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The End of Grill Season
Last year, during the first wave of pandemic depression (like I can even keep track of how many waves of pandemic depression there has been), I decided it would be a good idea to get a grill. The one I had hadn’t been used for several years and it sat outside, in the elements, uncovered, […]
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Shadow of the Summer Time
This week I have another look at new Blu-ray releases from Warner Archive. First up is Judy Garland and Van Johnson in MGM’s 1949 musical “In The Good Old Summertime,” then we have William Powell and Myrna Loy back together again for 1941’s “Shadow of the Thin Man,” the fourth film in the beloved franchise. […]
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Original Cast Album: Company
In 1970 famed documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, perhaps best known for his seminal music documentary “Monetary Pop,” was asked to film a pilot for a proposed TV series called “Original Cast Album.” The series was to be a weekly behind-the-scenes look at the recording of a different cast album for a Broadway show. Though the series […]
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I Launched Myself Into Space and Nobody Cared
Reader, I am offended. I am offended that recently there was news about how Jeff Bezos wanted to put himself into space and then Richard Branson turned around and put himself into space before Bezos could. Am I offended that these rich dudes are more concerned with space than using their money to help people? […]
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A Trio of Blu
This week I’m going to take a look at three new blu-ray titles that were released last month from Warner Archive. The titles range from an MGM musical to a long-unavailable Noir that’s been hidden away for years. We have the HD debuts of 1946’s “Step by Step,” 1948’s “I Wouldn’t Be In Your Shoes!,” […]
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Bringing Up Baby
Director Howard Hawks’ 1938 screwball comedy “Bringing Up Baby,” starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is quite possibly the quintessential take on the genre. Added to the National Film Registry in 1990, it’s often cited on lists of the best and funniest movies ever made. “Bringing Up Baby” has made its HD debut in a […]
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Supertrain
Something that we, as a society, often overlook is that YouTube, the website that makes stars out of people talking in their bedrooms, is one of the finest archives for television. Countless hours of obscure, rare, and what would otherwise have been lost to time material is on the service. From soap operas to commercials, […]
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The Pits
There’s a lot of random things burned into the deep recesses of my mind. A bunch of it stems from watching too much TV as a kid. There was a time in the mid-’90s when I was fascinated by infomercials. Those half-hour ads for various wonder products that once were used to fill many a […]
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Ziegfeld Lightning
A pair of new to blu-ray June releases from Warner Archive is what I have for you this week. The studio was kind enough to once again send me some titles to give a gander to. This month they bring to HD 1945’s “Ziegfeld Follies,” a dazzling MGM technicolor musical variety show. Plus, one of […]
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Timely Insomnia
For the last two weeks, I’ve been waking up on time every day like a champ. My body has become a precision alarm clock. I become awake and alert at the exact same time every morning. The only problem is this time is 3:30 in the morning, I would rather sleep for another three to […]
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There Can Be Only One
As more and more of my immediate family are becoming fully vaccinated, we have begun to have family gatherings like we once did before. These are dinners together, nothing too big or too fancy, but sometimes come with that always to be expected level of stress that happens when you entertain people. It’s nice to […]
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Exterior Cleaning
With the warmer weather arriving and it has been a long cold winter thanks to the pandemic, I thought it might be a good idea to clean all the exterior windows on my home. Ideally, as Summer rolls around, I’ll be having more and more fully vaccinated friends over for cookouts, game nights, and the […]
