Elisabeth Moss Shines As Writer Shirley Jackson In This Smart, Surprising Film
By Justin Chang I first saw Shirley months ago, back in January. It’s strange to be revisiting it now. Like →
‘This Is One Way To Dance’ Explores A Life Straddling Congruent Realities
By Martha Anne Toll In 1921, my grandmother moved from the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan to Rochester, New →
‘The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ Is A Lackluster Prequel To ‘The Hunger Games’
by Annalisa Quinn With her Hunger Games novels, Suzanne Collins harnessed a combination of twisty plots, teen romance, dystopian worldbuilding →
DIY During Quarantine. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Plenty
By Martha Ann Overland Maybe your garbage disposal is broken or the fridge is slowly dying. Because of →
Video Of The Week – Chloe x Halle – Cool People
Check out this week’s video featuring Chloe x Halle performing Cool People on McQsJazz.com →
Saddled With Student Loans, Bestselling Author Worries, ‘I Don’t Want To Die Poor’
by Terry Gross Writer Michael Arceneaux has a tongue-in-cheek message for young people right now: “Please don’t be →
‘Wuhan Diary’ Brings Account Of China’s Coronavirus Outbreak To English Speakers
by Emily Feng In her now-world-famous writing, Chinese author Fang Fang implores: “The departed are gone, but the →
Playing ‘Death Stranding,’ Even In Isolation, You’re Not Alone
by Adam Frank If you were looking for a good reason to escape reality, the last six weeks of global COVID meltdown definitely fit the bill. And while pretending your dog is a sports heroor your family a famous work of art work for some, for many people only video games offer the much needed ticket out of →
‘She’s Challenging You’: Alison Saar’s Sculptures Speak To Race, Beauty, Power
By Susan Stamberg For Los Angeles sculptor Alison Saar, art came from both sides of the family. Her →
Pandemic Gardens Satisfy A Hunger For More Than Just Good Tomatoes
By Petra Mayer In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I’ve got this lovely four foot by eight →
Murderbot Makes A Triumphant (And Cranky) Return In ‘Network Effect’
By Steve Mullis Murderbot. Murderbot. Murderbot. The name just rolls off the tongue, like a mascot for a →
It’s Not Just A Phase: ‘How To Build A Girl’ Is About A Teen Still Figuring It Out
By Ailsa Chang Beanie Feldstein does not like the way teenage experimentation and growth gets dismissed as just a phase. “There →
These ‘Little Eyes’ Watch The World Burn
By Jason Sheehan Samanta Schweblin is not a science fiction writer. Which is probably one of the reasons →
Brian Dennehy’s ‘Driveways’ Performance Is Gruff, Graceful — And A Goodbye
By Justin Chang When I first saw the lovely independent film Driveways last fall, I didn’t know that I was →
Can Riot Games Make ‘Valorant’ An Esports Success? Signs Point To Yes
By Kaity Kline As long as Riot Games has been around, they’ve been the League of Legends studio. They didn’t →
Make That At-Home Trim A Little Less Hairy With A Virtual Salon Visit
By Kat Lonsdorf As weeks of staying at home have turned into months, and salons and barber shops in most states continue to be closed, many of us are getting a little shaggy. If you want to go the DIY route but need a little guidance, haircuts are the latest services to make their way →
Comedy Clubs Are Closed, So To Reach Audiences, Comics Have To Improvise
By Elizabeth Blair At a time when we really need to keep a sense of humor, comedy clubs →
An 11-Year-Old Girl Writes To Thank Her Mailman. Postal Workers Write Back
By James Doubek and Jonaki Mehta Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night — nor →
CBS’ Legal Drama ‘All Rise’ Tackles Coronavirus As A Story Line
By Eric Deggans If the pandemic shuts down TV production for many months, can the industry still crank →
Don’t Worry, Even Fashion Guru Tim Gunn Is Living In His Comfy Clothes
By Terry Gross Fashion expert Tim Gunn used to bemoan what he called the “comfort trap” — clothes →
Video Of The Week – Panama – ‘Always’
Check out this week’s video featuring Panama performing Always. →
Love On Lockdown: Tips For Dating During The Coronavirus Crisis
By Sam Sanders and Anjuli Sastry Spring is supposed to be romantic — enjoying long dinners on the →
In Thriller Form, ‘The Lincoln Conspiracy’ Details Early Plot To Kill The President
By Michael Schaub Even those with the most casual familiarity of American history know that Abraham Lincoln was →
From ‘Parks And Recreation,’ A Brief But Delightful Return To Pawnee
By Linda Holmes It’s been five years since Parks and Recreation ended its run, after a final season that jumped forward into the future — specifically, to 2017. We haven’t got the nifty transparent touchscreens their 2017 showed. Instead, we have a pandemic, and we have social distancing, and we are doing without many of our comforts, →
How To Say No: ‘Anti-Guru’ Sarah Knight Suggests You Do Less And Live More
By Samantha Balaban Sarah Knight has built a career on saying no. Her latest book, simply titled F*ck No! is →
