Weekend - July 16, 2020

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Weekend

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LIVEWIRE: Judas Priest delaying 50th anniversary tour, E5 OFF THE MENU: Dessert festival becoming online event, E9 WINE PRESS: Galerie Wines produces outstanding reds, whites, E10

Bored?

History research can be cure for boredom during pandemic, Page E2

PLUS

Tanglewood spirit stays alive online, E3


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ON THE COVER

Bored?

Above, St. Louis Red Cross Motor Corps personnel wear masks as they hold stretchers next to ambulances in preparation for victims of the influenza epidemic in October 1918. At left, the Walter Reed Hospital flu ward had such high volume that some patients had to be moved to the hospital porch. Historical images such as these are just some of the data available for research on the Library of Congress website, Loc.org, which gealogist Dave Robison says provides a “deep well of data that’s free for you to browse.” (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Try history research

T

hese are certainly trying times. While I hope that everyone is safe and healthy, I understand how sequestering can be highly frustrating. There are some solutions that I can provide.

card. Aside from the popular site FindAGrave.com, a Rhode Island website has a great deal of additional information that you may not find elsewhere. Navigate to rihistoric cemeteries.org, which, For those of us who have on the day this article was in addition to the data, has spent any time at all research- written. That is not to say “Helpful Hints of the Day” on ing their long-lost relatives, that they won’t change at any its home page. There are nine you already know that it can given time. links across the top the page Dave Robison be a time-consuming and This first site is specific to for various categories. sometimes difficult task. May- Massachusetts. Digital The Vermont History webbe “sometimes” is not the cor- commonwealth.org is a site Connecticut and the Consite, vermonthistory.org, is rect word, but I already know where you can explore histor- necticut State Library, where not specifically a genealogy that someone somewhere can ical collections from libraries, their goal is preservation of website but is chock full of museums and archives across many types of digital resourc- other information that could always use a hint or two. This month, I decided to list Massachusetts. es. prove helpful in your research. a few very helpful genealogy The Connecticut State Two sites for Connecticut New Hampshire’s entry websites other than Ancestry. research include Connecticut Library’s website is cslib. here is the New Hampshire com or FamilySearch.org. cdmhost.com/digital. There Genealogy website. See Digital Archive and the ConThey are both leading-edge necticut State Library. Conare 27 broad collections of newhampshiregenealogy. necticut Digital can be found digitized books, diaries, websites with phenomenal com for links that can direct collections, but we all fall into at collections.ctdigital photographs, court records, you back to all the other New archives.org. The description witchcraft trials, newspapers, England states. In addition, ruts and forget to think of of its purpose is rather long, some of the alternatives. vital records and more. Some there are links to archives In the interest of full disso for our purposes here, just of the collections are limited and libraries, cemeteries, closure, the web addresses know that it is a collaboration to Connecticut residents with directories, New Hampshire I reference here were active between the University of a Connecticut State Library genealogy societies, land and

maps, military records and other topics. Last but not least is the site for Maine research. Navigate to digitalmaine.com, which provides helpful links to assist you with your Maine-related research. Beyond New England, there are useful collections at a wide variety of sites. Archives.gov is a good example. I am not referring to Archives.com, which is a great site, but it is also a paid site. Archives.gov is the free website of the National Archives and Records Administration. It is a comprehensive collection of databases. I recommend that you look at it with the understanding that it can be, at times, overwhelming with its depth and breadth. But don’t be shy. Give it a try. You may very well find links that will take you to paid sites, just be aware. Scroll to the bottom of the home page to see all the categories that you can follow by way of the links provided. The free cemetery website that I’ve used for over 20

SEE ROBISON, PAGE E3


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LENOX

Tanglewood spirit stays alive online Festival features series of digital offerings

Ancestry.com is one of the “leading-edge websites with phenomenal collections,” says genealogist Dave Robison in this month’s column. Here is a sample of a Kennedy family tree for President John F. Kennedy. (ANCESTRY.COM)

Robison CONTINUED FROM PAGE E2

Dave Robison, of Springfield, is an avid genealogist and history docent at the Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. He is the president of the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium which will be holding a conference in Springfield in 2021. An affiliate of the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society and the New England chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, he teaches workshops in family history. He may be reached via his website, oldbones.info or email to dave@oldbones.info. His column appears monthly.

