Collection of Published Articles for 2013, Pt.2

As I’ve had some articles published all over the place recently, figured it was time to start a new compilation post. Very Sad: Beloved local used bookstore Nice Price Books is closing, and I talked to them and several other used bookstores to get the reasons why. Here’s an interview I did with reporter Jonathan M. …

ORIGINAL POST: Uncomfortable Racism in Children’s Stories

Had such a good reception to the blogs about obscure toys that I’m going to try some more original pieces on a few of my other passions, and see if this leads anywhere. The first series is going to be about children’s books, and I want to do a few posts going over some of …

A Review of THE LION KING at DPAC

Director Julie Taymor is a frequent name in the entertainment news these days with her $65 million Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark being Broadway’s most expensive and potentially life-threatening musical. The sheer scale of the project—and its oddball depiction of a classic comic book superhero in a mythology-based story with songs by U2’s Bono and …

Theater Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at DPAC

Beauty and the Beast is familiar family fare  by Zack Smith   Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Durham Performing Arts Center Through June 13 There’s not a lot to say about the production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Durham Performing Arts Center other than it certainly looks pretty, and it’s entertaining family …

ENCHANTED Review

All along the watchtower, a princess kept the view: Amy Adams in Enchanted Photo by Barry Wetcher/ Disney In Bruno Bettelheim’s classic analysis of fairy tales, The Uses of Enchantment, he suggests that the lack of description and characterization in fairy tales is a way of allowing the reader to relate themselves to the characters. …