542 stories by "Mark Blankenship"
It’s not just that I’m a Wikipedia junkie. It’s more than that. Although I am a Wikipedia junkie. At 12:07 this morning, I reflexively went to the site to look up some rand…
[#40-31; #30-21; #20-11] [Last year's countdown] Here they are: The best of the best, the most of the most, the… you know. 10. “Countdown” by Beyonce As a nation, I still d…
[#40-31] [Last year's countdown] Welcome back! Let's keep things rolling with some very, very cute boys. Oh, and some good songs, too… 30. "I Won't Let You Go" by James Morrison Ooh, lord!…
Hey everyone! As you may have noticed, all of the content is back on the site. WOOOOO! The only things are missing are the three most recent posts—the last three entries in my music co…
Hi everyone! First of all, I want to thank you all for your incredible emails of support regarding the sudden disappearance of posts from the site. I am flummoxed that they are still appeari…
“Chimera” suggests many worlds on one stage Chimera only needs a minute to make you question your grasp on reality. The multimedia show, now at HERE as part of the Under the Rada…
Hello everyone. For no apparent reason, my site crashed today, deleting every post I’ve written in the last 18 months. All of them. Gone. I will keep you updated about what this means …
[#20-11; #30-21; #40-31] [Last year's countdown] The time has come… the time to get down with our baddest selves, to weep our most beautiful tears. It’s time to unveil the year&#…
Director Gordon Edelstein discover new facets of Athol Fugard’s play By MARK BLANKENSHIP Reading scripts can be incredibly rewarding, but it’s like smelling your food instead of …
[#30-21; #40-31] [Last year's countdown] The countdown continues! Get ready for some devastating ballads and a few happy songs that are so happy you’ll probably freak with all the happ…
[#40-31] [Last Year's Countdown] —- Welcome back! Let’s keep things rolling with some very, very cute boys. Oh, and some good songs, too… 30. “I Won’t Let You G…
Now that I’ve absorbed the music I bought with Christmas gift cards, I am ready to anoint my top 40 songs of 2011. As you know, this countdown is mandated by my DNA, so I am delighted …
A playwright finds visceral power in the evolution debate How the World Began is about heady ideas, but it’s aimed at our senses, our guts. Take the opening scene: Though the play, pre…
My official music round up will come in early January, after I sort through the albums I get for Christmas. For now, though, I have call your attention to a pair of phenomenal new songs and …
Young Adult was a happy upheaval of my presumed taste in movies. Typically, I think of myself as someone who dislikes bone-deep cynicism, who finds it cheap and lazy. Yet the cynicism in You…
Two services push the theatre into online publishing And then suddenly, the theatre entered the world of online publishing. Until this year, scripts were largely absent from the booming fiel…
The “Stick Fly” star can’t worry if we agree with her character Welcome to Building Character, TDF Stages’ ongoing series about how actors create their roles — …
Over at Monkey See, I just explained why I’m all in on the Rock of Ages trailer. I truly believe this is going to be an amazing movie. The wigs alone will be worth the price of popcorn…
Way back in 2008, I reviewed the off-Broadway production of Rock of Ages. I still have the e-mail I sent my editor, where I asked to cover the show because I was "morbidly fascinated" to see…
So… The Artist: It’s a lovely silent movie about silent movies themselves, following George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a superstar who’s distressed to realize he has no plac…
There was never a chance I was going to enjoy the movie Shame, but I was hoping I’d at least respect it. In case you haven’t heard, Shame is the NC-17 tale of Brandon Sullivan (M…
The “Ugly Betty” star tackles one of Chekhov’s most interesting characters He doesn’t have the most lines or the most stage time, but Epikhodov is one of the most int…
This week, two tiny tempests have been created by two holiday carols, and both dustups teach the same lesson. On Monday, news broke that a music teacher at a Michigan elementary school had s…
This weekend, the New York Times Magazine will publish its Hollywood Issue, and the content went online early this morning. I’m pleased to say that I’m part of a fun “year …
I took deep breaths, counted to ten, and even slept on it… and Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey’s remake of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” still makes me angry. …
