PODCAST: GLADIATOR

PODCAST: GLADIATOR 

Football star Aaron Hernandez went from the bright lights of the Super Bowl to a convicted murderer in a few years. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, best known for its investigation of the sexual abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church, takes a hard look at the crisis facing football through the lens of Aaron Hernandez’s life and terrible crimes. Did a brain badly damaged by football contribute to Hernandez’s violent behavior? Did he keep secrets about his sexuality that collided with a hyper-masculine football culture? Did elite coaches and teams look the other way as Hernandez was spiraling out of control? Spotlight uncovered new documents, audio, and interviews to go deep into the story of what happened to Aaron Hernandez, and what it means for those of us who cheer on a violent game. From Wondery, the podcast team that brought you Dr. Death.

MY VERDICT: Despite knowing nothing of American Football and not having much interest in sport in general, I found this podcast thoroughly fascinating. The story follows Aaron Hernandez through his career and asks questions about how the people around him could have prevented his violent decline or whether the sport itself was to blame. I don’t know if all these questions were answered but I certainly learnt a lot along the way.

PODCAST: DR. DEATH

PODCAST: DR. DEATH

We’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. We trust the person at the other end of that scalpel. We trust the hospital. We trust the system. Dr. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. But soon his patients started to experience complications. And all they had to protect them was a system ill equipped to stop the madness. From Wondery, the network behind the hit podcast Dirty John, DR. DEATH is about a medical system that failed to protect these patients at every possible turn. Reported and hosted by Laura Beil.

MY VERDICT: This podcast is equal parts gripping and shocking, I don’t want to give too much away as I listened to this without knowing anything about it, which I think is the best way to listen to anything. What I will say is, don’t listen to this if you’re about to have surgery or know someone who is. And never let someone operate on you if they are the kind of person who loses their keys daily.

The podcast is short, concise, and the story is well told. I binged it in a few days, in part, because I couldn’t quite believe what I was listening to. This is a definite recommend.

FILM 1841: BODY PARTS

FILM 1841: BODY PARTS 

TRIVIA: Body Parts is very similar to a 1971 episode of Night Gallery titled "The Hand of Borgus Weems."

Advertisements for the movie were cancelled in Wisconsin due to the Dahmer killings.

FILM 1794: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

FILM 1794: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

TRIVIA: Heart surgery scenes in the film are real. They were filmed during an operation on a real patient who was undergoing quadruple bypass surgery which Colin Farrell attended.

The film's title comes from the ending of the tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides.

When Steven is at the school for the parent teacher conference, the principal tells him that Kim wrote a paper on Iphigenia for which she got an A, and that was read aloud to the class. Iphigenia, in Greek mythology, is the daughter of Agamemnon -- she who was to be sacrificed for the sins of her father.

Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell began working together on The Beguiled (2017), only a few weeks later they wrapped filming on this film. Both films would go on to be in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and both would win awards in the official competition ("The Beguiled" won the Directing award for Sofia Coppola while "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" shared the Screenplay award with Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here (2017)).

Second collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Colin Farrell, the first being The Lobster (2015).

BONES (2005–2017)

BONES (2005–2017)

TRIVIA: Temperance Brennan is an anthropologist who writes about the character Kathy Reichs in her spare time. In real-life, Kathy Reichs is an anthropologist who writes about the character Temperance Brennan.

Angela's father is played by ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons, and there have been several indications that the audience is supposed to understand that her father IS Billy Gibbons (albeit a fictional version of Gibbons, since Angela is fictional). Although Angela's dad has never been given a name, before his first appearance Angela told her friends that her father is famous enough that they might recognize him immediately, and during Gibbons' appearances, there have been several references to the music of ZZ Top.

Emily Deschanel's sister, Zooey, appeared on season five, episode ten, "The Goop on the Girl". She appeared as Brennan's cousin Margaret from Wisconsin.

In season five, episode nine, "Gamer in the Grease", Sweets, Hodgins, and Fisher take turns camping out to get tickets to see Avatar (2009). Joel David Moore (Fisher) played Norm in Avatar (2009).

The establishing exterior shots of the "Jeffersonian Institute" are filmed on the Exposition Park Rose Gardens side of The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

There have been several references to Agent Seeley Booth being a "direct descendant" of John Wilkes Booth. In reality, is is highly unlikely that John Wilkes Booth had any direct descendants. As the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, and the first assassin of any U.S. President, John Wilkes Booth's life history has been exhaustively scrutinized by generations of historical scholars, and there is absolutely no evidence that he ever married or fathered any children, legitimate or illegitimate. Several of John Wilkes Booth's brothers and sisters did have children, but in genealogical terms, to be a direct descendant John Wilkes Booth, Seeley Booth would have to be descended from a child of his, and not just a niece or nephew.

Daisy Wick is the name of one of the secondary characters. Daisy Zick is the name of a real-life murder victim from Battle Creek, Michigan in 1963. The crime remains unsolved.

Ryan O'Neal, who plays Bones's (Emily Deschanel's) father, is an Academy Award nominee. In real life, Emily's father, Caleb Deschanel, is a nominee as well.

In season eleven, the actress who plays Christine is Sunnie Pelant - the same last name as the serial killer, Christopher Pelant, in earlier seasons.

FILM 1396: KEVORKIAN

After serving 9 years in prison for assisting a suicide, Jack Kevorkian was released from prison in 2007. What followed is the amazing final chapter in the life of one of the most controversial men of our times.