Can the comedy-before-sleep slot be filled with overt social and political relevance? We’ll soon find out. After struggling through the last seasons of 30 Rock, I’ve rewarded myself by starting M*A*S*H from season 1, episode 1. (Thank you, Netflix!) It’s no coincidence that M*A*S*H, one of the best and most
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wmtc: we movie to canada: wmtc annual movie awards, 2014-15 edition
Thanks to everything-on-demand media, and no thanks to my schedule that doesn’t permit me nearly enough time for baseball, Movie Season now runs all year, at least marginally. These annual awards now document the movies and TV series we’ve seen from Opening Day to Opening Day. To recap my silly
Continue readingwmtc: everything is political: bewitched and "george washington zapped here"
You may recall that my current comedy-before-bed TV sleep aid is a sitcom from my childhood: “Bewitched”. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying watching its ridiculous, predictable humour and sometimes surprising messaging. I was in the middle of the eighth and final season when Netflix pulled the show. (Argh!) But thanks to
Continue readingwmtc: two random observations arising from watching a tv show from my childhood
In September, I blogged about watching “Bewitched” on Netflix as my “comedy before sleep” show. I’m still watching it, sometimes taking as many as three nights to get through one episode, so potent is this sleep aid. I want to share two random observations based on Bewitched. People on TV
Continue readingwmtc: we like lists: things we learn from tv detective and murder mystery shows
If you enjoy detective shows, murder mysteries, and legal dramas, you learn a lot of things that don’t necessarily reflect reality. Here are some things you may learn from these shows. 1. Women are crazy and kill people. I have already blogged about and disproportionate percentage of female murderers on
Continue readingwmtc: thoughts arising from the death of a defender of free speech
This week’s obituaries included the last living link to two landmark moments in the history of freedom of expression. Al Bendich was just two years out of law school when he wrote the brief that is credited with the victory in the famous “Howl” obscenity case. In 1957, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc movie and series season now open: your suggestions are welcome
Baseball season was painfully short for Red Sox fans this year. When your team wins a grand total of 71 games it’s a chore to watch, and I gave up early. The postseason, on the other hand, was incredible, and I watched (at least until I fell asleep) every night. I
Continue readingwmtc: amazing but true: mlb does the right thing and increases fans’ access to the postseason
The biggest surprise of the 2014 baseball postseason isn’t the absence of both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. It isn’t the Baltimore Orioles, making the postseason for the first time since 1997, or the Kansas City Royals, playing baseball in October for the first time since
Continue readingwmtc: we like lists: list # 20: top ten reasons we love our favourite cult show or movie
For those who want the question with no context: Do you love a cult show or movie? What movie and why? List at least 10 reasons. (I wish everyone would reply here and not on Facebook, but I know that is a lost cause…) * * * * Further to
Continue readingwmtc: sexism, magic, and pre-famous cameos: watching "bewitched" on netflix
The best use of TV, for me, is as a sleep aid. But I never thought I’d revisit comedies from my early childhood. I’ve watched a bit of comedy in bed, while ready for sleep, for my entire adult life, and quite a few years before that. Tuning in to
Continue readingwmtc: we movie to canada: wmtc annual movie awards, 2013-14 edition
It’s time, once again, for the wmtc annual movie awards. To recap, my silly rating systems so far: – Canadian musicians and comedians (2006-07 and 2007-08)– my beverage of choice (2008-09)– famous people who died during the past year (2009-10)– where I’d like to be (2009-10)– vegetables (2010-11) (I was
Continue readingwmtc: some thoughts on emily brontë’s wuthering heights
Cover of 1943 Random Houseedition with woodcut illustrations Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847, under a pseudonym. Brontë died the following year, at age 30. It was the only book she would ever publish. How did an isolated young woman, a parson’s daughter from a remote area of Yorkshire, who never married,
Continue readingwmtc: shirley temple black, breast cancer activist, former child star, 1928-2014
Shirley Temple and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Growing up watching old movies, I was a big fan of Shirley Temple, whose dimples, singing, and tap-dancing charmed my parents’ generation. Temple danced with some of the tap greats, African-American men who Hollywood cast as servants, yassuh-ing their way into the dance scenes.
Continue readingwmtc: dylan farrow and woody allen: a feminist, a rape survivor, and a woody allen fan weighs in
Wmtc friend and reader Dharma Seeker writes: Some of my discussion groups have been blowing up since Dylan Farrow’s open letter to actors in Woody Allen films. My brain is muddled trying to sort out the various issues. I’d love your thoughts and hoped you might blog about it, although
Continue readingwmtc: philip seymour hoffman, 1967-2014
If you care about independent film, you’ve been following the career of Philip Seymour Hoffman since the early 1990s. For a while, he was nearly ubiquitous, appearing in one brilliant small role after the next. When PSH achieved star recognition, it was as if a well-kept secret had been discovered,
Continue readingwmtc: murdoch mysteries, abortion on tv, and maybe an anti-war reference, too
I always like to have a detective-mystery series to follow. I try many of them, like a few, and watch several episodes in a row as downtime relaxation. I recently started the Canadian “Murdoch Mysteries,” which takes place in Toronto at the turn of the 20th Century. Back when we
Continue readingwmtc: not love, but crap, actually
Tonight I tried again to watch “Love Actually”, and once again am left shaking my head in disgust (at the movie) and disbelief (in its popularity, among people who ought to know better). Why does everyone love this movie? Why is it hailed as the great ode to love and
Continue readingwmtc: wmtc movie and series season is open, please post your suggestions here
What with the Red Sox winning the World Series (!!!) and Allan’s book being completed (available for pre-order on Amazon!!!), I forgot to announce the official opening of Movie Season. Since changing to streaming-only, and since I’m out one or two nights a week, we really don’t binge on movies
Continue readingwmtc: thoughts on "the central park five": new york city, the central park jogger, and me
We’ve just seen “The Central Park Five,” the Ken Burns film about five young men of colour who were wrongfully arrested, indicted, and convicted of rape and attempted murder, and who served seven, and in one case, thirteen years, in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. There was virtually
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m watching: ken burns’ "prohibition", an excellent documentary
This week we finished Ken Burns’ excellent documentary “Prohibition,” and I recommend it highly to everyone who enjoys history. Most of us know at least something about Prohibition, especially how it failed, but I’d bet that much of this film will be eye-opening. And, if you aren’t a regular viewer
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