I’m actually surprised that Netflix doesn’t have a Christmas episode playlist by this point. So, I had to do some research, by which I mean I had to watch a bunch of sitcom Christmas episodes on the various streaming services, so I could report to you the best of the bunch. The only rule is only one episode per show; a number of the shows listed below have multiple great Christmas/holiday-themed episodes, but it didn’t seem fair to just have a list of eight Simpsons episodes, so. I thought about ranking them, but too many of these...
Continue reading...Arts
Shakespeare’s plays ranked
1. Richard III 2. Titus Andronicus 3. (tie) The Tempest The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Merry Wives of Windsor Measure for Measure The Comedy of Errors Much Ado About Nothing Love’s Labour’s Lost A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Merchant of Venice As You Like It The Taming of the Shrew All’s Well That Ends Well Twelfth Night The Winter’s Tale Pericles, Prince of Tyre The Two Noble Kinsmen King John Richard II Henry IV, Part 1 Henry IV, Part 2 Henry V Henry VI, Part 1 Henry VI, Part 2 Henry VI, Part 3 Henry VIII Troilus and...
Continue reading...Our favorites, 2014
I‘m starting this post, and hopefully the rest of the V+V team will come in and add theirs. Come back and see if they do. Poplicola: Here are my three favorite albums of 2014. I could argue that they’re also the best records of 2014, but you know, that’s all subjective and shit. You’re free to argue; you’d just be wrong. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2 It was damned hard to believe that Killer Mike and El-P could release a better record than 2012’s R.A.P. Music. But they did, just a few months later,...
Continue reading...Your Official 2014 V+V Guide to Who Should Win the Emmys
It’s that time of year again: The awards for people who make stuff on the TV. Here’s who we think should and definitely will win tonight live on NBC®: Outstanding Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series Meh. Outstanding Comedy Series...
Continue reading...Watch: Maya Angelou reciting “On the Pulse of Morning” at Clinton’s first inauguration
Sadly for humanity, Maya Angelou died in her North Carolina home at 86. Above she is reciting what is likely her most famous poem. Below, a tweet from just four days ago that is beautiful in its simplicity and lyricism. Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God. — Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) May 23, 2014
Continue reading...This weekend, go see The Lego Movie
Last weekend, we went to the movies to see a matinee of Monuments Men. Unfortunately for our plans, it was sold out. But, starting five minutes later was the Lego Movie. Luckily, it was surprisingly really good. I mean, I hadn’t seen any reviews of it, and don’t so much pay attention to kid’s movie releases. Frozen came (and went?) without me even hearing that it happened (the only reason I’ve heard about it is in discussions about the Lego Movie). But, hell, why not, I used to play with more Lego than you probably have ever...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week: The Rain
The Rain by Robert Creeley All night the sound had come back again, and again falls this quiet, persistent rain. What am I to myself that must be remembered, insisted upon so often? Is it that never the ease, even the hardness, of rain falling will have for me something other than this, something not so insistent— am I to be locked in this final uneasiness. Love, if you love me, lie next to me. Be for me, like rain, the getting out of the tiredness, the fatuousness, the semi- lust of intentional indifference. Be wet with...
Continue reading...The National Book Festival
This afternoon I braved the unseasonable heat (over 90 degrees in late September? Really, DC?) to check out the National Book Festival. Every year, the Festival takes over 4 blocks of the National Mall and sets up a dozen or so tents featuring authors and other literary programs. This was my first year going, and it’s the kind of thing that makes me want to live here forever, so I can go every year and take my hypothetical future children. In a day full of luminary literary stars, I only made it to a few events, but...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
It’s a gorgeous afternoon in the Midwest, sunny and breezy with that autumn something in the air. Here’s a poem. Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright In the Shreve High football stadium, I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville, And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood, And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel, Dreaming of heroes. All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home, Their women cluck like starved pullets, Dying for love. Therefore, Their sons grow suicidally beautiful At the beginning of October, And gallop...
Continue reading...Book Rec: Some Girls
Another entry in my I Judged This Book By Its Cover And Was Only Partly Wrong list. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, by Jillian Lauren Sounds trashy, right? I thought it would be a guilty pleasure, a fast read. It was a fast read, but there was more to it than I expected. Instead of titillating tell-all or bad romance novel, Lauren’s book is really what it aspires to be: a great memoir. Some Girls is the true story of the time Lauren spent in the harem of the Prince of Brunei, but it’s also a coming...
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