"Episodes": TV's Funniest Show?

Tasmin Greig and Stephen Mangan  (tv equals)

I flat out forgot how darn funny Showtime's "Episodes" was until it resumed last week with its second season. 

Season one was technically a mini-season, as the show ran a teasingly brief seven episodes. Season two has been mercifully extended to nine half-hours of acutely observed, tartly clever satire. It's target? The cultural Anglo-American gulf as experienced by a pair of screenwriters lured out to Hollywood to adapt their hit British TV series for the US market.

One the sharpest, most incisive comedies currently on telly, it is hugely funny, yet not necessarily for those American patriots too thin-skinned to appreciate the immensely focused, trenchant observations of the often shallow, narcissistic tendencies of the network television industry.

The Intellectual Showmanship of Soderbergh

Channing Tatum and Cody Horn  (MTV)

Steven Soderbergh's film "Magic Mike" is as shamelessly appealing as the male strippers it portrays. Being a Soderbergh film, it sports an Altmanesque bevy of characters effortlessly juggled until the film seems to grow vague and uncertain, a la even his best films, like "Traffic". 

Channing Tatum has much at stake here, given that the film is based on his own experiences as a stripper in Tampa and that he is a producer and star. While he is never less than engaging, he lacks the acting chops of George Clooney or Matt Damon, Soderbergh's leading men of choice for several fruitful years. Tatum nonetheless has his ample charms, which happen to include a buff physique that he is as eager to show off as his audience is to eyeball it.

Given much of the film's setting in the Xquisite strip club, there are a number of scenes of the dancers' routines, which inevitably include flashes of all-but-the Full Monty. With actors as game and entertaining as Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer involved, these scenes are more than your typical beefcake bonanza. While Matthew McConaughey's outsized performance is just shy of camp, it is indeed a breakout role, and is perhaps the best example of the director's knack for showcasing actors with leading man looks (Clooney) and character actor aspirations. 

"Death of a Salesman", the Tonys, and Broadway

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield  (showbiz411)

I know not only that the Broadway season has ended, the Tony Awards dispensed with, and that Death of a Salesman has closed, but the memory of that production lingers. 

If history serves, the "Death" in question is likely to be the sole production of Arthur Miller's greatest achievement this young decade. The show's remarkably successful, sold-out run was unsurprising, given the involvement of director Mike Nichols and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The reviews were likewise filled with praise and platitudes, yet it was PSH's performance as Willy Loman that generated somewhat of a mixed reaction from critics. 

"Nurse Jackie" Keeps Getting Better

Eve Best, Peter Facinelli and Bobby Cannavale  (showtime)

After just completing its fourth season, "Nurse Jackie" asserts itself anew as the strongest of Showtime's wave of femme-centric series, a movement that began with the whimsical but trivial Mary Louise Parker-led "Weeds" and most recently includes the Laura Linney vehicle "The Big C" which just concluded a discouraging third season and has yet to be renewed.

"Mad Men" is the Definitive TV Drama of our Time

Jessica Pare and Jon Hamm  (wetpaint)

Cable upstart AMC's crown jewel "Mad Men" has just concluded yet another quietly astonishing fifth season.

The Joan Miro Show Comes to DC

(feet up hostels blog)

Washington, DC's National Gallery is currently featuring a masterful exhibit of the works of Spain's modern master Joan Miro.

London "Cock" at the Duke

(times union)

"Cock" is the naughty title of a play by Mike Bartlett that's just opened Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd Street.

Beach House's "Bloom" is Music to Daydream to

Beach House  (the next great generation) 

Beach House is an impossibly gorgeous-sounding duo from Baltimore, whose new album Bloom is quite simply the sound of spring.

The Utterly Modern Photography of Weegee

Photo by Weegee  (american suburbx)

The inviting International Center of Photography (ICP) has a thrilling exhibit on the works of Weegee, titled "Murder is My Business".

Danger Mouse Helms Gorgeous "Hearts" for Norah Jones

(mp34fun)

Norah Jones has rebooted the folk-jazz sound she sported on four hit albums with the inventive and fresh new Little Broken Hearts.

The Systematic Squalor of Cindy Sherman

(zimbio.com)

Photographer Cindy Sherman is enjoying a major retrospective at MoMA, her first solo exhibition in New York in 15 years.

Madge is the Face of the Aging Pop Starlet

(Chicago Now)

Madonna’s career approaches no one so much as Barbra Streisand in her feat of remaining an immensely popular female recording artist with unrivaled longevity. Among the obvious differences is that Streisand sprang full formed as an immensely gifted musical theater star; that is, she was not only a tremendous singer, but she could act. Cut to 20 years later, when Madonna parlayed a similarly protean ambition and a background as a trained dancer into a recording career of phenomenal commercial success.

"The Ungovernables" Survey at the New Museum

The New Museum of Contemporary Art's second Triennial is called "The Ungovernables" and while the nature of contemporary art is often evanescent, this exhibit is relatively successful at presenting a snapshot of the state of the art scene, circa 2012.

"Typewriter" is Enchanting Beat History

(citylimits.com)

On my recent visit to Miami, I stumbled upon The Typewriter is Holy, a fascinating history of the Beat Generation.

Don Cheadle Heads Biting "House of Lies"

Don Cheadle in "House of Lies"  (eurweb)

Don Cheadle is currently heading the cast of one of television's funniest shows, "House of Lies" on Showtime.

David Lynch's Magic at Tilton Gallery

David Lynch is enjoying his first solo art exhibit in New York since 1989 at the Tilton Gallery. Best known for surrealistic films such as "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive", both of which earned him Best Director Oscar nods, Lynch originally trained as a painter at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

"Nocturnes" is Diverting Holiday Reading

(examiner.com)

I recently returned from a visit to Miami, where I scored two books from the sale table at Books & Books in Coral Gables, one of my favorite indie booksellers in the U.S.

"The Sense of an Ending" is a Masterful Novel

(randomhouse.co.nz)

The 2011 winner of Britain's Man Booker Prize, Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending is a wonderfully rich, lyrical novel that is a meditation on memory and aging which nonetheless offers up an unexpected ending that has stirred up its share of controversy.

Travel Memo: Miami Art Museum

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Miami Art Museum

I was out of town last week, and as such neglected my blog. Specifically, I was visiting Miami, and have chosen to share a few highlights from my travels.

"Kevin" Needs to be Talked About

Tilda Swinton  (bookorbigscreen)

Tilda Swinton is one of the most captivating screen actors of our time. Luckily, she has decided to pursue a most adventurous career, with recent roles in the Italian "I am Love" and the US/UK co-production "We Need to Talk About Kevin". Her films are as often art house fare as her Hollywood forays, including her Oscar winning role in "Michael Clayton" and the "Chronicles of Narnia" series.