Martin Scorsese’s new film, The Irishman, conjures up a lost world. It depicts an era when the Mafia was so powerful that it set off alarms in the Kennedy White House, and Scorsese even hints that organized crime was behind JFK’s assassination. But by the end of the three-hour-plus movie, the nostalgia fades and so does the pinkie-ring finery. Every made man Scorsese introduces to the viewer is snuffed out until all that’s left is Frank Sheeran (played by Robert DeNiro), a disheveled, wheelchair-bound ex-hit man who’s haunted by his memories. At the film’s end, a pair of FBI agents plead with Sheeran to talk about his victims, telling him there’s no reason to keep silent anymore because there’s no one left to protect. “Everybody’s dead, Mr. Sheeran,” one agent says. “They’re all gone.” Well, many still remember. One person who knew the real-life mob families that show up in The Irishman is President Donald … [Read more...] about The Real-Life Mob Families of ‘The Irishman’? Donald Trump Knew Them
Trump trump donald trump song
Still, Poetry Will Rise
When it was announced, early on Wednesday morning, that Donald Trump was also President-Elect Donald Trump, a poem went viral on social media. “Differences of Opinion,” the British poet Wendy Cope’s sharp evisceration of mansplaining, spoke, in its spare nine lines, to a political moment that has been defined in large part by a tense relationship both with women and with facts. The planet goes on being round. pic.twitter.com/Yd2BgX8abG — Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) November 9, 2016“Campaign in poetry; govern in prose,” the old adage goes. This moment, though, has in many ways flipped that idea: The 2016 presidential campaign was decidedly lacking in poetry. Yet in its aftermath, as Americans consider the contours of their new government, they are, often, turning to poems: to Cope and her gallows humor. To Maya Angelou and her songs of self-love. To Adam Zagajewski. To Adrienne Rich. To Riz MC. Vox, on Wednesday afternoon, published a post headlined, … [Read more...] about Still, Poetry Will Rise
Stephen Colbert’s Nancy Pelosi song gets mixed reactions: ‘What happened to comedy?’
close Video Stephen Colbert mocks Trump’s CPAC speech: He was 'dry-humping old glory' 'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert returned from his vacation on Monday night and went after President Trump for the 'epically weird' speech he gave at CPAC over the weekend. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" drew mixed reactions Thursday night after a bizarre comedy tribute to Nancy Pelosi. The late-night show sent social media into a frenzy after it released a comedic jingle about Pelosi, hours after she had announced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump will proceed. STEPHEN COLBERT 'LATE SHOW' WRITER: 'I'M JUST GLAD WE RUINED BRETT KAVANAUGH'S LIFE' The musical tribute was a song that included several jabs at POTUS, 73, and Pelosi, 79, who were respectively described as a "bum" and "grandma" in the first few lines. "DC's got its hustlers / the White House got its bum / Speaker of the House is Nancy Pelosi / she's as pant-suited as they come," … [Read more...] about Stephen Colbert’s Nancy Pelosi song gets mixed reactions: ‘What happened to comedy?’
Dead’s Hart releases long-in-making album
During the Obama administration, Mickey Hart would bring a box of a couple dozen CDs into the Oval Office for the president. They were recordings of ethnic music from countries around the world drawn from the sound archives of the Smithsonian Institute, where Hart serves on an advisory board. “How can you know about these countries if you don’t know their music?” he once asked the president. Grateful Dead drummer Hart does know something about other countries’ music. He traveled down the Nile to play with Nubian tar drummers. He supervised a CD series of “Endangered Music,” field recordings from pioneer musicologists. He’s written books about the history of percussion. He has won two Grammy Awards for previous multiculti, all-percussion records by his group Planet Drum. His life is a river of rhythm. “I’m recording every day,” he says. “That is my job. When I’m not playing Dead music, I am in the studio every … [Read more...] about Dead’s Hart releases long-in-making album
The New ‘Will & Grace’ Makes Me Cry. The New ‘Curb’ Makes Me Groan.
Thursday night’s episode of Will & Grace not only proved why the revival works, but more importantly, also just how hard the show is willing to work to make it clear why we we need it at all. There was a moment in the episode, “Grandpa Jack,” that made me gasp, it was so shocking. It wasn’t when we learned that Jack (Sean Hayes) is now a grandfather, and that his grandson is likely gay. It was a throwaway bit in Grace’s (Debra Messing) office at the beginning of the episode that makes passing reference to Donald Trump’s trip to Puerto Rico. Grace admonishes Karen (Megan Mullally) for harassing their apparently Puerto Rican coworker. Karen makes amends by throwing a paper towel roll, Trump style, at him: “Heads up, Puerto Rico! Have a good time.” Grace is mortified, but the coworker reassures her, “Every time she does it I make her send a grand to hurricane relief.” Did they write this episode, like, yesterday?! While Will … [Read more...] about The New ‘Will & Grace’ Makes Me Cry. The New ‘Curb’ Makes Me Groan.
