Joel Mathis

The  Criterion Channel  on November 1 unveiled a collection nearly two dozen classic MGM musicals for streaming this month. One blogger's mission: To watch each and every one. My son, during old movies, has gotten in the habit of pointing out problematic gender politics. He was busy during this one. Let Wikipedia explain why: The screenplay, by Albert Hackett , Frances Goodrich , and Dorothy Kingsley , is based on the short story " The Sobbin' Women ", by Stephen Vincent Benét , which was based in turn on the Ancient Roman legend of The Rape of the Sabine Women .   Wait. What? The Rape of the Sabine Women was an incident in Roman mythology in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other cities in the region. It has been a frequent subject of artists, particularly during the Renaissance and post-Renaissance eras. The word "rape" is the conventional translation of the Latin word raptio used in the a

The  Criterion Channel  on November 1 unveiled a collection nearly two dozen classic MGM musicals for streaming this month. One blogger's mission: To watch each and every one. After the sour taste left by the ugly love story of " The Harvey Girls ," " The Pirate " is a refresher indeed. Yes, Gene Kelly is a cad chasing Judy Garland , but the framing here is a Shakespearean-style farce, full of hidden identities, disguises, star-crossed romance and Cole Porter rhyme schemes.  My family loves watching these old movies. But not in an uncomplicated way. We find that -- even after an MGM musical -- we have to pause and talk with our son about the racial attitudes depicted in those old movies.  Which brings us to the Nicholas Brothers. Gosh, I hope you know of the Nicholas Brothers. They only starred in one of the greatest dance routines ever put on film. Check this out: I mean ... holy cow. Anyway, they make a brief appearance in "The Pirate

The  Criterion Channel  on November 1 unveiled a collection nearly two dozen classic MGM musicals for streaming this month. One blogger's mission: To watch each and every one. The Harvey Girls is a reminder that you don't always -- or ever -- watch musicals for the story. Because this movie has one of the shittiest love stories ever. Judy Garland plays a young woman who heads west, under what turn out to be false pretenses, to get married, only to have her plans fall apart when she arrives in Sandrock, Arizona. She goes to work for the local Harvey House. John Hodiak plays the pencil-mustached pimp with a heart of gold -- he runs the brothel across the street from the Harvey House, but the love of a good woman helps him see the error of his ways. Yeah, they get together at the end. No, Hodiak's redemption story doesn't earn him Garland's love. But having created these characters, in this era -- 1946 -- of movie musical, it has no choice but to end up with

The Criterion Channel on November 1 unveiled a collection nearly two dozen classic MGM musicals for streaming this month. One blogger's mission: To watch each and every one. For Me and My Gal is one of those early musicals that collects a bunch of songs not for any particular storytelling reason, but because they were the songs the producer decided to use. In this case, at least, a rationale is offered: We're witnessing a story of love and loss -- lots of loss; everything that can hurt somebody's feelings in this movie ends up happening -- on the World War I vaudeville circuit. George Murphy loves Judy Garland loves Gene Kelly who loves fame so much that he'll betray Garland -- and his country -- to achieve it. This is Kelly's first film role, and he bursts onto the screen fully formed -- the smile, the charisma, the muscular style of dancing. He's a bit of a cad in this role, but you can't keep Gene Kelly down: His character finds his way to redemp

The next election is sacred, too. In recent weeks, Republicans have defended President Trump against the prospect of impeachment by suggesting that Congress would be undoing the results of the 2016 presidential election by removing its winner from office. If Democrats in Congress were acting in the complete absence of wrongdoing by the president, the GOP argument would be powerful. But there is plenty of evidence of wrongdoing, and the Republican argument is misguided. It isn’t difficult to understand why. But let’s break down what the president is accused of doing, and why it is impeachable. The allegation is this: That President Trump abused his power… ...to pressure Ukraine officials to investigate Joe Biden and his family… ...in order to undermine Biden’s chances of winning the White House in 2020. Again: President Trump used his official power — the power voters gave him — to put his thumb on the scale for the 2020 election. The 2016 election was important. It w

Over the last six months, I've become somewhat addicted to YouTube sailing videos. There are lots of channels created by people who gave up the rat race, bought a boat, and started the "cruising life" full time. I'm not going to abandon my own life for the Bahamas anytime soon, but I've noticed some things about the videos I admire most -- how the people live their lives -- that I can probably duplicate in Kansas. • They do a lot of yoga. There's not a lot of room on a small boat for a workout program. Lots of the video people do yoga pretty regularly. As I get older, I increasingly realize a stretching routine saves me pain, increases flexibility, and generally gets me through the day with a better attitude. No reason I can't do this on dry land. • They read a lot. If you're on a long passage, there isn't a lot to do -- most people don't have wifi in the middle of the ocean, only connecting when they get near land in a marina or whi

This is familiar: As a service to all our readers, unlimited access to Hurricane Dorian coverage on MiamiHerald.com is available throughout the duration of the storm.  We are working to keep our readers safe and informed during this time. Throughout Hurricane Dorian and its aftermath, the Miami Herald will be providing you with South Florida’s most complete coverage of the storm. Please stay up-to-date with MiamiHerald.com , our mobile apps , newsletters and daily e-Edition . Our team will be providing continuous news, photos, videos and stories throughout this severe weather event. Journalism is the only business in the world that makes its product free just as demand goes through the roof. There's a reason for that: The public service aspect of journalism outweighs the moneymaking aspect in times of crisis. But it's a reason why purely market-based approaches to saving newspapers probably won't work.