Decorah, Iowa, 2023: The Porter House was built in 1867 for the merchant Dighton B. Ellsworth (1822–1896), an English immigrant who had come to Decorah from New York in 1855. After his death, the Ellsworth family sold the house to Francis and Emma Young whose daughter Grace married Adelbert Field Porter (known as "Bert" who had been raised in the house across the street) in 1904. The Young
C++: The Documentary premiered today on YouTube, and it was great to be on the live chat with Bjarne and many other key folks who participated in C++’s history. I’m honored to have been one of hundreds of people who have played a part in advancing Bjarne’s wonderful project over the years. If you haven’t watched this yet, make it a weekend goal. What a great synopsis of a 40-year success story, from humble beginnings to global adoption to being currently (as of Q3 2025) the fastest-growing of…
sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world that remembers High Maintenance by Miranda Cosgrove
The first recording today starts with the end of Blue Peter. There’s a trail for ‘Heart Term’. Then it’s Gastronuts – What’s the World’s Weirdest Diet? There a special guest, athlete Colin Jackson, who talks about the diets he has to use when competing. They look at the different diets that different sports people eat. They look at wartime rationing diets. Dr Sella explains why diet fizzy drinks float while sugared drinks sink in water. Explorer Benedict Allen talks about the kinds of things he…
It was 22 years ago today that I made the "Famous First Post" on A Shroud of Thoughts. From about 2002 to 2006, blogs were a bit of a fad. At the time, I had a lady friend who had a blog and it looked like fun, so I started my own blog. As to the title, in the early to mid-Naughts, titles with words like "thoughts" or 'similar words were in fashion, so I borrowed a phrase from Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. I have always regretted it, as it has occurred to me I should have chosen a…
I’ve been watching 70s movies lately, and it’s reminded me how much fun it is to watch Cybill Shepherd on the screen. Which eventually led me to wonder… “was Moonlighting any good?” I saw some episodes of that back in the 80s, and I remember it being an amusing if dopey show, but I don’t remember much else. I looked around for it, and: Er… OK… so it’s a sought-after item, but not enough to make them re-release it on 4K blu ray or anything. It’s available for streaming — but not around these…
I had seen the by Vincenzo Bellini‘s opera Norma twice (before yesterday evening) but both times were before I starting blogging so I was very pleased to see that Irish National Opera were doing a new production this year. It had a run at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, but I took the chance to see it National Opera House in Wexford. The first time I went there was last year and was to see a very different opera, although that one and Norma are both generally categorized by the term bel canto. I…
Two new movies deal with women struggling on their own -- albeit with very different issues. The Saudi movie Unidentified focuses on Noelle, a woman who lost a child shortly after its birth, a tragedy that colors everything that follows. Made in Argentina, The Currents takes us into a middle-class milieu where a fashion designer's life seems to be coming apart at the seams. Both movies are deliberately paced, but each illuminates the life of a woman trying to cope (or not) with very different…
Two new movies deal with women struggling on their own -- albeit with very different issues. The Saudi movie Unidentified offers insights into life in Saudi Arabia, focusing a character played by Mila Al Zahrani. Zahrani's Lena lost a child shortly after its birth, a tragedy that colors her life. Made in Argentina, The Currents takes us into a middle-class milieu where a fashion designer's life comes apart at the steams. Both movies are deliberately paced and, at its best, The Currents…
Another TCM film festival is in the books, and it was just as fabulous this year as it was the first time I attended back in 2013 – four wonderful days filled with films, friends, and fantastic special guests! As you may know, for the last six years, I’ve attended the festival with my older daughter, Veronica, and we always go a few days early to take in some special sights of L.A. This has previously included visits to Angels Flight, the Magic Castle, the Last Bookstore, Grand Central Market,…
by Amber Dubin Lucky episode number seven of Night Gallery feels more like a short film than some of the others. It’s a little lop-sided in its delivery, containing one segment over 40 minutes long while the second is less than 10, but both feature incredible acting and meaningful plots. It does make sense that … Continue reading [June 4, 1971] Night Gallery: "They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar" and "The Last Laurel" → The post [June 4, 1971] <em>Night Gallery</em>: "They're Tearing Down Tim…
The Sebastián Píriz variant cover for Land of Never #1 (Mad Cave, 2026) features some classic red string. ▲ Land of Never #1 (Mad Cave, 2026), Sebastián Píriz variant cover
Don Cherry, Henry Grimes & Ed Blackwell - November 1961Jazz scholar Lewis Porter is always turning up interesting and cool artifacts — and recently he shared a great one! An unreleased/unknown session with Don Cherry, Henry Grimes and Ed Blackwell? In 1961?! Sign me up. Some details from Porter: Cherry’s playing is melodic and creative, and I think you will enjoy his work here quite a bit. And his colleagues here are Henry Grimes on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums! There are lots of connections…
I’m continuing on with watching the miniseries Edward the King (1975) in desperate hopes of
I picked up a box set of Andrzej Munk’s documentaries for a song a while back, from a charity shop whose assistant bemoaned the low price even as I exulted in it. Then I loaned it to a documentarist, who returned it with the words “interesting views of ’50s Poland” which didn’t really encourage me […]
A musical adaptation of the most well-known novel of one of Minneosta's favorite sons, F. Scott Fitzgerald, opened on Broadway two years ago and is still playing. The touring production of The Great Gatsby has landed in Fitzgerald's birthplace for one week only. Did this critically acclaimed classic novel need to be adapted into a musical? Probably not. Is this format, what is essentially a musical comedy for the first three-quarters of the show, the best way to tell this American tragedy, a…
