PicoBlog

Film Yap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I sorta feel I was sold a false bale of goods with “The Ravine” (now available in select theaters and on VOD). The picture was described as a mystery-thriller, but at the end of the day I’d say it’s more apropos to call it a Christian drama. (There ain’t much in the way of mystery or thrills, but there’s a ton of religious rigmarole.

Britt Robertson is an actress I’ve kept my eye on because she’s got a lot of onscreen appeal but has been stuck on the wrong side of “breaking out” for about a decade now. She’s been solid in a few films that didn’t quite hit or were outright flops: “Tomorrowland,” “The Space Between Us,” “A Dog’s Purpose.” Her sweet spot is smart, spunky women who challenge the conventional wisdom. Unfortunately, sometimes Hollywood just doesn’t know what to do with certain thespians, especially women.

My daughter recently finished a binge-watch of Deep Space Nine, which she found really impressive. When she was a bit younger, she binge-watched Voyager, which she liked but had to admit was badly flawed. Now, in a kind of Curious Case of Benjamin Button fashion, she’s decided to watch The Next Generation. We planned out what episodes to skip in the first and second season (and a few in the third) given how many of them are really not very good.

Barbara McQuade is a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC, a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, and a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.  McQuade also co-hosts the #SistersInLaw podcast with her fellow “legal masterminds,” Joyce Vance, Kimberly Atkins-Stohr, and Jill Wine-Banks. I was eager to ask Barbara McQuade how she keeps active while juggling such a full career. How do you make exercise and fitness a part of your life?

Dan Savage is a busy guy. His groundbreaking sex-advice column, “Savage Love,” has been running in syndication across the United States and Canada since 1991. On his popular weekly podcast, Savage Lovecast, Dan dispenses advice to callers about sex and relationships (“and yaps about politics”). Of the six books he has written, Dan’s most recent is Savage Love from A to Z: Advice on Sex and Relationships, Dating and Mating, Exes and Extras.

Greg Proops is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, author, and actor best known for his appearances on the popular series Whose Line is it Anyway? Proops is currently on the Whose Live Anyway? tour, where he and his fellow improv comics perform 90 minutes of comedy and song based on audience suggestions. His recently released political comedy album, In The City, was recorded on New Year’s Eve, 2021, in San Francisco. A “spliffed, riffed, super woke and suited up” Proops entertains his live audience before finishing with a New Year's countdown.

As founder of Viking Strategies LLC, Trygve Olson provides customized sovereign political risk and public affairs solutions to clients worldwide. Olson speaks about democracy and autocracy to leaders in the worlds of politics, business, academia, and the media. He has served in leadership positions on American presidential campaigns and congressional elections, and worked on elections in over thirty countries. Olson has advised conservative political parties and their leadership in Norway, Germany, the UK, Poland, and Lithuania.

Chariho School Board member Jessica Purcell who recently took her seat after the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that the Richmond Town Council had illegally appointed Republican Clay Johnson to that position, attended a fundraiser held by Chariho Forgotten Taxpayers Political Action Committee, a conservative group with a mission to “[l]ead grassroots efforts to champion and promote fiscal responsibility, keeping the taxpayers at the forefront of all decisions relative to town and school spending.

Last week, it was announced that Zola, a movie based on my Rolling Stone article, “Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted,” and the tweets of A’ziah King, is the most nominated film at the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards. It’s been amazing to see the journey of this story from Twitter to the big screen. ICYMI, here’s my original article, which ran in Rolling Stone on November 15, 2015.