The Pool is streaming on Shudder. There aren’t too many animals that genuinely scare me. Sure, I know that my place on the food chain isn’t anywhere near as high as I’d like to think. During a visit to the Denver Zoo a year or so back, I was spending time at the lion exhibit. A male lion padded up close to the barrier, sat down, then gave me a long look. That look was similar to the look I used to give the Taco Bell menu in college. As a middle-aged man with white beginning to speckle my beard, there are still a few critters that freak me out. One is chimpanzees, and as adorably cute as they... Read More

If we ever needed a blithe fairy tale about gnomes and knaves and wolves and witches, this is the time. I can’t tell you how many months we’ve all been sealed off into our little isolation chambers because time has become meaningless. Performing artists have struggled to find new formats to connect just as audiences have struggled to find connections on new platforms. Or rather, we’ve struggled to stay safely apart while feeling like we’re still in this together. Rainbow Militia, a Denver-based immersive-theater/circus troupe, has taken the occasion to create something that feels specific... Read More

An asterisk.  Look up the definition in Webster’s and you will find it described as the following: the character * thought of as being appended to something (such as an athletic accomplishment included in a record book) typically in order to indicate that there is a limiting fact or consideration which makes that thing less important or impressive than it would otherwise be. In sports, the asterisk first made a splash in 1961 after Roger Maris set a single-season home run record with 61, passing the legendary Babe Ruth’s mark of 60 set back in 1927.  The issue was that Ruth hit his 60 home... Read More

Sometimes, the best-case scenario is to be wrong. We all have our blind spots, right? I was wrong about Andy Samberg. Wrong as hell. For a while there, I had him pegged as a second-tier Saturday Night Live alum. I figured his comic persona was just like Jimmy Fallon, where he was all about being cute and non-threatening. He would probably get a talk show or a sitcom, and that would be that. Turns out Samberg did get a sitcom, the very funny and very sharp Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He’s also part of the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, and he starred in the criminally unappreciated Popstar: Never Stop... Read More

Lou Williams rejoined his NBA teammates after an eventful few days outside the Disney World bubble that included a trip to Atlanta, the memorial of a family friend, and finally, a well-publicized stop at a Gentlemen’s Club. The 6’1” shooting guard and reigning Sixth-Man-of-the-Year for the Los Angeles Clippers was provided an excused absence by the league to leave Orlando and their COVID-19 high secured environment in order to attend the viewing of a family friend that had recently passed.  But after a social media posting by a rapper and friend of Williams—Jack Harlow—of both men attending... Read More

The Old Guard is streaming on Netflix   So there I was, in the midst of a bout of pandemic depression. The old ways of coping were gone for the moment. I couldn’t schlep to my local movie theater. I couldn’t take my kid to a ball game. Up until recently, the zoo and local museums were closed. Sure, there are plenty of trails close by, but even my dog seems to be getting burned out by the constant walks. I’ll pick up his leash and say, “Ready to go for an adventure?” His eyes get wide as if to say, “Jesus, again?” You know what that’s like. Nobody wants to socially distance.... Read More

It had to have been more than a decade ago that I found myself arguing with the Admissions Department at a nearby University.  Looking to do some post-grad work, I found it absurd that the department needed a copy of my high school transcripts despite the fact that I was already years removed from the bachelor’s degree I had earned prior.  But I relented. Opening my computer, I started with the obvious and searched for University High School in Los Angeles, but it didn’t show up.  I searched high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, schools in West Los Angeles, and even the... Read More

The Beach House is streaming on Shudder. We’re in a period of change. Six months ago, most of us didn’t think we’d be where we are now. Six months from now, the smart money says that life will be just as unpredictable. Is it because of the pandemic? Partially, yet there’s more to it than that. After decades of neglect, people are rising up against systemic racism. Our economy is in flux. Our President is a driver of change, though not in the way he thinks or wants. The way we view movies is changing, as well. I don’t just mean the continued closure of theaters and the improbable resurrection... Read More

As I headed downstairs to make coffee the other morning, I stared at the empty calendar hanging in the kitchen. The quarantine had turned the days and months irrelevant.  My sports-themed, Drew Litton calendar, usually marked up with family activities, summer road trips, and neighborhood barbeques, hung empty. Past July’s had meant trips to the Coast for days on the beach, small town festivals filled with music and food, and visiting family across the states. The highlight of this summer was watching Hamilton on Disney Plus. It was then that I noticed that, according to my calendar, Tuesday,... Read More

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is streaming on Netflix I like to think I’m a relatively knowledgeable guy. I read a number of reputable news outlets daily, including The Washington Post and The Atlantic. I’m able to speak quasi-intelligently on a fairly wide range of topics. While I might not be a dazzling sophisticate like some of you, I’m not some drooling bumpkin. Yet up until a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of the Eurovision Song Contest. I know, typical American. If you’re an ignorant savage like me, get ready for some righteous science. The Eurovision Song Contest... Read More