Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Welcome to the Disney era of "Doctor Who." Once upon a time, there was a globally popular, decades-spanning sci-fi TV series about a mythic alien trickster who changed into different lead actors every few years and who traveled through space and time in a disappearing blue box that was bigger on the inside than on the outside. As the narrative became less accessible to casual viewers, due to the compounding complexity of its many backstories, it only took a handful of ill-considered revisions...
The Apple TV+ streaming service delivered a couple of solid sci-fi series these past few weeks. Nov. 17 saw the premiere of the first two episodes of "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters," which is slated to last at least 10 episodes total, running weekly through Jan. 12. "Monarch" is set in Legendary and Warner Bros. Pictures' "MonsterVerse," and I'd recommend having seen at least 2014's "Godzilla" and 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" before starting this one, which I suspect might also soon encompass the...
Two very different films showcased the standout acting talents of their young supporting performers in theaters this past weekend. Dominic Sessa made his film acting debut in "The Holdovers," by two-time Academy Award-winning director Alexander Payne, and Sessa holds his own in spite of sharing the screen with seasoned performers Paul Giamatti and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. This unlikely trio forms the backbone of a Christmas character study, set in a fictional Massachusetts boarding school in 1970....
It's the most influential television show that multiple generations of TV viewers have never seen, and it ended an entire season of simmering sexual tension with a free-for-all food fight. Because I'm faced with slim pickings for recent theatrical releases, I'll try an experiment by reviewing the first season of a show that made its streaming debut on Hulu in October, after originally airing from 1985-89. You can tell me if you want me to continue. "Moonlighting" wasn't the first romantic...
I saw "The Bowmakers," by director Ward Serrill and producer Rocky Freidman, as part of the 2019 Port Townsend Film Festival, back when Freidman still co-owned the Rose Theatre. Even as one of 15 films I saw that weekend, "The Bowmakers" stood out for Serrill's deft weaving of multiple nations' cultural histories, its detailed view of workpeople's processes and its idiosyncratic first-person biographies. I shouldn't be surprised to find that same alchemy in Serrill's follow-up collaboration...
Between the Oct. 5 premieres of the second seasons of "Loki" on Disney+ and "Quantum Leap" on Peacock, plus the Oct. 6 premiere of "Totally Killer" on Amazon Prime Video, it was a banner weekend for time-travel capers on streaming media. Before you dive into "Loki" Season 2, it's best to refresh yourself on Season 1, in which the Norse god Thor's trickster brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) - or rather, an alternate timeline variant of Loki who didn't die fighting Thanos - was recruited by the...
Spending the week after the Port Townsend Film Festival in quarantine due to COVID allowed me to catch up on old and new streaming series. "Reservation Dogs" After three seasons and 28 episodes, "Reservation Dogs" went out without a single misstep, wrapping up its multigenerational saga of the oddball everyday lives of the fictional Native American reservation of Okern, Okla., by bidding a farewell to Old Man Fixico, the medicine man who served as the glue holding the community together. The...
The Port of Grapeview had a break-in and theft from its storage shed, which port commissioners addressed during their Sept. 19 meeting. As commission chair Mike Blaisdell reported, an inventory of the shed's contents showed the port's lawnmower was stolen, and that Commissioner Art Whitson had filed a police report. "I'm just lucky I decided to go by the port that day, because nobody really noticed it," Whitson said. "I happened to look over (and thought), 'Why is the door open?' " Blaisdell said the port has insurance coverage for the storage...
The Port of Hoodsport temporarily closed the public pier and dock in downtown Hoodsport. According to Port of Hoodsport Commissioner Lori Kincannon, the port has been awaiting the results of a new site inspection report before beginning the bid process for needed repairs. “The port has not yet received the contractor’s inspection report, or the engineers’ letter on their findings,” port Executive Director Kathleen Wyatt said. On Sept. 16, representatives of Hoodsport-based Integrated Northwe...
My first Port Townsend Film Festival was in 2016, and my first marathon review of the film festival for the newspaper was in 2017. This event has evolved yearly, but this year has brought welcome changes. The festival now allows attendees to make digital reservations for their chosen shows and the festival's handouts include guides to all the places to buy snacks and drinks between screenings. My goal was to watch as many as a dozen films in four days. Sept. 21: Day 1 "Red, White & Brass"...
North Mason High School counselor Kim Walters shared information on the new YouScience program with the school board at the district school board meeting Sept. 21. North Mason High School will be implementing YouScience in order to support each student in completing their "High School and Beyond" plan. Hawkins Middle School will implement the first phases of YouScience for exploration beginning in the seventh grade. Walters said students would be tasked with completing the following courses in...
Sept. 13 marked the date when the Port of Dewatto’s remaining two commissioners were able to conduct their first regularly scheduled meeting since July 12. Port of Dewatto Manager Jeana Crosby told the Herald the port has found a “person of interest” to fill the port’s District 2 commissioner position, which was left vacant by the death of commissioner Ray Mow on April 8. Crosby said the potential commissioner has not been sworn in, but she did say Sept. 15 she expects that Wilson Sapp, a lieut...
