This article is part of our 2020 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more from this very strange year. In this entry, we explore the best movie trailers of 2020. If you’re reading this, you don’t need me to tell you that this year was a doozy. Just about…
Once a booming mining town in the late 1800s, Hachita, New Mexico is now relegated to a “Census Designated Place” with between 25 and 50 residents. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe post office is all that keeps this nearly abandoned town from falling off the map. There are no gas stations…
In Slovenian, ajd literally means “heathen.” The rock formation of “Ajdovska Deklica” is usually known as the “Heathen Maiden” in English. Traditionally, it also denotes a supernatural quality. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonAccording to folklore, the maiden was a good-hearted villager who often guided travelers through snowstorms. In some renditions, she is described as…
Continuing with my coverage of the great films I saw at 2020’s International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), this article will cover the festival’s big winner Radiograph of a Family plus reviews of 100UP, A Thousand Cuts, and We Are The Thousand. Radiograph of a Family (Firouzeh Khosrovani) Radiograph of a Family may be the best…
With approximately 11,000 square feet of exhibit space, the new Istanbul Airport Museum offers an alternative to shopping and airport lounges for travelers with a long layover. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonFirst opened in July, 2020, the museum brings together hundreds of objects from museums across Turkey. It’s designed to help globetrotters…
This store is more than a shopping experience as it also showcases the history of country stores. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonThe Old Country Store and Museum in Moultonboro, New Hampshire is the epitome of a classic country store. Inside is filled with penny candy, locally made jams, maple syrup, and…
The city of Comacchio is located on a branch of the Po river. Inhabited since ancient times, this town has always been one of the major cultural centers in the region. Contested by many local powers for centuries, Comacchio was governed by the Papal States in the 16th-century. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong…
This article is part of our 2020 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more released in this very strange year. In this entry, we explore the best frames and shots of 2020. Chopping the year into twenty Perfect Shots is a stressful endeavor and leaves the…
This month, Gastro Obscura is sharing the recipes and stories behind amazing holiday dishes and drinks from around the world in the ongoing series “Home-Cooked Holidays.” In Mexico, ponche Navideño—or Christmas punch—is a holiday classic, served up at parties and posadas, neighborhood-wide re-enactments of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter for the birth of Jesus. “Christmas…
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the second stage play from August Wilson and, coincidentally, the second of which Denzel Washington has helped bring to the big screen, has now released on Netflix. Featuring the final performance from the late Chadwick Boseman and having made it to the top of President Barack Obama’s list of 2020 films, the production appears to be…
For more than two decades, Hervé Durand has been offering visitors the opportunity to travel back in time some 2,000 years. Not by operating a time machine. Instead, he hands out glasses of wine. Each year, on the second Sunday in September, Durand leads an “experimental archaeological adventure” at his Mas des Tourelles vineyard in…
Located in a partially excavated and reconstructed Gallo-Roman villa, Mas des Tourelles offers the chance to sip a glass of wine that recreates the taste of ancient Greece or Rome. Although the winery also produces Syrah and other modern wines, its most interesting offerings are made by following the detailed notes and records of Pliny the…
This article is part of our 2020 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more released in this very strange year. In this entry, we explore the best TV scenes of 2020. Crafting a good TV scene is an art form, one that requires teamwork between actors, directors, cinematographers, editors, musicians,…
“I’m free here.” Zeitgeist Films + Kino Lorber have debuted an official trailer for the acclaimed Romanian documentary titled Acasa, My Home, which initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film won a Special Jury Award for Cinematography at Sundance, and played at numerous other festivals – mostly recently DOC NYC and…
Throughout this pandemic year, it is safe to say that the activity I miss the most is going to the movies. The shared excitement as the lights finally go down and the anticipated film begins, the moments of communal shock and awe as the audience collectively gasps over a plot twist or cheers a heroic…
Television felt more essential than ever in 2020, a year in which so many people never left its side. As a new streaming service sprouted up every month, the complaint wasn’t that there weren’t enough quality shows to watch but that it was impossible to find them all. Just a few years after the conversation…
This article is part of our 2020 Rewind. Follow along as we explore the best and most interesting movies, shows, performances, and more from this very strange year. In this entry, we explore the best video essays of 2020. In 2020, distraction was a gift. Thankfully, video essays provided with sharp wits and even sharper edits. Some unpacked…
It has been awhile since I last wrote a review; almost 8 months, to be precise. Within that time, I have lost my job, rigorously searched for a new one, got close, almost gave up, and as of this writing, have still been searching. At the same time, I’ve watched people with situations way worse…
Visitors may think the fossilized sea creatures seem a bit fishy when first visiting the land-locked Fick Fossil and History Museum. That is until they learn they are actually the remains of strange and unique creatures that populated the oceans millions of years ago. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWestern Kansas was…
On November 22, 2014, a 911 caller reported a child playing with a gun, allegedly pointing it at others in the park at Cudell Commons on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. Within seconds of officers arriving on the scene at 3:30 pm., one officer unloaded his weapon and shot Tamir Rice in the stomach….
“Wonder Woman 1984” director Patty Jenkins sought inspiration from an unlikely source. “Superman III.” Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonYes, that scorned sequel leaned into the franchise’s funny bone with tragic results. Co-star Richard Pryor’s career never fully recovered. Nor did the “Superman” series. Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in…