Adventures in Words

Brendan Hunt, Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein and Nick Mohammed, Emmy nominees all for Apple TV's "Ted Lasso." Photo via IMDB       After worries about a sophomore slump, followed by the sticky-sweet Christmas episode that improbably streamed in the middle of August, there was concern that Apple TV's breakout comedy hit “Ted Lasso” might be losing its way. After all, rising from an unknown quantity to a record-setting 20 Emmy nominations after just one season is akin to going from zero to 100 in no time flat. It's a neck-snapping sensation beyond most humans' capacity to process, much less survive. Not to worry. Last Friday's installment about the hayseed American football coach (Jason Sudeikis) who finds himself coaching a British soccer team despite knowing nothing about the sport, was the best episode ever. Ted Lasso himself is beyond many humans' capacity to process. For openers there's his ridiculous optimism despite overwhelming evidence to t

  Just when you think humanity couldn't get any more annoying, someone new checks into “The White Lotus.” Ending its six-episode first season Sunday on HBO, this sly satire, conceived, written and directed by Mike White has been getting lots of media attention, social and otherwise, for a variety of reasons. I first learned of it in a Maui News story a few months ago about the unexpected boon filming had provided to the island's economy during the dark days of the pandemic. The series was filmed entirely at Wailea's Four Seasons Resort, bringing a chunk of revenue to the property while many of its neighbor resorts were shuttered. At the same time, it allowed cast and crew to be sequestered in its luxurious environs in a virus-resistant bubble. That all seemed to add up to a rare case of win-win, a silver lining to the dark cloud of lockdown. But now that it's out there for all to see, there's room to wonder whether Four Seasons management might be second-guessing th

  Not until we were back out in the sunlight, safely returned from a rollicking trip up the Amazon in “Jungle Cruise,”did I realize it had been almost two years since I had been in an actual movie theater. Chalk up another deep but invisible pandemic-inspired change to life as we used to know it. Considering what a key role movies – watched on big screens with crowds of strangers in hundreds of theaters across the U.S. mainland and Hawaii – played in that previous life, I didn't know where to start listing all the changes. For openers, going to the movies no longer requires going to a movie theater. The theater is optional. Going to the couch is all that's required. Or, for that matter, going to the palm of your hand.   And it wasn't just any theater where we went on our “Jungle Cruise.” We – a multigenerational party of seven, stretching in age from seven to 75 – saw it at a uniquely Tucson establishment called the RoadHouse Cinemas. Being the 10:45 a.m. show, it came with