Mason Health and eight other regional hospital systems took steps this summer to meet new statewide goals aimed at creating safer workplaces. Participating hospitals are working to reduce injuries and create safer work environments by launching safety campaigns for employees. Those hoping to receive top performer status this year are required to inaugurate and complete safety campaigns, running from Aug. 1 through Nov. 30, that focus their employees’ attention on how to conduct themselves m...
After nearly half a century, the rock band Foreigner is in the middle of its “Historic Farewell Tour,” which began in late 2022 and is set to conclude in 2024, but not before appearing at Little Creek Casino on Sept. 23. Keyboardist Michael Bluestein, a band member since 2008, admitted to bittersweet feelings about the band’s last tour even as he appreciates the chance to feed off the fans’ energy, live and in-person, during the band’s cross-country tour. “It’s thrilling that the band’s catalog...
Meet Ray Shoesmith. He's a fascinating animal. Australian actor, writer and director Scott Ryan spent the better part of 20 years honing this character, and the results impressed no less than actress Helen Mirren and her husband, director Taylor Hackford. Ryan's first draft of Ray's character came in a low-budget but critically acclaimed 2005 independent film called "The Magician," streaming on Amazon, which established Ray in Melbourne, before Ryan transplanted the character to Sydney, for...
Port of Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson said several matters worthy of public interest were raised at the port’s special meeting Aug. 22. Under the port’s maintenance plan, landscaping, irrigation and septic systems were addressed, its trees have been trimmed, and its restrooms and gutters have been cleaned, although replacing the women’s restroom toilet requires some work. Whitson praised AAA Septic in Shelton, which had to deal with hundreds of pounds of invasive roots infiltrating the p...
The Port of Allyn’s special meeting Aug. 24 saw port officials and port district residents comment on the port’s comprehensive plan for harbor improvements, with Port Commissioner Ted Jackson suggesting that broadband expansion be added to the community survey regarding the plan. Jackson recommended a specific grant writer for his fellow commissioners to meet, and Port Executive Director Lary Coppola agreed a lot of unclaimed grant money is available that could help the port’s work on its infra...
Ralph Pulsifer came to art relatively late in life, in the wake of surgery three years ago that left him with a lot of time on his hands. "My children have always been artists, so it was also a way to connect with them," said Pulsifer, a Shelton resident and member of the Skokomish Indian Tribe. Indeed, Pulsifer credits "plenty of coaching from my kids" with helping him develop as an artist, along with what he referred to as "the University of YouTube." Pulsifer renders his pictures in a...
North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach recently informed her students' families, through a letter sent to welcome them back to school for the 2023-24 year, that the district sees the process of fostering certain values in its students as similar to tending a garden. Rosenbach recounted how district and building administrators devoted one of their training and leadership sessions to selecting "impact words" to describe ways of "building our garden and developing our soil."...
Grapeview School District Superintendent Gerry Grubbs noted the changes students and families can expect as they start the new school year, beginning with a new administrative team, which he said is "working toward unity in leadership and vision." Cynthia Breeze is the district's director of student services and athletics, while Hannah Nelsen is its new principal. Grubbs touted their efforts to bring back the "robust volunteer program" the district had prior to COVID. Grubbs promised students...
When it comes to sources of casually consumable storytelling, polymath scholar Umberto Eco isn't the first name anyone thinks of, which is a shame, because while he produced challenging, data-dense novels such as "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum," he was playful for an intellectual, as director Davide Ferrario reveals in his documentary, "Umberto Eco: A Library of the World." Before Eco died in 2016, he gave Ferrario a tour of his library, which has since been donated to the...
Port of Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson has found several outlets at the port for his talents — particularly in the field of environmental issues — over the course of his decades spent working in commercial and government sectors. So it’s not surprising the port will be sending him to a statewide discussion of environmental concerns with fellow Washington port officials. On Sept. 21-22, Whitson will join the Washington Public Ports Association’s 2023 environmental seminar in Ruston, just no...
The Union-based Great Bend Center for Music has nabbed the jazz stylings of the Kareem Kandi World Orchestra, which will be featured at the center’s second annual “Jazz in the Barn Gala” fundraiser Sept. 16. Kandi recently announced his impending stint as the new host of the “Jazz Northwest” show, which can be heard at 2 p.m. Sundays on KNKX 88.5 FM. The show highlights the jazz scene from Portland to Vancouver, so Great Bend Center for Music General Director Matthew Melendez touted this particu...
After watching the first two episodes of "Ahsoka" on Disney+, my reaction was this: "So this is what 'Star Wars' feels like for those who aren't already fans." I grew up with "Star Wars." I saw the original trilogy when each film premiered in theaters, and I saw each installment of the prequel trilogy on its opening night, too. But there's a generation for whom the prequel trilogy was their first "Star Wars," just like the original trilogy was mine, and they didn't just watch the live-action...
During the North Mason School Board’s Aug. 17 meeting, summer school principal Laura Pugh and teacher Rachel Mayo were joined by Hawkins Middle School students Tora Kawai-Seguin, Zevin King and Rukan Bruemmer as they presented a film the students made during summer school. Pugh reported the summer school program had ended the previous week, with literacy support for students in grades four through eight, and “credit recovery” for students in grades 10 through 12. Over three weeks, break...
