Commentary

Every story and review of Zola seems to understandably lead with the movie's genesis, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so here I will do the same: You want to hear a story about how me and this b**** here fell out? It's kind of long, but it's full of suspense.

Are you an out of work historian? I have some good news for you. Bungie, the developer of the video game series Destiny , is looking to hire a historian. But the events this historian will be chronicling will not be those of the production of the game, but of the events that have happened in the world of the game itself.

Karen Tucker's novel, Bewilderness , is a powerful read. Set in rural North Carolina, the book explores drug addiction through the story of Irene and her friend Lucille, or Luce. Irene leads the reader through their world: through her present, through her memories, and even through her Reddit conversations. The book isn't so much a wild ride as it is a consciousness-inducing downward spiral.

Someone I've always wished I'd seen more from is Victor Nunez. He's made just a handful of films, but two of them were among the very best of the 1990s. He has a style that's as gentle and patient as I think I've ever seen, with a generosity that's remarkable and rare.

Today's moviegoers are savvy enough that filmmakers have to know they're going to pick up on similarities between new movies and what's come out in years past. It's certainly fine to tread familiar ground, this is mostly unavoidable, but a writer or director at least needs to be aware that people are going to recognize when you're using or playing off an old idea.

It's time for a change. Next Best Thing was intended to be a limited-run commentary focused on ways to stay connected digitally during stay-at-home orders. It will continue on, but as a public service announcement about local events, and we're calling it Next Up . So, next up is Wichita City Pride this Thursday at Naftzger Park. The all ages festival goes from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. with artists, musicians and performers from Wichita's queer community. The following day, June 25, brings a collaborative event to the Brickyard in Old Town. Starting at 6:00 p.m., From The Brickyard With Love features musician Rudy Love Jr. and family, plus DJ Carbon. Art in the Alley, a multi-artist show, will take place at the same time. On Saturday, June 26, you can head back to Naftzger Park for LUNAFEST . Presented by Girls on the Run Heart of Kansas, it's a one-night festival of films featuring strong women, recommended for ages 10 and up. Tickets are at girlsontherunks.org. And here's a preview of July

When writing her novel, Songs in Ursa Major , Emma Brodie was inspired when she learned about the relationship between Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.

I knew I wanted to read Death in Her Hands , Ottessa Moshfegh's newest novel, before I knew anything about it. Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation was one of the best books I read in 2019 —a darkly comic novel about a young woman's extended hibernation with a battery of prescription meds—and I couldn't wait to see what the author would do next.

The merger between Manhattan & Queens County in 1898 was known as The Great Mistake. It's also the title of a new novel by Jonathan Lee. This work of historical fiction focuses on the life of Andrew Haswell Green, mastermind behind The Great Mistake of 1898, but also Central Park, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, and so much more.

Every year, game companies announce what will be coming up for the next year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, popularly known as E3. This year, it's an all-online event. E3 for this year ended yesterday, and there were a lot of announcements.

Freddy Otash is in Purgatory. Literally… literarily. In James Ellroy's novel, Widespread Panic , the corrupt cop turned sleazy private eye is in Purgatory expiating his sins when he is offered a fast-track to Heaven. All he has to do is write a tell-all.

Over the years, I've come to place less importance on subtlety in art. There was a time when I saw it almost as a virtue unto itself-- I felt like if you were entirely explicit about your message, that was somehow less good than if you found an elegant way to get your idea across without making it totally obvious.

How's this for a pitch—three guys sort of like the conspiracy-minded, tech-savvy trio from The X-Files known as the “Lone Gunmen” team up with a guy sort of like Liam Neeson in the Taken franchise, and they all set out to take revenge on a biker gang they hold responsible for the death of the wife of the Neeson-type character. Can't miss, right?

First up this time is Carnival of the Animals , presented by Ballet Wichita. The free, family-friendly production is described as a “colorful journey through the animal kingdom.” It's Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at Naftzger Park, so firm up your plans now. For the remainder of June, two big celebrations are underway: Pride Month and Juneteenth.

