Arts & Culture

  • A trio of British comedies

    Some decades back, our local PBS station would run several British shows on Friday nights. For many Americans this was their first exposure to classic UK fare and, for me, solidified my love of British humour. (See what I did there?) Here are a few of the shows that grabbed our attention and found their… Continue reading

  • To the Max: ’80s Music in Books

      Let’s face it…many a music snob would declare the 1980s as the worst decade in music, while others would put ’80s music in the “so bad it’s good” category. A flurry of recent titles chronicle the highlights, and occasional lowlights, of the decade’s most influential artists. For me and my high school friends, heavy… Continue reading

  • Ninth Annual Seattle Asian American Film Festival

    The ninth annual Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) takes place from March 4 to March 14 and showcases feature-length and short format films by and about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across North America, with an emphasis on filmmakers from the Pacific Northwest. Check out the festival’s 123 films here, many of which are PNW-centered. Snag tickets… Continue reading

  • Jacob Lawrence’s American Struggle

    In March, the Seattle Art Museum will host a timely exhibition, Jacob Lawrence:  The American Struggle. Best known for his work The Migration Series, Lawrence set his sight on the American Revolution creating a series of 30 painted panels between 1954 and 1956, focusing on historical events occurring from 1775 to 1817. It is interesting… Continue reading

  • Mardi Gras on my mind

    Mardi Gras on my mind

    Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans? As another Mardi Gras rolls around – it’s tomorrow, in case you’ve forgotten – this question is especially poignant for NOLA expats, as well as anyone who holds the Crescent City dear to their heart. Tonight, I’ll be making jambalaya and gumbo, and baking up… Continue reading

  • The Show Must Go On Hoopla!

    By now, theater fans are finding creative and unexpected ways to connect with their favorite medium that have grown quickly in this time of necessity. In some places, socially distanced music festivals have brought performers back to the stage. Many streaming services are picking up content as quickly as they can, and streaming shows of… Continue reading

  • David Bowie’s Movie Music

    David Bowie’s Movie Music

    Today, January 8, 2021, would’ve been David Bowie’s 74th birthday. It’s been five years since we lost our patron saint of glam. Five years, what a surprise. He still turns up everywhere, that sound and vision shapeshifter, especially on movie soundtracks. When I’m watching a movie, and a Bowie song comes on, I feel like… Continue reading

  • Watch and Read: Stranger Things

    While I can honestly watch Stranger Things over and over and over again we have so much material that adds on to the Stranger Things universe to quench your nerdy hearts. As well as a few reads to give you the same feeling the show did – for all ages! The Stranger Things Field Guild… Continue reading

  • New Year Resolutions: Exercise in the Time of Covid

    Coming to you from the cyberpunk dystopia that will not end, a series of New Year’s Resolution-themed posts, because the only way out is through. My fellow apocalypse-sters, you and I both know the importance of exercise. It keeps your meat sack in working condition, helps you sleep better, gives you energy, and can even… Continue reading

  • Romantic Christmas Movies

    Nothing says Christmas season to me more than cuddling up under a warm blanket with a mug of hot chocolate and watching a holiday romantic movie.  Unfortunately, I don’t have cable so I can’t binge-watch the Hallmark Channel.  But luckily for me, the library owns a lot of the movies.  To find the whole list… Continue reading

  • Christmas Horror!

    Ah, Christmas! A magical time filled with colored lights, falling snow, and visits from old St Nick. Yet colored lights can’t hide the fact that each day it gets darker earlier and stays dark longer. Falling snow is awfully good at making footprints look strangely shaped or just covering them up all together. And isn’t… Continue reading

  • What to Watch to Feel Hygge

    Hygge (pronounced hue-gah) is a Danish word that describes “coziness and contentment.” With winter beginning and the stress of COVID-19, this is the perfect time to try to foster some hygge. Here are a few films to help you attain your own coziness and contentment: Continue reading

  • Thirty Names of Night

    Come December’s shortest days, there are, amongst us, those who relish Burning the Midnight Oil, who revel in every blue-black hour’s saturating presence.  These Night Bloomers, Know the Night, The Long Night, Faithful and Virtuous Night understand that as each day’s darkness lengthens its translucent filaments entwine with time’s endless line.  This is the story,… Continue reading

  • A Lovecraft Country Syllabus

    Matt Ruff might have a new book out this year – 88 Names – but the reason he is one of my favorite people of 2020 is due to the HBO series Lovecraft Country.  It is based on his book of the same name, but Misha Green the creator took it to a whole new… Continue reading

  • The Inimitable P.G. Wodehouse

    P G Wodehouse was a prolific writer, with nearly all of his stories set among British aristocracy and/or in the proverbial ‘polite society’ of 1920s and 30s Britain. Knowingly or not, he somewhat reflected the naïve obliviousness of a few of his characters in his real life. After moving to France and being captured by… Continue reading

  • Wintering Over: Art in Shades of Dark and Light

    Winter, like life, comes in shades of dark and light. Herein lies the drama of an indispensable duo meant to be seen, in multitudes of splendor, in paintings photographs and drawings. Let us go into the season with an Invocation of Beauty seeking not, its Genesis but Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico and Antonio Berni’s Juanito and… Continue reading

  • Watch and Read: The Queen’s Gambit

    Just like with books, shows will also leave me wanting more. While The Queen’s Gambit is based on a book by Walter S. Tevis it’s also pretty darn popular right now, as anyone who has seen the show can probably imagine. So here are a few other diamonds in the rough to get you through…and… Continue reading

  • Legendary Children: A QTBIPOC Celebration Goes Online

    LEGENDARY CHILDREN is a QTBIPOC-led extravaganza is usually held at Seattle Art Museum, featuring spoken word, performance, dance, and a public runway. Legendary Children is where arts and social justice get real, with QTBIPOC voices ringing loud and clear. Now you know a pandemic can’t stop The Children. Save the date for Saturday Nov 21,… Continue reading