Christmas in Verse, 2021

Timeless Christmas poems by ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, DOLLIE RADFORD, ROBERT SOUTHWELL, et al. plus Christmas music videos featuring THE POGUES, THE PRETENDERS, THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN, THE SALSOUL ORCHESTRA and THE SUPREMES.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Feeling the Spirit, Orcas Circle Ferry as It Carries Native Artifacts to Ancestral Home

When a ferry showed up in Puget Sound carrying Native artifacts to the Burke Museum in Seattle, nearly three dozen orcas escorted it safely to the terminal. Coincidence, or feeling the spirit?
by David McGee
 

 

 
christian robinson

A Late-Night Breakfast with Christian Robinson

Get out the veggies, eggs, and coffee mugs. Illustrator Christian Robinson is visiting for a late-night breakfast. (Why not? Breakfast for dinner! I say.) Given that he’s a vegetarian-though he admits he kinda misses his ...
by David McGee
 

 
 

THE TURNING POINT (1952)

WILLIAM DIETERLE directs this fine early '50s film noir starring WILLIAM HOLDEN, EDMOND O'BRIEN, ED BEGLEY and ALEXIS SMITH and L.A.'s Bunker Hill section. SHORT SUBJECT: DISNEY's 'TRICK OR TREAT.'
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Kiowas’ Sacred Longhorn Mountain Under Siege in Oklahoma

In southwest Oklahoma the LONGHORN MOUNTAIN, sacred site to the Kiowa people, is in jeopardy of being turned to rubble by a gravel mining operation. Mining has stalled but the threat remains.
by David McGee
 

 
 

TO AUTUMN

Celebrating the beauty and complexity of Autumn with a little help from our friend JOHN KEATS...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Cause and Effect

CAUSE AND EFFECT: When the sun spit out a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on Oct. 5, a brilliant aurora appeared three days later over Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. When Earth-directed, CMEs can affect electronic systems in sate...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Palestrina

In his Memoirs, published in 1896, composer CHARLES GOUNOD reflected on the exalted heights PALESTRINA and MICHELANGELO reached in their respective arts and the points of similarity between the two geniuses.
by David McGee
 

 

 

‘You’ll Go Down In History’—And How

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen… But do you know the real-life tragedy that spurred Robert May to write a poem for his four-year-old daughter that became a cultural and multimedia phenomenon? Rudolph takes fl...
by David McGee
 

 
 

THE DARK CORNER

First-class film noir here starring LUCILLE BALLS, CLIFTON WEBB, MARK STEVENS and WILLIAM BENDIX, directed by HENRY HATHAWAY. Also: the debut of HECKLE AND JECKLE in THE TALKING MAGPIES.
by David McGee
 

 

 

A Christmas Classic For A Nuclear Armageddon

The classic DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR, inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis, was intended as 'a prayer for peace.' The story behind the story herein.
by David McGee
 

 
 

THE HITCH-HIKER (1953)

THE HITCH-HIKER (1953) was a most unusual noir: set in the desert, with an all-male cast directed by IDA LUPINO, whose legend looms large in film history. Based on the true story of spree-killer Billy Cook.
by David McGee