258 weeks. That number has probably changed since I spoke with author Jennifer Weiner, but at the time of this interview, 258 weeks was the amount of time that her books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. That makes up nearly a quarter of her entire career that began 20 years ago with her debut, Good In Bed . Her latest book is That Summer , the second book in what she's calling her “beach trilogy.” It's a beach read, but not in the traditional sense, as it tackles sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. I recently spoke with Jennifer Weiner about all the things. Here's our conversation. That Summer by Jennifer Weiner was published by Atria Books. Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita. If you like this podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts . Engineers: Mark Statzer and Torin Andersen Editor: Lu Anne Stephens Producer: Haley Crowson Follow Beth Golay on Twitter @BethGolay .

I took a road trip recently—a long road trip—and downloaded a few audiobooks to pass the time. One was The Push , a debut novel by Ashley Audrain. And oh. My. Gosh.

After Ross Benes left Nebraska for New York, he saw with greater clarity the rural-urban divide overtaking the national conversation. I recently spoke with Benes about his book, Rural Rebellion , in which he explores Nebraska's shifting political landscape to better understand what's plaguing America while coming to terms with his own past and present.

The New York Times had an article recently about how because American movie release dates keep getting pushed further and further back, there's been a mini-Renaissance in Australia regarding Aussie-made movies, which apparently don't typically do well in their home country. Leading that charge is a dandy contemporary noir called The Dry , which is already one of the all-time top Australian-made movies at the Australian box office.

For more than three decades, Japan has been a leader - the leader, in a lot of respects - in the global video game industry. Names like Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were the only names in video games for years, and even since Microsoft joined, Japanese companies still dominate the market. But of course these companies didn't just emerge out of nothing, and Matt Alt's book Pure Invention is a history of how Japanese pop culture exports shaped our culture, too.

Zakiya Dalila Harris has written a thriller set in the publishing industry. I know, words you never expect to hear in the same sentence. But her novel, The Other Black Girl , is just that.

There’s a kind of movie we all know well—I’ll call it a “quest” comedy—where something causes our heroes to venture out to find something or someone, and along the way they get into all sorts of hijinks that keep pushing their goal just out of reach. They’re usually teens or college kids, looking for a party, or drugs, or something that ought to be easy to find, but isn’t.

For parents wondering how to keep their kids occupied this summer, the Wichita Public Library has a few options:

Who Is Maud Dixon? is a tale of literary identity theft. And that’s about all I can tell you. When I spoke with Alexandra Andrews about her novel, I assured her we would avoid plot spoilers. But that didn’t stop us from talking about some of the characters, identity, her editing process, and the fact that Who Is Maud Dixon? is Hollywood bound.

This coming weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer. Which means summer reading. Which means—for lots of folks—a little something light and funny, maybe set in a sunny locale.

I’m going to do something now that basically no one should ever do, which is to say I’m going to review a movie I technically haven’t seen all of. It’s not what it sounds like—I saw every second from beginning to end. But there were a few stretches of dialogue, in French, that didn’t have subtitles that were supposed to, and despite trying every setting and menu and sub-menu I could find, I couldn’t turn them on.

When I first played Mass Effect in 2007, I was immediately taken with the world that had been built for the game. Or, rather, worlds, as it takes place across our entire galaxy. There were dozens of solar systems to explore, and several alien species, each not only with their own unique relationships to humans, but to each other as well.

When you hear the name “John Green” you might think of him as a Vlogbrother, with his brother Hank. Or you might recall that he wrote the book The Fault in Our Stars , which was made into a movie.

I’ve found myself watching a fair bit of Columbo lately. Yep, that Columbo, rumpled Peter Falk shuffling around solving murders. It’s perfect comfort viewing—you always know he’s going to get the bad guy, the fun is just in watching him do it. And I used to watch Columbo when I was a kid in the ‘80s and ‘90s, so toss nostalgia on top and it’s pretty hard to beat.

