Cavalleria rusticana,”and Rossini Project vol. 2

April 15, 2020
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More proof that Offenbach’s is a remarkable body of work; a serviceable, but not particularly notable, Cavalleria rusticana; another installment in the Rossini Project, brilliantly curated, stirringly played and sung, and beautifully recorded.

Book Review: “Like Flies from Afar” — A Very Twisted Odyssey

April 14, 2020
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This is hard-hitting neo-noir parable whose dark humor delights as it strikes at the corrupt heart of business as usual in Argentina.

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