Amazingness TikTok Star Julian Bass VFXed His Way Into Disney’s Heart You didn’t think I’d be able to do it, did you? You didn’t think I’d be able to post anything that wasn’t about Hamilton today. But you’d be wrong, because I am intensely focused on distracting myself until my family’s agreed-upon showtime tonight, By Duana • Jul 03, 2020 01:25 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews #Hamilfilm Teaser Delivers On The Promise If you don’t know by now that Hamilton will drop on Disney+ on Friday, July 3rd, I assume it’s because you don’t need that information – which is fine, I get it. For those who do know, who have known, though… The anticipation for the #Hamilfilm is intense, By Duana • Jun 29, 2020 01:18 pm
TV Updates Homecoming Is For Right Now Every time I’m on a Zoom call, in an effort to counteract the general awkwardness that is people who are often having their only human interaction for the week, there’s some small talk about what people are watching – that happens regardless of whether it’s a TV industry By Duana • Jun 26, 2020 04:03 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Sometimes More Is More Duana, Please, please help us! I have a c section scheduled one month from today, and we cannot figure out a name. We already have a daughter, Margot, and we think her name is absolutely perfect. We had several other beautiful girl names picked out but of course we are By Duana • Jun 24, 2020 04:01 pm
TV Updates Soaps Return with ‘Sexy’ Spousal Stand-Ins Look, joy comes in unexpected places, and life holds many surprises, and in the midst of our pandemic/revolution/global reckoning, the one sentence I didn’t expect to say was “I might have to start watching The Bold And The Beautiful”. I’ve never been a soap watcher, and By Duana • Jun 19, 2020 01:55 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: We Need A Win Duana- HELP! I'm 35 weeks this weekend with our first baby girl and I'm second-guessing not so privately but definitely solo on our choice. My husband and I spoke before getting pregnant about loving the name Winnie. It took us a while to have a successful By Duana • Jun 17, 2020 03:53 pm
Joss Whedon Whitewashed Casting Apologies – and an innovator I’m cranky and I’m officially over retroactive creative decisions – the ‘clarifications’ people make, years or decades after the fact, about what creatives wanted to do in the name of inclusiveness or diversity, but couldn’t, because of The Pressures. Specifically, I’m referring to the headlines running around By Duana • Jun 15, 2020 02:09 pm
Show Your Work Podcast Show Your Work: How Hollywood Can – And Must – Change Anti-Black Racism On Set Thank you so much for your comments and thoughts on our last episode featuring Kathleen Newman-Bremang, ‘Working While Black’. We’re glad it resonated with so many of you, and we intend to continue doing the work of unpacking and dismantling the embedded policies, procedures, and assumptions that have fueled By Duana • Jun 11, 2020 02:19 pm
Dumbass JK Rowling isn’t just Transphobic – she’s a Troll Let me raise my hand as one of those who was shocked by JK Rowling’s tweets on Saturday evening. Not because of her transphobic views, which erase, diminish, and harm the trans community – though it’s important to be clear that they do, especially since Rowling has such an By Duana • Jun 08, 2020 01:56 pm
Equality Issues Dick Wolf Fires Writer. This Is News It shouldn’t be news. ‘Man [or woman] behaves abominably, loses job as a result’ is a narrative we know very well – one that’s been playing out in fast-forward over the last few days, a cold comfort relative to the atrocities we’re seeing every single time we open By Duana • Jun 05, 2020 03:23 pm
Mad Men Mad Men, Imperfect but Prescient Mad Men is leaving Netflix next week, on June 9. I knew this, and Lainey and I talked about me commenting on it, earlier this month. Then, of course, after the death of George Floyd, trying to find something to say about a show that was accurately criticized for focusing By Duana • Jun 03, 2020 03:44 pm
TV Updates Normal People is Sexy, Bookish Vindication First of all, let me be clear – here in Canada we’re still in the first sweaty, horny blush of consuming Normal People. We know the rest of you have had it for weeks and we were frustrated and jealous. Now the first two episodes have finally been released here By Duana • May 29, 2020 03:08 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Update – Poultry In The Time Of Coronavirus Once again, I can’t possibly improve on the title that appeared in my inbox – here is the exciting conclusion to the saga of Chicken Matilda. In case you missed it, this story – nay, this case – already had an update so entertaining I’m considering hiring this letter writer as By Duana • May 27, 2020 03:30 pm
Baby and Bump Obsession That ISN’T BETTER, Grimes! You know what’s a tease? Reading that Elon Musk and Grimes have ‘changed’ their baby name, after the inexplicable X Æ A-12 failed to crown them as the visionaries of the future they obviously hoped they’d be. So, a name change. Relatable! Human! ….or not, given that the By Duana • May 25, 2020 02:36 pm
Theatre Nerd SMASH, as it was meant to be I have no emotional reserves anymore so it could be that I’m just extra in general, but I got absolute goosebumps when I discovered that SMASH, the ridiculous, inexplicable television spectacle of 2012 which I and everyone else wrote about ad nauseum, which confounded an entire television-watching generation, like By Duana • May 22, 2020 03:25 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: The Name Is(n’t) Ajar Hi Duana, Long-time listener, first-time caller! We're expecting baby 2 in two weeks - the first was a boy and this one's a girl. My husband's last name is quite long/Slavic and starts with an O. So we're looking for names By Duana • May 13, 2020 03:21 pm