This week on Viral Kindness, local business owner Mary Billings was nominated because of a recent celebration of motherhood. "I asked on Instagram if anyone had any nominations for moms that could use some extra love on Mother’s Day…because I have single-mom friends, and I always worry about them. They have young kids – who’s helping them celebrate? As moms, we’re really busy. We’re trying to think of our mothers-in-law and our own mothers. "I was raised by a single mom. I always really appreciated her and tried to do things special, because she’s amazing. So, I just threw out there, ‘Hey, I’d like to do a couple nice things for some moms in town. Send me your nominations, and we’ll pick a couple.’ I thought, if anything, it’ll remind people to think of their friends that might need a little love. And we got some great nominations, about a dozen. Someone that their husband had passed away recently. There was one where a mom had twins early, and she already had a toddler, so a sister

As I watched Jason Statham take the elevator down at the end of Guy Ritchie’s bleak new crime film Wrath of Man , I thought of another movie-ending elevator ride, the one that closes the exceedingly disturbing 1987 Mickey Rourke / Robert DeNiro horror-mystery Angel Heart . And I wished there were something to hint at an even more grim possibility in Ritchie’s already-grim movie.

Wichita Art Museum has two events this weekend: First, a virtual Art Chatter featuring talks from a lineup of local creatives gets underway at 6:30 p.m. this Friday on Zoom. Registration is at wichitaartmuseum.org . There you’ll also find more information about Saturday’s Yoga in the Art Garden, an all-levels yoga class that starts at 9 a.m. The Orpheum Theatre’s grand reopening is coming up on May 21 with a live performance from Wichita’s own Jenny Wood. Jenny will perform already known and new material, plus one-acts between songs from her new theatrical experience titled Phoenix: Strength of the Songbird . Tickets are sold in pods of 2, 3 and 4 to maintain social distancing, and are available at wichitaorpheum.com . There are also a couple upcoming bicycle events presented by several community organizations. First up is the Evergreen Bike Jam at Evergreen Park this Sunday at 1:30. There will be a bike safety course, a decoration station, and more. Then, on May 21, there’s a free

Joan Silber is the author of nine works of fiction, including Improvement , which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Silber is known for her composite fiction, or novels that are linked stories. Her latest, Secrets of Happiness, is no exception.

During a visit to my local bookstore a couple weeks ago, a bookseller ushered me over to the nonfiction table and grabbed a copy of Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad. “A Memoir of a Life Interrupted” was the subtitle. On the cover, a photo of the author and her terrier, Oscar, atop a goldenrod-colored Volkswagen bus.

Human relationships are complicated, and there are all different kinds of them. But by and large, movies seem to tell only a few of those stories over and over. We’re leaving out a lot of people.

The Nintendo game New Pokemon Snap , like its Nintendo 64 predecessor from 1999, is a first-person shooter, but is one of the rare examples of the genre that is non-violent. Instead of wielding a firearm, you have a camera.

Maggie Shipstead’s novel Great Circle tells the story of two women who lived nearly a century apart—a daredevil aviator and a recently shamed Hollywood actor.

The Starlite Drive-In has been a great option for watching movies on the big screen this past year, and tomorrow is a special Art House at the Drive-In screening presented by mama.film and Wichita Jazz Festival.

The COVID-19 pandemic turned some of my friends into master do-it-yourselfers. Quarantined at home, they took on home improvement projects, learned to quilt, went crazy with sourdough starters and baked artisan breads. Me—not so much. I grew some tomatoes. I cooked some meals. But when it comes to most practical life skills, I’m still sorely lacking. Enter, Sharon and David Bowers.

Well, here we have a movie that’s pretty much a complete mess, that only has one or two elements that really work at all, that’s even rather distasteful, but that I still found… kind of watchable? I’m not sure what to do with this.