Inventive New Comedy ‘Upload’ Explores (Virtual) Life After Death
By David Bianculli We hardly get to know the lead character of new sci-fi comedy Upload — and the world →
A Flying Photographer Looks Down On Earth In Awe And Sorrow
By Pranav Baskar He describes it as a “leaf blower with a parachute overhead.” Strap in, and “your →
A Big, Complicated Family — And Their Mistakes — In ‘All Adults Here’
By Scott Simon Author and bookstore owner Emma Straub’s new novel reminds us how lives can change in →
What Alice Wu Wants To Say In ‘The Half Of It’
By Natalie Escobar When director Alice Wu’s Saving Face premiered in 2004, it stood out from the vast majority of →
‘Hollywood’ Serves Up A Progressive Alt-History Parable, Thinly Sliced
By Glen Weldon “My time in Washington,” Eleanor Roosevelt (Harriet Sansom Harris) says at one point in the →
Troubled Teen Finds New Direction In Clear-Eyed ‘Bull’
By Scott Tobias “Can’t you just take me to juvie?” There’s a disturbing resignation to the way Kris, a 14-year-old white girl from a run-down Houston suburb, poses the question to a cop who’s picked her up for trashing a neighbor’s house. Her mother is already in jail and her grandmother, dirt poor and overtaxed →
‘Normal People’ Is A Love Story To Cherish
By Linda Holmes It’s a blessing to meet very special people when you’re young and dumb. You’ll get →
‘Officer Clemmons,’ Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Policeman Pal, Tells His Story
By Nicholas Cabnariato Like many kids in the 1980s, I grew up learning how to accept who I →
‘Mrs. America’: A Star-Studded Cast Puts The ERA In The Spotlight
By Linda Holmes “With everything else going on in the world, now I gotta spend almost nine hours of my life thinking about Phyllis Schlafly?” It only seems honest to admit to this reaction to the approach of Mrs. America, a nine-part miniseries created by Dahvi Waller. It was made under the FX Networks umbrella, but →
Video Of The Week – The Hics “Cold Air”
Check out The Hics performing Cold Air on Mcqsjazz.com →
Kandace Springs Pays Tribute To ‘The Women Who Raised’ Her
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Sophia Alvarez Boyd Kandace Springs‘ third record is a source of familiarity in uncertain times. Titled The Women Who Raised me, it’s full of beloved and recognizable songs associated with jazz artists who inspired and influenced Springs as an artist: Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Lauryn Hill and Norah Jones, among many others. But →
With Surprising Sculptures, Katharina Fritsch Makes The Familiar Fun
by Susan Stamberg German sculptor Katharina Fritsch has a thing for roosters. She’s responsible for the giant blue →
SXSW Film Festival Heads To Amazon
by Andrew Limbong Amazon Prime Video will be hosting some of the movies that never got screen time →
It Ain’t Cabot Cove: Murder In Maine Haunts The Twisty ‘Blow The Man Down’
by Scott Tobias Note: Blow The Man Down will be available for streaming Friday, March 20, on Amazon Prime. Tourists →
Head Back To Hyrule: When This World Is Uncertain, Return To Game Worlds That Aren’t
by Glen Weldon When it comes to videogames, I’m no bitter-ender. If anything, I’m a dilettante. I’ve played →
While Waiting Out The Pandemic, It’s Worth A Watch Of These Classic Films
by Bob Mondello Critics are often asked “What’s your favorite movie?” — and most of us have learned to deflect the question. If you see a few hundred films a year, “favorite” is a moving target. Stiil, when pressed, I do have a ready answer: Buster Keaton’s silent, Civil-War comedy The General. The 1926 black and →
‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Finds Families Ready To Collide
by Linda Holmes The great frustration of Little Fires Everywhere, the Hulu adaptation of Celeste Ng’s popular novel, is →
Pat Metheny’s Lyricism Still Shines On Cinematic Album ‘From This Place’
by Tom Moon That liquid, crystalline tone; those airborne, searching melodies. They’ve been part of the jazz conversation for decades — ever since Pat Metheny’s debut appeared back in 1976, when he was just 22-years-old. He’s 65 now, an established star and the only recording artist in history to win a Grammy award in 10 →
‘First Cow’: A Profound, Ruminative Western
by Chris Klimek First Cow, writer-director Kelly Reichardt’s seventh feature and her fifth collaboration with novelist/screenwriter John Raymond, is →
‘The Night Clerk’: Hitchcockian Premise, Half-Cocked Execution
by Mark Jenkins Everyday life is a big mystery to Bart, a 23-year-old hotel worker who describes himself →
Life Luxe Jazz 2020 November 5-9th
Mark your calendars now for the Life Luxe Jazz Experience 2020 – November 5th through November 9th in the beautiful Los Cabos, Mexico! Visit www.lifeluxejazz.com to book now 😉🇲🇽☀️🌊🎷 →
Raveena – Honey
Check out this week’s video featuring Raveena performing Honey. →
Making Art Is Good For Your Health. Here’s How To Start A Habit
by Malaka Gharib Whether it’s woodworking, sewing or sculpting teeny cupcakes out of bright purple clay, making art →