‘The Dictator’ Rules With A Satirist’s Fist
Many fans will be disappointed that Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator is a more or less conventional comedy and not an ambush-interview mockumentary in the style of Borat and Bruno. But that guerrilla-clown shtick would be tough to sustain: Why not let him try something else? The good news is that The Dictator is loose [...]
ABC’s Fall Schedule: Reba McEntire, Country Music, And Satan The Landlord
ABC unveiled its new fall shows yesterday as part of the ongoing circus/party/ad campaign that is the 2012 network upfronts. It’s rolling out three new dramas with completely different tones. Nashville, starring the enchanting Connie Britton as country singer Rayna James, whose long career is a little tricky in the age of crossover superstars like [...]
Yul Kwon, From Bullying Target To Reality TV Star
May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. All month, Tell Me More is featuring guests who trace their heritage to that part of the world and who have changed the game in everything from science to sports, pop culture to politics. Yul Kwon first earned his game-changer status when the Yale University-trained lawyer put [...]
A Fleeting Memory Of Carlos Fuentes
When I heard that the Mexican literary legend Carlos Fuentes died Tuesday at 83, I remembered a long, easygoing interview I did with him years ago. We talked about many things — including what epitaph he wanted carved on his tombstone. It was the autumn of 1995 and I was a reporter at The Washington [...]
‘The Chemistry Of Tears’ And The Art Of Healing
Peter Carey’s dazzling new novel, The Chemistry of Tears, encompasses heartbreak, the comfort of absorbing work, the transformative power of beauty and the soul of an old machine. If you’ve never read the Australian-born, two-time Booker Prize–winning author of Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang — or, most recently, Parrot and [...]
In Writing, Fuentes Shed Light On Poverty, Inequality
Carlos Fuentes was the son of a Mexican diplomat and spent years living abroad, including the United States. But Mexico — the country, its people and politics — was central to his writing. Fuentes, one of the most influential Latin American writers, died Tuesday at a hospital in Mexico City at the age of 83. [...]
Home Video Picks: ‘Being John Malkovich’
Time now for a home viewing recommendation from our film critic Bob Mondello. This time Bob urges taking the plunge from the seven-and-a-half-th floor into the Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray release of Being John Malkovich. 1999 Weirdness run amok: Struggling puppeteer John Cusack gets a filing job in an office building where one floor — seven-and-a-half [...]
Even Your Mother Will Approve Of Vegetable Chips
We know we need to eat more vegetables. The challenge is to do it with flavor and variety. So we’ve become creative. Put all your vegetables in a blender, pulverize and serve. There’s a booth at my local farmers market dispensing cups of green slop to devotees of that religion. I’ve tried it. I haven’t [...]
Fox Rolls Out Its New Fall Shows, Including One From Mindy Kaling
The difference between Fox, whose lineup we’re looking at today, and NBC, whose lineup we looked at yesterday, is that Fox considers itself fundamentally healthy with challenges, while NBC knows that it really really really needs something to hit already. Fox’s schedule doesn’t have quite as many holes, so in the fall, they’ll actually only [...]
Audra McDonald: Shaping ‘Bess’ On Broadway
Audra McDonald has starred in stage classics and on TV, where she played a leading role on the ABC drama Private Practice for four seasons. But the actress might be better known for her stunning voice and for her performances in the Broadway productions of Carousel, Master Class and Ragtime, which helped her rack up [...]
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