Pop Culture
MOVIE REVIEW: JAMES BOND – QUANTUM OF SOLACE The latest James Bond movie opened this weekend in the US, beginning on Friday. It is already #1 in Europe, having opened there a week earlier, and a huge hit in the UK, where it opened two weeks ago. The first weekend in the UK was a…
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Concert Review: James Taylor at Red Rocks in Denver In December I was in Tokyo. I’d been in Asia for 2 weeks already and I was worn out, cold, lonely, and homesick. As I walked by a Starbucks in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, I heard the strains of James Taylor. It took me home.…
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MOVIE REVIEW: MAMMA MIA! Official disclaimer: I have seen the stage musical version of Mamma Mia! six times. My wife and I first saw it in London, and as we walked out at the end of the exciting encore, we both turned to each other and said “I could see that again.” Two days later…
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MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN – THE DARK KNIGHT The second installment of the new Batman franchise, begun with Batman Begins, picks up our story not long after where we left off. But I’m not going to talk about the plot of The Dark Knight, other than to say it starts with a bang involving a powerful…
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Concert Review: Stevie Wonder at Coors Amphitheater in Denver Stevie Wonder has toured only once since 1988. It’s been 13 years since he has graced Denver with a concert, and Denver welcomed him back with open arms to Fiddler’s Green at the Coors Amphitheater. Despite starting 30 minutes late, he played for over two hours…
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MOVIE REVIEW: WALL-E What a sweet movie, what a cute film. Who else but Pixar could make a movie that’s animation, science-fiction, comedy, spaceships, green — and romance…and make it all work? And the tributes to other movies of this genre! In the same way that Pixar’s The Incredibles paid tribute to early James Bond…
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HISTORY OF IRON MAN I had the opportunity to catch the midnight premier of what is likely to be the initial “summer blockbuster” of the 2008 season. Iron Man has since this debut had the second biggest non-sequel opening day in history, trailing only Spider-Man. Last summer had 14 sequels, this summer only 7. More…
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To Twitter Two Twitters To Tweet I love movies, and I love the Academy Awards show. I’ve watched it each year for decades, but I did something this last Sunday that I’ve never done before. I tracked comments on the show via Twitter. There were about a thousand “tweets” on subjects related to what people…
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THE WAR: TV MINISERIES In January I wrote about my conversation with Ken Burns, award-winning producer of The Civil War documentary, about his upcoming miniseries about World War II called simply The War. This presentation took place at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He was at that time previewing his 7-part, 14.5-hour series…
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CONCERT REVIEW: DIANA KRALL AT RED ROCKS IN DENVER I discovered this singer several years ago while traveling through Canada when my wife played me her CD. I asked her “Who is this fabulous old black singer? She sounds like Ella Fitzgerald.” When she showed me the CD cover, I was stunned. Diana Krall is…
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Book Review: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien Perhaps the saddest book I’ve ever read, the first “new” J.R.R. Tolkien book in 30 years, is “…long and sad in the telling, as are all tales of Middle Earth.” While it is beautiful in its composition and profound in its scope, it contains at all…
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HISTORY OF SPIDER-MAN There is something about being first in line for the midnight showing of the premiere of a summer blockbuster, not to mention that I was probably the oldest person in the theater. The Experience: A young friend of mine insured our place at the front of the line by camping out since…
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