Your PlayStation 4 is a ticking time bomb. OK, don’t worry, it’s not actually going to explode. But there is a little coin cell battery inside it, called the CMOS battery, that powers a tiny clock inside the system. That clock is critical to some of the PS4’s security systems, and after 10 or 15 years, when it dies, no games—physical or digital—will work on the console at all.

Anthony’s watch is missing. It’s possible he misplaced it, but probably someone stole it. Probably the woman his daughter hired to take care of him, not that he needs anyone to take care of him.

Spring began on March 20, but it’s finally feeling official as the outdoor events and activities we look forward to each year start back up. This coming Saturday, April 3, is opening day for the Kansas Grown Farmers’ Market locations in West Wichita and Derby, and also the Old Town Farmers’ Market . Kansas Grown Farmers' Market Derby | 512 E. Madison Ave. | Saturdays 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. starting April 3 Kansas Grown Farmers' Market West Wichita | 7001 W. 21st Street N. | Saturdays 7 a.m. - 12 p.m. starting April 3 Kansas Grown Farmers' Market Union Station | 701 E. Douglas | Wednesdays 4 to 7 p.m. starting May 12 Old Town Farmers' Market | 835 E. 1st Street | Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting April 3 Botanica’s extended seasonal hours begin tomorrow, and Tulip Festival isn’t far behind. For three Saturdays, April 10 through 24, you can enjoy the celebration of more than 66,000 planted tulips with live music, food trucks, carousel rides and special activities. Details are at botanica.org

Novelist Patricia Engel was born to Colombian parents. Her newest novel, Infinite Country , is a wonder of storytelling no doubt inspired by, if not her own upbringing, then the stories of countless immigrant families who seek a better life in the United States.

The review originally aired on March 26, 2020. From the 1950s through the 1970s, a summer camp in the Catskills called Camp Jened operated for kids with disabilities. In the exceptional archival film footage from the early ‘70s in the documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution , we see it’s not just another place that would babysit those kids.

One of these days, we’ll all be able to feel comfortable going to places like theme parks again. While today is not that day, it seems like it’ll be soon. And for when that is the case, Nintendo has been working on something special at Universal Studios.

If you’re a Marginalia listener, you know that this podcast features interviews with authors of the newest releases in publishing. When I first learned about The Ex Talk , it was described as a novel set in public radio. My worlds collided and I believe my reaction was, “yes please.”

For whatever reason, over the past year or so I’ve found myself watching a lot of movies starring the French actor Juliette Binoche. I know people are aware that she’s good, but after seeing so much of her, I’m starting to wonder why we aren’t talking about her pretty much all the time.

This week on Viral Kindness, social worker Allison Graham talks about the power of a hug. "I have been isolated since the pandemic started. Not a lot of physical contact. Six hugs now, the entire time. So, a year: six hugs. March 19 was the last pre-pandemic hug that I had. I can actually recount these times of physical comfort and physical contact in a year. In November, I went to the chiropractor. My chiropractor, her name is Ericka, was recovering from brain surgery, a brain tumor. Surgery, chemo, and radiation. Her immune system was completely wiped out. And she was still seeing people and being really careful. I went to her because I was having some chronic pain. Went through the whole process. She doesn’t wear gloves, she just uses hand sanitizer. I did the table, where she adjusted me. Then she had me sit in a chair to do a different thing. After we were done, my arm was on the side of the chair. And she just reached over and kind of rubbed my arm. The kind of touch we had pre

The movie world is talking about the Academy Awards this week, but last week nominations for the BAFTAs came out—that’s sort of the British Oscars—and the movie that received the most nominations is one that’s not terribly familiar to American audiences. It’s called Rocks , and fortunately it’s currently just sitting right there on Netflix for any of us to watch.

Adelina “Nina” Otero-Warren was a woman’s suffragist, educator, politician, and was the “first Latina” in a number of political roles, including running for Congress.

Chang-rae Lee is known for exploring issues of culture and identity. His new novel, My Year Abroad , introduces readers to a young American who is taken on a year-long global adventure by a Chinese-American businessman.