Hello again, December!   Yes, the time has come for another winter break. A chance to slow down for a bit, get our bearings, and hopefully enter the new year feeling energized and ready to meet whatever new catastrophe comes our way. (Just kidding. But not really.) On behalf of the Night Crew, I’d like…

In 2002, film critic Roger Ebert sat down with animation director Hayao Miyazaki to discuss the North American release of his film “Spirited Away.” When Ebert commented on the “gratuitous motion” of Miyazaki’s films—the moments when the characters would “do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time…

I have been thinking a lot about happy endings these last few weeks. Particularly due to this one book I recently finished reading, which had a somewhat fluffy, cheesy, character-grin-y, slappy-on-the-back-y kind of ending. Nothing was lost, everything was gained, and they all went home happy. And I loved it. Now, I’ll be honest here:…