Category: Arts & Culture

Book Review: ‘Bloody Blood Groups!’: Blood Types and Groups From A to Z

Blood is the essence of life. It also forms an important part of our culture: If it bleeds, it leads; blood is thicker than water; blood will have blood. The word carries spiritual significance. But what do we actually know about blood? “Bloody Blood Groups!” by Hugh Graham explains blood. Graham is a Fellow of…


Profiles in History: Edward Schieffelin: The Man Who Found His Tombstone

In the high desert of Arizona, just northwest of Tombstone, rests the tombstone of Edward Schieffelin (1847–1897). It is about 25 feet tall in the shape of a prospector’s claim. Its inscription reads: “Ed Shieffelin, died May 12, 1897, aged 49 years, 8 months. A dutiful son, a faithful husband, a kind brother, a true…


Film Review: ‘The Mother’: Jennifer Lopez Needs a New Agent

R | 1h 55m | Thriller, Action | May 12, 2023 “The Mother,” on Netflix, is a dark action thriller starring Jennifer Lopez as a nameless former assassin, forced out of retirement in order to protect the daughter she gave away at birth. Does that whole premise make you snicker? The Mother (Jennifer Lopez) is out to…


Epoch Booklist: Recommended Reading for May 19–25

This week, we feature a children’s classic that stirs the love of nature and a lucid essay collection exploring early 20th-century naval history. Naval History ‘Fighting in the Dark: Naval Combat at Night: 1904–1944’ By Vincent P. O’Hara and Trent Hone, editors During the sailing era, only 10 percent of battles occurred at night. During…


Epoch Watchlist: What to Watch for May 19–25

This week, we feature a couple of fun romantic comedies: one about an elderly, lifelong bachelor and another about a quirky husband and wife. New Release ‘You Hurt My Feelings’ Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), seem to have it all: a long-lasting marriage, successful careers, and a healthy passion for each…


Film Review: ‘Fast X’: Wherein Jason Momoa Finally Nails His Acting Niche

PG-13 | 2h 21m | Action, Comedy | May 19, 2023 Well—I didn’t want to like it. I basically hate these “Fast and Furious” movies; I can’t stand the whole dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers concept: A bunch of car-mechanic criminals, basically, save the world via stunt-driving, all while being surrounded by Brazilian girls in thong bikinis. And then they all gather…


Online Series: ‘Ghosts of Beirut’: The Hunt for Public Enemy Number One

TV-MA | 4 episodes | Drama, Thriller | 2023 The hunt for Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh ranks with that of Bin Laden, but it was many more years in the making. The CIA also never officially took on-the-record credit for its involvement, even though their widely reported joint-operation with Mossad targeted the man considered the most…


Book Review: ‘Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of New Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media’

Before reality television, people satisfied the urge to see new places and do new things by reading about the exploits of risk takers, including explorers. Before the internet or radio, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the way to do that was through the newspaper. Back then, the modern mass-market daily newspaper was…


Book Recommendation: ‘Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World’

As I pen this recommendation, I’m looking out my home office window to a world of green from the trees that stand tall to greet the day. Perhaps they will serve as inspiration for a book that calls readers to a deeper connection with nature. I suspect so. I’m reminded of another recent review: Karen…


W.F.K’s Travers’s Portrait of Lincoln: A Rich Reminder of His Presidency

When W.F.K. Travers’s 9-foot-tall painting of Abraham Lincoln was first unveiled to America at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it stood alongside Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne Portrait” of George Washington—and together, the likenesses of America’s two most esteemed presidents stunned viewers. The oil-on-canvas portrait of Lincoln was painted from life in 1865, mere months…