On Monday, I published a piece on whether a famous lead actually pays off at the box office. A few readers reached out to ask whether I had taken the films’ quality into account. I had, but what stuck with me was how many people clearly assumed that a famous cast meant a better film. The cynic in me assumed the opposite!Let’s briefly consider the two perspectives, and then see which the data reveals to be correct. Fame = quality?You can see why someone might think that famous actors would be in…
A SWELL PARTY, EVENTUALLY We “Call the Midwife” fans all suspected there was more pizazz to nurse Trixie than bicycling round Poplar in the 1950s, and indeed Helen George always was a dead classy, RAM- trained musical-theatre professional. In the vast dour Barbican hall she’s a golden breeze of a presence, as happy in showy absurdities as in the famous plaintive beauty of “True Love” . A number which, by the way, she delivers not in a boat like Grace Kelly but sprawled with Julian Ovenden’s…
I saw a post on Facebook recently about Lee Meriwether, who turned 91 a few days ago, and it reminded me of how she always seemed to be on television in the Comfort TV era, either as a series regular, a guest star, or as herself, helping contestants win cash and prizes on different game shows.Her IMDB page lists more than 125 credits from every conceivable television genre. Casting directors clearly had her near the top of their lists for roles that required both beauty and brains, not just one…
A question I was wondering after Backrooms last night, but which didn’t fit into my other post, was why the movie included the subplot with Mark Duplass as a whiskery employee for a mysterious company. This isn’t a deep dive on the movie, and it’s definitely not a complaint about Duplass. I tend to be pro-him, for his evangelism of indie filmmaking, and his support/promotion of Vidiots. But it’s pretty hard to make the case that his character, and in fact his entire subplot, needs to be in this…
Scribed by Sandre the Giant Released: 7th May 1996 Like the snake on the cover, lying in wait with a cold calculating stare, ‘The Great Southern Trendkill’ is an ambush predator. Oft overlooked in the pantheon of classic Pantera releases, their eighth full length lies coiled in the shadows of the ‘Cowboys-Vulgar-Driven’ trilogy of groove metal standards. Recorded under strained circumstances, as Phil Anselmo’s increasing heroin addiction (started to cope with pain issues in his back due to…
The first recording today starts with the end of Sportsround. There’s a trail for Natural Born Hunters. Then it’s What’s New Scooby-Doo? – Roller Ghoster Ride! This episode takes place at an amusement park. This particular ride looks rather dangerous before anything unexpected happens. But then there’s a green monster attacking the tether. Shaggy has won another competition – this time for designing a roller coaster – so the gang arrive. They’re there to meet the designers of the park, Chris…
Aus nur drei Zutaten machst Du im Handumdrehen den leckersten Fruchtjoghurt des Universums. Kein Aroma, Farbstoff, Verdicker oder gar umgefruchtetes Obst, so muß das!Du kannst den Erdbeerjoghurt in Portionsgläser abfüllen, ich habe 6 Tulpengläser mit 200 ml herausbekommen oder ihn natürlich auch in einer Schüssel servieren… lange überlebt er eh nicht… ^^ Zutaten & Zubereitung für 6
Irish director John Carney has created a filmography rooted in his love for music. Carney's first hit, Once, reached screens in 2007 with a story about two unlikely partners who made music together. Carney, who followed with other films that fit his mold, now delivers Power Ballad, which feels familiar but dips its toe into the world of rock stardom. Paul Rudd plays Rick Powers, a once rising rock star who settled in Ireland, married Rachel (Marcella Plunkett), and raised a daughter (Beth…
Ela Przybyło Under Review:Portalmania. Debbie Urbanski. Simon & Schuster, May 2025. Debbie Urbanski’s weird and whimsical short story collection, Portalmania, begins with an attentiveness to portals as elusive doorways to other worlds. Portals appear as idiosyncratic invitations to other worlds, often personalized and inaccessible to those they are not intended for, offering the feeling of “a new world assembling” and the possibility of “finding the world where you belong.” In a sense, these…
The news we’ve been waiting for. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, the 2022 novel by American author Gabrielle Zevin, is to be adapted to film. Daisy Edgar-Jones, who starred in the screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People, has been cast in the central role of Sadie Green, a games designer. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow sadly remains on my TBR list all these years later. Maybe I’ll get to experience the screen adaptation of the story instead. As an aside, and I don’t…
The most famous Zorro movies to modern audiences are probably the pair directed by Martin Campbell: The Mask of Zorro from 1998 (written by John Eskow, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio) and its 2005 sequel The Legend of Zorro (written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman), both of which I saw on Netflix. I remember seeing the original at least once, though I don’t think I ever caught the sequel. The Mask of Zorro opens during the Mexican Revolution, where the corrupt Governor Rafael Montero (Stuart…
Just an incredible podcast/video episode. The Rewatchables is a great podcast to begin with. Great idea, great execution. Especially if you grew up in the GenX era of 80s and 90s film. Or if you enjoy Bill Simmons’ GenX style of social criticism. And definitely if both things apply. If you’ve never seen it, give it a shot with a movie you love. The rotating movie nerds that Bill has as co-hosts—Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, Van Lathan, etc.— are all great compliments and really…
Welcome to The Film Noir Files, the monthly noir series here at Shadows and Satin and over at Speakeasy, the blog authored by my pal Kristina, where each month we recommend a film noir feature for you to watch on TCM. We never know what the other has selected until we post, and part of the fun is trying to never pick the same movie! Deciding on this month’s Film Noir Files recommendation was a no-brainer for me. It’s Nightmare Alley, released in that stellar noir year of 1947, featuring a…
DUH by NightFreak
