Mark Strong and Lesley Manville under Robert Icke's direction create a modern-day 'Oedipus' that is staggering, terrible and amazing.
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Music & Video Reviews: Rolling Stones’ ‘Black and Blue’ Box Set, plus Robert Gordon with Link Wray, and Melissa Carper’s Christmas Album
Melissa Carper's 'A Very Carper Christmas' is the best Christmas album of 2025, and one of the very best so far in this century.
Read More »Music Review: Lei Liang – ‘String Quartets: Live’
Inspired by the music of Mongolia and Taiwan, these pieces feature the Brentano, JACK, Formosa, and Mivos quartets.
Read More »RPG Review: ‘Rapscallion’ from Magpie Games
While some TTRPGs have their game-worlds detailed down to individual streets and even the shops on them, 'Rapscallion' is intentionally player-created. Players' own campaigns will determine what lies in the unknown.
Read More »Comic Review: ‘Reel Politik’ by Nathan Gelgud, from Drawn+Quarterly
'Reel Politik' by Nathan Gelgud follows the adventures of a theater crew that overthrows authority and seizes the means of projection.
Read More »Music Reviews: Boxing Up the Bangles, plus ‘Rock the Plaza’ and Kim Wilson’s ‘Slow Burn’
It's about time we had a box set from the Bangles, whose well-hooked, harmony-laden tunes provided some of the brightest moments on Top 40 radio in the 1980s.
Read More »Music Reviews: Scott Ordway, Lorelei Ensemble – ‘North Woods’; Reena Esmail, Cathedral Choral Society – ‘Exaltations’
Two recent EPs of spiritually-inspired vocal music have struck me as the winter holidays approach.
Read More »The 43-Day Shutdown That Nearly Broke the Federal Criminal Justice System
The 43-day government shutdown exposed a constitutional crisis: Prosecutors kept working while defense attorneys went unpaid, halting a death penalty case.
Read More »Theater Review: ‘Archduke’ with Kristine Nielsen, Patrick Page
'Archduke' stars Patrick Page and Kristine Nielsen in a farce about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand – with a profound message for us today.
Read More »Music Reviews: Bob Dylan’s ‘Through the Open Window: Bootleg Series, Vol. 18,’ plus Dion, ‘The Rock ’n’ Roll Philosopher’
Like the rest of the Bootleg anthologies, this one isn’t intended to be anything like a best-of collection. Instead, it aims to dig beneath the surface and hold a magnifying glass to Dylan’s creative process.
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