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Netflix & Chill #106: Golda

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When I saw the news that Helen Mirren had signed onto this movie to play Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, I got excited. I mean, who wouldn't? Helen Mirren is Helen Mirren and despite the current conflict in the Middle East, objectively, you would have to assess Golda as one of the more interesting historical figures of the 20th Century. This movie had 'Oscar bait' written all over it to me-- it debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival in February of 2023, dropped in the US in August of 2023, and made its debut in the UK and Ireland (with some unfortunate timing) on October 6th, 2023. There was a casting controversy about Mirren getting the role of Meir because she's not Jewish- though her casting was apparently given the blessing of Meir's grandson, Gideon- but other than that, I was sort of expecting a lot more buzz around this movie.  Then, I actually saw it. Look, Mirren is excellent. There is no denying that she absolutely owns the role and I'm

What's An Arena For, Anyway?

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They hung a banner seven stories high off the side of a building. (Then they followed that up with another one a block away from the top of the downtown parking ramp.) I've seen All-American Banners for various Iowa football greats hanging off Kinnick Stadium over the years. But I'd never seen that. I was at work when I first saw the picture on Twitter and, it being maybe a half a block away and being blessed with one of those days where nothing much is going on, I took a little stroll to see it for myself. It looked even bigger in person. Complaining about Carver-Hawkeye Arena has become an annual tradition for the Iowa Commentariat and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. I get that the Online Commentariat thrives off of complaining about anything and everything, but if you really dig down and look at the place, you'd find that there really isn't all that much to complain about. Carver-Hawkeye is a product of its time ('The House That Lute Built', W

Bookshot #175: The Asquiths

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I don't know why I purchased this book. That seems like a funny line to open a book review with, but I've been genuinely thinking about it since it's been sitting on my bookshelves for so long and I think, at the time, I was attempting to get a good grasp of British politics through the purchase of books, ranging from Jenkins' massive biographies of Gladstone and Churchill to Alan Clark's History of the Conservative Party and I think I've got a Pitt The Younger biography I've got to get too and I want to say Paddy Ashdown's diaries are lurking somewhere on my bookshelves as well? So I think that's why, but really, with two World Wars at the start of the 20th Century, I think people forget- because Churchill is a glorious black hole that sucks up ink and draws biographers to him like a moth to a flame- that there were other wartime leaders as well and while everyone probably gravitates more towards David Lloyd George for the First World War, because

Squawk Box: The Frasier... Reboot? Return?/The Crown

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Frasier is back. When I heard about it, I was somewhat skeptical of the idea. After all, Frasier had been on the already for umpteen seasons. In terms of sitcoms, it belongs somewhere in the pantheon of all the all-time greats. Kelsey Grammar has been playing the character for even longer- first showing up in the 3rd season of Cheers (1984-1985) when I would have been about 1. I'm now 40 and apparently, he just can't quit this character. It's not as if he's dropped off the face of the earth since Frasier ended either. He picked up a Golden Globe for his role in Boss (which I've admittedly never seen, but previews made him look rather excellent as a villain) and his IMDB shows he has been busy enough , but now... Frasier has apparently re-entered the building with ten new episodes of a reboot? Return? Revival? On Paramount Plus. But, I loved the original run of the show, so I knew that I was, at the very least, going to check out the new Frasier to see what he&#

Bookshot #174: City of Fortune

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I have always been fascinated with Venice. Whether it was watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a kid or losing myself in the Times Atlas of European History that haunted the bookcases of my parents, I've always been curious about the place. Watching history go by in that Atlas, it seemed that Venice was its own Republic for centuries. It had Crete, Cyprus, islands up and down the Aegean, and then, suddenly, it was gone, extinguished by Napoleon. What was the place? How did it work? There were Doges and an electoral college? Happily, for me, Roget Crowley came along with City of Fortune and scratched that itch and then some. Venice, as a concept, seems a bit ridiculous on the face of it. How did a city build, not on the shoreline of a swampy brackish lagoon, but on the lagoon itself- manage to survive, thrive and create a powerful empire that dominated European trade for a good stretch of time until was eventually swamped by the rising Ottoman Empire? What impressed me mo

The Future of AEAs: What I Said, Responses I Got

In general, I don't see the point of bothering my elected representatives. Too often, it seems like people with money, moving behind the scenes have already made the decisions and we just get to taste the medicine whether we've been asking for it or not. It also doesn't help that I live in the bluest county in Iowa, where things like 'public money for public schools' and 'let's not defund the AEAs' are widely accepted policy positions for the local reps. I could write a whole series of posts unpacking my general cynicism about politics, my visceral dislike of performative activism, and my general sense of despair at the people in charge ever listening to regular, real-life people ever again, but I won't do that here. The Governor's AEA 'Reform' Bill-- which, if it contains a clearly defined pathway to improving the student outcomes she's suddenly so concerned about, has yet to be either revealed or explained to me-- got me off the ben

Knowledge Boost #6: Israel, A History

So, I accidentally deleted the entire, extremely long post I had writing up this book and I couldn't figure out a way to get it back, so, welcome to take two of this particular edition of Knowledge Boost, where I will try my damnedest not to delete it all again! Israel. A History By Martin Gilbert I know the basic outline of the existence of the state of Israel. I was around in the 90s for the Oslo Peace Process and it's I guess we would have to call it a collapse. I remember the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and I think I was inadvertently responsible for the local Catholic school leaving their flag at half mast not for a week but for the better part of a month after I reminded the Principal that the President wanted all the flags at half-mast to honor Rabin. (I don't think the Catholic High School was trying to be extra or anything. I just think they did it, kept doing it, and eventually someone was like, 'Why are we doing this again?') The point is, that I know