Category Archives: Uncategorized

My husband and I have finished watching The Queen’s Gambit, and I’m a little sad to not be living in Beth Harmon’s world anymore. I’m considering watching PBS Masterpiece’s The Miniaturist next, because I just can’t get enough of the remarkable Anya Taylor-Joy. The Critics Choice Awards were held over the weekend, and several winnersContinue reading “Quick Hits: March 9”

Stay tuned throughout March for posts about remarkable women, starting with a discussion about some of my favorite female pop culture friendships. Elle and Max – Stranger Things Elle and Max got off to a rocky start. Having been separated from Mike, Dustin and Lucas for most of season 2, Elle sees Max as anContinue reading “Female Friendships I Love”

On this day in 2010, at the 82nd Academy Awards, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win a Best Director Oscar, for 2009’s The Hurt Locker. I’ll never forget Barbra Streisand’s glee as she announced, “The time has come.” Now, eleven years later, let’s say “The time has come” for a woman of color.Continue reading “Quick Hits: March 7”

Part 1 in a series. Gen-X. Slackers. The MTV generation. Latchkey kids. Thirteeners? Apparently, generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss suggested the latter name for the thirteenth generation born since the American Revolution; thankfully, it never caught on. The term Generation X was coined by writer Douglas Coupland, in his 1991 book Generation X:Continue reading “Talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation (X)”

Congratulations to all the Golden Globes winners, but especially Anya Taylor-Joy, who is so brilliant in The Queen’s Gambit that I’ll never be over it. Today would have been David Niven’s 111th birthday. I know he was an Oscar-winning actor (1959’s Separate Tables) and a writer and served in the British army in WWII, butContinue reading “Quick Hits: March 1”

On this day in 2011, The Social Network took home three awards at the 83rd Oscars – Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score. It should have won more – it was absolutely the best film of 2010, and the fact that David FIncher hasn’t won a Best Director Oscar yet isContinue reading “Quick Hits: February 27”

On this day in 1989, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway opened at the Imperial Theater. Jason Alexander is a god damn delight as the narrator – and rightfully won the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (the show won 5 other Tonys, including Best Musical). You can listen to the Original BroadwayContinue reading “Quick Hits: February 26”

February is Black History Month, and like every other segment of our society, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has a long history of racism that it has only recently attempted to remedy. The recent pressure on the Academy to diversify has resulted in very little improvement; in 2020, the distribution ofContinue reading “Black History Month and the Oscars”

The Muppet Show is now on Disney+ and you’d better believe I’m watching it. The first episode’s guest star was the incomparable Rita Moreno. The Go-Go’s have finally – FINALLY – been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, after fifteen years of eligibility. The most successful all-female rock band ever, they stillContinue reading “Quick Hits: February 22”

On February 20th, 1998, the US box office hit $1 billion for the year, the quickest that’s ever happened. Those are big numbers. Huge. Titanic, you might say. It’s impossible to overstate how much Titanic dominated popular culture in late 1997 and early 1998. The film smashed one box office record after the next –Continue reading “Titanic steamrolls the box office”