By Drew Grant and Noam Cohen 4/29 10:29am

Game of Thrones

Illustration by Alex Bedder.

Five Essay Prompts for Game of Thrones 3×5: ‘Kissed by Fire’

These questions regard last night’s episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please answer the prompts with specific examples from LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE, though supplementary material will be accepted as a secondary source. Please write legibly. No. 2 pencils only. You have an hour to finish this test. See below for questions and sample responses.

1. Sometimes Ygritte acts tough and independent, and others she is erratic and even immature, as when she steals John Snow’s sword like a schoolgirl with a crush. Based on her behavior in this episode, where would you say she falls on Barney Stinson’s Hot/Crazy Scale–above or below the Vicky Mendoza diagonal? Read More

By Drew Grant 4/01 5:35pm

April Fools Day

peter

The Quote-Unquote ‘Best’ April Fools’ Day Pranks of 2013

Like we stated earlier today, April Fools’ Day is all a matter of perspective. As giant companies with an Internet presence jostle to be “viral” and “social media” (whatever that is), they use this time each year to outdo each other on false information about their products.

And this is fun? Funny? Sometimes. More often, it leaves us confused and excited/really upset for the amount of time it takes to send the link to a friend, whereupon we immediately realize that we have fallen for more April 1st tomfoolery.

This year, there were three “pranks” that really took the cake for their humorous/not humorous lies and misinformation. Read More

By Gillian Reagan 11/06/07 6:34pm

Ethan Hawke’s in Da House!

“The first time we did a read-through with all of us, I was looking forward to it, but I was actually overcome with emotion,” said Josh Hamilton, the 38-year-old theater vet and indie movie star, who was discussing his role as Teddy in The New Group’s production Things We Want, directed by Ethan Hawke and Read More

By John Heilpern 10/25/04 12:00am

A Sluggish Richard III: Where Is Our Royal Psycho?

Richard III isn’t a complex play for us. It’s a popular melodrama about a world unhinged by a deformed, royal psychopath. Rousing, murderous stuff! But the role of the king—the “bunch-backed toad” himself—is a hell of a challenge for an actor.

Richard owns the play. Compared to his dominating contribution—and our weird complicity in his Read More

By John Heilpern 10/04/04 12:00am

Welcome to the New Season! Autumn Bursts With Revivals

I’m often asked at the start of a new season what shows people should see. I wish I could tell you. But I haven’t seen them yet! Actually, that’s not true. The brave new season has only just begun and I’ve already seen about 15 of the shows. So have you. They’re called revivals.

There Read More

By Alexandra Wolfe 10/20/03 12:00am

Screen This, Jack

Motion Picture Association of America President Jack Valenti’s decision to ban the distribution of screeners of Oscar-nominated films continues to reverberate. Movie-industry sources told The Transom that a number of “independent” film directors and producers are campaigning to seek legal action against the MPAA. Apparently, lawyers who have been consulted feel there could be a Read More