Archive for the ‘Movies and television’ Category

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Luis Valdez

November 22, 2015

From a server at Reposado recently, a recommendation that I should look at the work of the Chicano writer Luis Valdez (whose name was unfamiliar to me); I recommended to him the work of the Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros (whose name was unfamiliar to him).

It turns out that I didn’t recognize Valdez’s name, but I certainly did know some of his work. From Wikipedia:

Luis Valdez (born June 26, 1940 [in Delano CA to migrant farm worker parents]) is an American playwright, actor, writer and film director [not to mention activist for Chicano causes]. Regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States, Valdez is best known for his play Zoot Suit, his movie La Bamba, and his creation of El Teatro Campesino. A pioneer in the Chicano Movement, Valdez broadened the scope of theatre and arts of the Chicano community.

Oh my, Zoot Suit and La Bamba!

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Posted in Movies and television, Music, Race and ethnicity | Leave a Comment »

Two obits

April 11, 2015

In my print copy of the NYT yesterday, two notable obits, for Ralph Sharon (the musician) and Richard Dysart (the actor).

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Posted in Actors, Death notices, Humor, Movies and television, Music | Leave a Comment »

Morning: Cybill Shepherd

April 4, 2015

Cybill Shepherd was today’s morning name. I remember her especially from two television shows in which she was a central character (Moonlighting, Cybill) and one in which she was a supporting character (Psych).

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Cops and DAs

February 24, 2015

(About performances rather than language.)

Another note from the Oscars: on J.K. Simmons, who got an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (in Whiplash) I recognized him immediately as a regular on two different tv crime drama: as Dr. Emil Skoda, a police psychiatrist, who has appeared on three of the four incarnations of Law & Order; and as Will Pope, Assistant Chief of the LAPD, in The Closer.

I then reflected on the casting of these shows, and the enormous number of actors they consume — as regulars (playing cops, district attorneys, medical examiners, crime lab staff, defense attorneys, and judges) and in one-shot performances (as victims, suspects, witnesses, family members, etc.).

The one-shots are often well-known actors playing parts that run against their usual roles: recently in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit re-runs, dark roles for Dean Cain (Superman!) and comedienne Carol Burnett.

The regulars are also not infrequently recruited from successful careers of very different natures. To come: a number of tv cops and a couple district attorneys of this sort.

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Posted in Acting, Movies and television | Leave a Comment »

Morning name: Dana Delany

February 18, 2015

Monday’s “morning name” was Dana Delany. From Wikipedia:

Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, presenter, and health activist.

Delany has been active in show business since the late 1970s. Following small roles early in her career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television show China Beach, for which she won two Emmy Awards…

… From 2007 to 2010 Delany played Katherine Mayfair on the ABC series Desperate Housewives.

She was amazing in China Beach (and won two Emmys for her work there).

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Posted in Actors, Movies and television, Names | 2 Comments »

Danny Pino

February 12, 2015

(Not really about language.)

In reviewing my postings on “morning names” (now assembled here), I see that there are names I mentioned but didn’t post on — including the actor Danny Pino, whose work I have enjoyed for several years.

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Posted in Actors, Movies and television, Shirtlessness | 1 Comment »

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