Walraversijde in Ostend, Belgium

Walraversijde in Ostend, Belgium

For several centuries, the village of Walraversjide (also called Raversyde) thrived through fishing and farming. Largely abandoned due to conflicts in the 16th century, it was not rediscovered until 1992. Since then, it has been meticulously studied and partially reconstructed, complete with medieval buildings and a history museum. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong…

Shiva Statue in Shankharapur, Nepal

Shiva Statue in Shankharapur, Nepal

Not far from the headwaters of the Manohara River, Shiva sits overlooking a sacred spot marked by the Swasthani Mandir. It was here that Parvati fasted and endured extraordinary hardships in an effort to charm a grieving Shiva to become her husband. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonAs the story goes, Shiva…

The Water Clock in Rome, Italy

The Water Clock in Rome, Italy

A hydrochronometer is a type of water clock. There are actually two of these extremely rare clocks located in Rome, the other is at Palazzo Berardi. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonFather Giovan Battista Embriaco was an inventor and professor at the College of St Thomas. Embriaco created this hydrochronometer in 1867, and…

THE MAURITANIAN Trailer

THE MAURITANIAN Trailer

The movies are going back to Guantanamo in The Mauritanian, the latest from director Kevin Macdonald. The horrors and hypocrisies of the Guantanamo Bay detention center shouldn’t be news to anyone, but the ways in which it disregarded the fundamentals of American law and values are worth examining again and again. This time it’s the story…

Monkey Beach in West Mersea, England

Monkey Beach in West Mersea, England

A small stretch of West Mersea’s beach is known by the strange moniker, Monkey Beach. The reason for this curious name, as well as its adjoining Monkey Steps, is believed to have stemmed from the beach’s past.  Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIt’s believed by some that at the bottom of the…

When Usually Solitary Octopuses Get Together, Odd Things Happen

When Usually Solitary Octopuses Get Together, Odd Things Happen

This story is excerpted and adapted from Peter Godfrey-Smith’s Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind, published in November 2020 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Wandering on scuba across a sandy plain populated by scallops during an exploratory dive in 2008, off the east coast of Australia, diver Matt Lawrence came across a…

Christmas Crossfire Netflix Film Review

Christmas Crossfire Netflix Film Review

★★★ Stars Directed by: #DetlevBuck Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: #DetlevBuck, #MartinBehnke Starring: #KostjaUllmann, #AlliNeumann, #SaschaAlexanderGersak, #SophiaThomalla, #MerlinRose Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Alicia Moore “A man foils an attempted murder then flees the crew of would-be killers, along with…

Clueless WaPo Urges Hollywood to Push Vaccines

Clueless WaPo Urges Hollywood to Push Vaccines

One of the most embarrassing aspects of modern Hollywood is its penchant for PSAs. Some stars serve up messaging for noble causes, like Ben Affleck’s work on behalf of Paralyzed Veterans of America. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho Marathon Other celebrity PSAs, though, get far more attention. Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves…

Finding Yingying

Finding Yingying

Yingying Zhang was a promising young graduate student who left her home, family and boyfriend in China to pursue her studies in the United States. She’s one of thousands of students who make the same journey, whose parents sacrifice both financially and emotionally to let their children go to an unknown country all in the…

8 Movies to Watch if You Like ‘Clue’

8 Movies to Watch if You Like ‘Clue’

Welcome to Movie DNA, a column that recognizes the direct and indirect cinematic roots of both new and classic movies. Learn some film history, become a more well-rounded viewer, and enjoy like-minded works of the past. This entry recommends movies to watch after Jonathan Lynn’s Clue. We’ve all been there. You google “movies like Clue” and…

Live Streaming BTS for the Independent Film, “Party”!!

Live Streaming BTS for the Independent Film, “Party”!!

———–Thank you so much for watching my video! It means a lot. In order to provide the best content I can, I encourage you to leave a comment and let me know what you think, good or bad. Please hit the SUBSCRIBE button if you want to see more. New videos are being released every…

10 Great Social Isolation Movie Scenes

10 Great Social Isolation Movie Scenes

The never-ending pandemic gave us a deeper understanding of social isolation and a kinship with the fictional characters who experienced it. It’s safe to say we’re all ready for this to be over (in fact, that might be the understatement of the year). Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIn the meantime, we…

Mr. Soul! Nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature at Cinema Eye Honors

Mr. Soul! Nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature at Cinema Eye Honors

Melissa Haizlip’s award-winning documentary, “Mr. Soul!”, has now been nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature at the Cinema Eye Honors. According to the awards group, which has been annual honoring nonfiction work since 2007, over 65% of its nominees this year are first-timers. “Women filmmakers and craftspersons made up 44% of today’s announcements, a record for Cinema Eye, and…

Usuki Stone Buddhas in Usuki, Japan

Usuki Stone Buddhas in Usuki, Japan

The city of Usuki in Oita Prefecture is noted for its Stone Buddhas believed to date back to the 12th-century. Their origins are quite unclear, as no historical records of them have survived. According to local folklore, they were created in memory of a princess who died young, but according to archaeological evidence, this seems…

Theoretically, A Paranoid Conspiratorial Phone Call indie film review

Theoretically, A Paranoid Conspiratorial Phone Call indie film review

★★ Directed by: Jorge Villacorta Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by: Jorge Villacorta Starring: Jorge Villacorta Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’Film Review by: Patrick Foley We’re living in a golden age for conspiracies right now. Everyone from Donald Trump to Denise Welch seems…

Modern Persuasion film review

Modern Persuasion film review

★★ Directed by #AlexAppel #JonathanLisecki Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonWritten by #AlexAppel #JonathanLisecki #BarbaraRadecki Starring #AliciaWitt Read moreRobert Stack Finally Solves a Mystery in ‘The Strange and Deadly Occurrence’,,Film Review by ,,Cat McAlpine Wren Cosgrove is happy to go on her morning runs, talk to her cat Wentworth, and work too…

How Do Stressed-Out Corals Smell?

How Do Stressed-Out Corals Smell?

If you are ever moved to be needlessly cruel to someone hunkered down for the winter in a dull, drafty place, you might send them a picture of Heron Island. A lush, sand-fringed freckle several hours by boat from Gladstone, Australia, it looks like a screensaver version of paradise. Adorably dour-looking black noddies perch in…

Detangling the Devilish Origins of Scandinavia’s St. Lucia Buns

Detangling the Devilish Origins of Scandinavia’s St. Lucia Buns

Every year, on December 13, golden-hued saffron buns bake in ovens across Scandinavia. Eating this sweet bread—known as lussebullar or lussekatter in Sweden, luciabrød in Denmark and Norway, and lucia-pullat in Finland—heralds the celebration of St. Lucia’s Day. In Sweden, eldest daughters often serve their parents buns and coffee in the morning while wearing a…

Revisiting Pee-Wee’s Christmas Special For The Holidays

Revisiting Pee-Wee’s Christmas Special For The Holidays

It’s that time of year again when streaming services and television channels get into the holiday spirit. Lifetime, Hallmark, and now Netflix are the titans of churning out holiday fare, which all seem to be set in the same small snowy town. This is also the time of year to revisit annual favorites. That time when family and friends…