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Recent Posts
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Hrafnfreistuor (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 26th of November: Music we’re thankful for; fairy tales and myths; a graphic novel about a pandemic; an Old Hag, a Piglet, Canadian television, and hot chocolate!
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Greening the Estate (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 12th of November: a grab bag of adult and YA fiction and nonfiction; Russian and Eastern European folk-rock, classical, Celtic, blues music and more; Sons of Anarchy; an intrepid air hostess
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Guy Fawkes Day (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 29th of October: Halloween is Nigh on Us!
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Summer afternoon (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 15th of October: Music in fiction and non-fiction; Psycho and its sequels; Two Fat Ladies; some Gaiman; folk music from all over, plus some Zappa and some jazz
- What’s New for the 12th of October:
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Tunes
- What’s New for the 1st of the October: Horror, time travel, murder and fantasy, and comics journalism; personal Scandinavian jazz, ancient Persian songs, bluegrass, Americana, and a podcast; Johnny Cash on TV; chocolate and empanadas
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: Béla
- What’s New for the 17th of September: WWII (and other) mysteries; jazz, Americana, Celtic music and more; Doc Martin; summer beer and ale
- A Kinrowan Estate story: My Library
- What’s New for the 3rd of September: Gary pens a short tribute to Jimmy Buffett, New jazz and Americana music, a grab bag of styles from the archives, books about English folk rock, books about breakfast and brunch, a black and white world, a panned comic, and more
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Library and Its Librarian
- What’s New for the 20th of August: Some favorite mysteries; jazz, country, RT, and a musical grab bag; a hoedown, a big dragon, Hellboy, and of course ice cream!
- A Kinrowan Estate story: A Guest Lecturer
- What’s New for the 6th of August: Weird westerns and singing cowboys, Jane Lindskold and two from Patricia McKillip; ska, Spanish jazz, klezmer, and songs about fishing; Mary Poppins and lonely Vampires, Roman emperors and superheroes; and a couple of Oregon ales in a British style pub
- What’s New for the 3rd of September:
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Chasing Fireflies
- What’s New for the 23rd of July: Books by Roger Zelazny; Scottish music, SCOTS music, dance music and Asian Underground; chocolate-peanut butter cookies, rock poster art, and a little primal horror
- A Kinrowan Estate Story: A Theological Anthropologist
- What’s New for the 9th of July: All Sorts of Good Things
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Musical Ganeshas (A Letter to Svetlana)
- What’s New for the 25th of June: Steeleye Span edition
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Danse Macabre (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 11th of June: Space Opera, Folkmanis Rat in a Tin Can, Lots of folk rock – Steeleye Span, Orthodox Celts – Maddy Prior interview, some contradance and some bluegrass; a catty film review; Vess’s Ballads & Sagas; and some new Norwegian folk rock
- A Kinrowan Estate story: Reading Groups (A Letter to Anna)
- What’s New for the 28th of May: All Sorts of Interesting Reviews, Page and Plant’s ‘Kashmir’ and Kage’s Favourite Folk Song
Category Archives: Film
Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story
[The town of Hammond, Indiana, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of this movie next weekend, December 16-17, 2023, with a gathering called “Ralphie and the Gang Come Home.”] Tim Hoke wrote this review. Based on stories by Jean Shepherd, A … Continue reading
Acorn Media’s Slings & Arrows Season 3
The Chicago Tribune exclaims, “[Slings & Arrows] can make you both LAUGH and CRY… don’t miss it.” And having just finished watching all six episodes of the third and final season of this extraordinary Canadian production, I have to admit … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged Canadian television, Shakeapeare, television comedy
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Acorn Media’s Slings & Arrows, Season 2
The first season of Slings & Arrows told the story of the New Burbage Shakespeare Festival, a Canadian theatre company not unlike Ontario’s Stratford Festival. The season was entertaining, funny, and actually pretty sexy as the new artistic director (played … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged Canadian TV, Shakespeare, television comedy
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Acorn Media’s Slings & Arrows Season 1
There are raves all over the cover of this DVD set. The New York Times calls Slings & Arrows “charming, complex, lively.” Newsday says “funny, romantic, sweet, thrilling.” And on it goes. Until I watched this DVD set I had … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged canadian, Shakespeare, television comedy
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FX’s Sons of Anarchy, Season One
We must have seen a promo for this show on some cable TV station a few months ago. I remember that Ron Perlman was in the clip, looking very nasty in black leather and smoking a fat cigar that would … Continue reading
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and its sequels, prequels and remakes: Psycho II, Psycho III, Bates Motel, Psycho IV: The Beginning, and Psycho
Psycho, the 1960 film by Alfred Hitchcock from the novel by Robert Bloch (which was in turn based on the life of Ed Gein, also the inspiration for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs), is such … Continue reading
Johnny Cash’s At San Quentin
In the late 1960s, Johnny Cash was on a roll. He was finally getting his life together after a disastrous decade of drug abuse which led to lots of legal problems, a divorce and a growing reputation as an erratic … Continue reading
Various artists’ The Best of The Johnny Cash TV Show, 1969-1971
American musicians always have, for the most part, understood that the various categories of American music are mostly imaginary. They’re marketing tools drawn up by those in the business of selling music to the public, and they cater mostly to … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Music
Tagged Americana music, folk music, rock and roll, soul music
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PBS’s Seaside Hotel (Badehotellet)
Earlier this year my household found itself without a television series to stream, having finished the available seasons of all the shows we were watching. Some friends recommended Seaside Hotel on PBS and our tastes usually agree, so we gave … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged Denmark, miniseries, television comedy, television drama
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Dominic Minghella’s Doc Martin, Series 2
Doctor Martin Ellingham made his first appearance as a minor character in the film Saving Grace (his name was Dr. Martin Bamford then, always portrayed by Martin Clunes). Sky Pictures made two “prequel” television films which took the successful doctor … Continue reading
Posted in Film
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