Netflix docuseries revisits the obvious REALITY CHECK: INSIDE AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL. “That is the only way you change. That is the only way you get better: by someone calling you on your shit.” These are the words of legendary supermodel Tyra Banks at the close of Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, Netflix’s […]
Arts + Scene
Reviews, interviews and upcoming highlights from the week in visual and performing arts around Humboldt County.
Posted inDance
Music Today: Sunday, Feb. 22
It’s the final showtime for this year’s Fiesta Folklórica at the Van Duzer Theatre at 2 p.m. Tickets will run you $10-$15 for a whole lot of music and dancing in celebration ofMexican culture through the ages. This is the fourth iteration of this offering from CalPoly Humboldt’s Dance, Music and Theatre department, and, if […]
Posted inScreens
‘Wuthering Heights’ and Fennell’s ‘Wuthering’ Lows
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2011), adapted by British director Andrea Arnold, tells a truth. The international film industry has seen many adaptations of Emily Brontë’s 1847 Gothic novel — often construed as a tale of forbidden love and irreconcilable differences with some directors opting for a more strict approach and others setting their imagination loose upon the […]
Posted inPoetry
Morning Breakfast
One apple, sliced Bowl of oatmeal, piping hot Brown sugar over the top Sweetened coconut Strong coffee, cream, slowly drunk Watching morning news In horror. — Lori Cole
Posted inScreens
Too Much, Not Enough and Perfect
NO OTHER CHOICE. It can be a stifling, stymying exercise to sit with one’s own predilections and preferences. Our current, rotten era has reinforced this, of course, but in this case, I’m thinking more specifically about the art and artists we enjoy — revere, even. We hope the work will be both reliable and unpredictable. […]
Posted inPoetry
Winter Revelation
Redwood bark oozes the morning downpour through spongy fibers, scattered drops free fall from high in the forest canopy, sagging cowls of moss drip from thick maple trunks the forest is leaden and still, but as the sun sinks light floods the understory, luminescent fingers stretch eastward among the tall trunks, unmasking sluggish moisture-laden motes […]
Posted inScreens
Survival Instincts
Send Help SEND HELP. In a rare moment of self-preservation, I chose not to see and review Melania, fun though it might have been to dunk on it as every critic not employed by or chasing the favor of the Trump administration has. Its pedigree makes all the statement it needs to, helmed by Brett […]
Posted inFront Row
A Full Friendship
The Half Life of Marie Curie at Redwood Curtain The Half Life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson is a glimpse into the lives of two historical women of science, Marie Curie and Hertha Ayrton. The events that took place during their lives and their part in them changed them and the world. Gunderson tells […]
Posted inArt Beat
Every Day Feels Like Low-Fired Clay
Annakatrin Burnham’s Flowstate At first glance, Annakatrin Burnham’s idiosyncratic sculptures are abstract and otherworldly — almost alien. Titling these quirky ceramics Trophies creates an immediate inroad for viewers to recognize their trophy-esque formal qualities: three-dimensional objects designed for display bearing a stable base adorned with a decorative stem or crowning object rising vertically from the […]
Posted inScreens
The Oscars and Sentimental Value
Sure as death and taxes, the Academy Award nominations are once again upon us. The big news: Sinners has obliterated the previous record for previous nominations. Time now being what it is — some previously unknown, unknowable glue-trap of speed and paralysis — a lot of time has passed since the movie debuted and, I […]
Posted inPoetry
Home
I am from ocean air and silver fog. I am from marshes, blue herons, and white egrets. I am from Eucalyptus holding winds at bay, piebald cows blanketed in mist lichen on ghostly fences. I am from otters, whitecaps, and the sea spray of a whale’s journey. I am from Sunday beach picnics — golden […]
Posted inScreens
The Rip is a Genre Good Time
THE RIP. When asked if we really “need” another crooked cop heist movie, I suspect most casual viewers — even cineastes — would say no. As a bit of a dork (I still haven’t earned the nerd title) and a basic genre enthusiast, I would argue that while we may not need it, a crooked […]