The ol’ Trek-o-Meter, that linear scale used to track the intensity of one’s Star Trek fandom essayed in these pages last July, apparently isn’t quite ready to be retired yet. For one thing, there is finally a new original cast Star Trek movie in production, with Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces) as Kirk and Simon Pegg [...]

The Met– The New York Metropolitan Opera– has been offering selections from their current season in selected movie theatres as live HD transmissions. Saturday morning, my wife and I attended the latest one: Puccini’s La Bohème, Produced for the Met by Franco Zeffirelli.
It was something we had intended to do for a while. On New [...]

Got to spend the weekend up in Lake Tahoe with family. Tahoe is a large high mountain lake that straddles the border between California and Nevada. It’s mean level is 6225 feet (1898 meters) above sea level. I’m a sea level sort of guy, which meant the first evening I was up there I [...]

Jules Dassin passed away yesterday in Athens at age 96. The various obituaries tend to mention up top of his status as a blacklisted filmmaker and the husband of Melina Mercouri. Also mentioned first among his impressive achievements are the international thrillers he made during his Hollywood exile: Topkapi (1964), Never On Sunday (1960) [...]

Thank God the writer’s strike is over and the directors came to an agreement! At last we can count on an uninterrupted stream of entertainment! After all, once the writers and directors are in place, what more do you need?
That’s right my snark-concious friend, there’s a zinger coming. The actors’ contract expires June 30th, and [...]