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years is Findagrave.com. It’s relatively simple but comes with the warning that all the data there is uploaded by volunteers. That alone should make you aware that anybody can upload anything. There are safeguards in place for absurd entries, but names, dates, biographies, links to other family members for example might be inaccurate. Many of the entries have photos of the grave marker and sometimes the person buried there. Making corrections or edits is easy if you have better information. The memorial manager is responsible to take your suggestion and edit the page. The last site I’ll mention this month is the Library of Congress which you can access at Loc.org, another deep well of data that’s free for you to browse. Log in, search around, you might be amazed at what you can find there. Finally, there are several paid sites that have offered free access for a limited time such as MyHeritage.com, FindMyPast.com, and others. I would suggest that you organize exactly what you need to research, sign up for the free week or 10 days that’s

offered and dig in. Try to get as much research as you can while the site is yours free of charge. And now, I am sure you will not be bored. Good luck! Next month, we dive into the mysterious world of DNA. Stay tuned.

has (by all accounts) never been publicly performed By Clifton Noble Jr. before this year. It is a sinSpecial to The Republican gle-movement work by the African American composer orced to cease normal, in-person Ulysses Kay, called Sonatine summer operation for the first time for Viola and Piano. BSO since World War II in response to the violist Mary Ferrillo will be joined by pianist Brett HodgCOVID-19 pandemic, the Tangledon in the performance. “It had been a while since I wood Music Festival nevertheless had taken stock of solo (viola) refused to be silenced, instead taking music repertoire,” Ferrillo said in into the digital universe and creating the a recent interview. “With all the unexpected time on 2020 Tanglewood Online Festival. my hands due to the COVID Comprised of newly shutdown, I began to dig into a variety of chamber music from Bach to Berio and what I had and I asked myself recorded and livestreamed how inclusive that repertoire beyond. material, archival video and was.” Tanglewood is, of course, audio, and a host of peripheral discussions and presen- familiar ground for world “When the virtual Tantations connected with the glewood series came up, premiere performances. In new Tanglewood Learning it was important to me to addition to founding the Institute, the online festival address the discrepancies, festival, BSO Maestro Serge offers patrons almost daily Koussevitzky commissioned and I researched and found events throughout July and lots of wonderful music (by many of the staples of the August, most ticketed, but modern orchestral repertoire African American compossome free of charge. during his (1924-1949) tenure ers) including this Ulysses Kay Sonatine for Viola and One such series of events is at the helm of the orchestra. Piano,” she said. “I also got entitled “BSO Musicians in The process of commissionSEE TANGLEWOOD, PAGE E4 ing, creating, and launching Recital from Tanglewood.” new music continues to flourFor $5 each, or $32 for the ish in the BSO organization. full series, patrons can view On July 31, another world Boston Symphony Musicians performing (mostly in Studio premiere will take place – E in the new Linde Center) 8 very special in that the piece itself was written in 1939, but recital programs containing

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Tanglewood CONTINUED FROM PAGE E3

in contact with the wonderful organization ‘Castle Of Our Skins’ and their co-founder, the violist Ashleigh Gordon. Their mission is to celebrate Black Artistry through music, and address the lack of Black voices in classical music’s oft-performed canonical repertoire.” Ferrillo was very grateful for Gordon’s guidance and is excited to tackle works like John McLaughlin Williams’ 2 Pieces for Solo Viola, (Pulitzer Prize winner) George Walker’s Viola Sonata, several works by Anthony R. Green (associate artistic director of Castle of Our Skins), and Adolphus Hailstork’s Sanctum. But first, Kay’s Sonatine. “It’s a welcome addition to the viola repertoire,” Ferrillo said. “(The piece) explores a lot of emotional ground. It is unabashedly romantic, but also combines virtuosic sweeps with some musical sweetness.” She detects the probable influence of Kay’s Eastman teacher Howard Hanson, but says, “It’s remarkably a self-assured musical voice for someone so young – Kay would have been 22 in 1939.” Born in 1917 in Tucson, Arizona, Kay was the son of a singing cowboy barber and an amateur pianist, and the nephew of jazz cornetist Joseph “King” Oliver. Kay recalled his famous uncle’s advice to his mother: “… give the boy piano lessons, so he can learn the rudiments — and then he’ll find what he wants to do in music.” Piano lessons proved fruitful, and Kay did indeed find what he wanted to do in music, sealing the deal with a visit to composer William Grant Still during his college years at the University of Arizona and the Eastman School of Music. At Eastman, several of Kay’s works were performed, including his Sinfonietta for Orchestra and Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra. The summer following his graduation from Eastman, Kay won a scholarship to Tan-

Forced to cease in-person operation, Tanglewood will present programming online with 2020 Tanglewood Online Festival. (THE REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO)

glewood, where he studied with Paul Hindemith, and continued on to work with Hindemith at Yale during 1941-42. Mary Ferrillo shares the Tanglewood connection with Kay. She was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow for three summers, 2012-2014, and received the Maurice Schwartz Prize there in 2014. She returned to Tanglewood as a member of the New Fromm Players in 2016 and 2017, premiering compositions by John Harbison, Joseph Phibbs, Kui Dong, and Marc Neikrug among others. The kinds of things she learned while working directly with those living composers to bring their music to premiere resonates with her work on the Kay Sonatine. “Though this piece is technically 80 years old,” Ferrillo explained, “the fact that there were no performances to listen to meant that I had no preconceived ideas of what it should be, and it felt like a very collaborative experience even though I could never meet Kay. You may be physically alone in the room, but it’s a dialogue — you ask ‘Is this what you meant? Does this choice I’m making satisfy your vision?’ It’s as if Ulysses Kay was sitting in the room nodding or shaking his head.” Kay would go on from the Sonatine and his student works at Arizona, Eastman,

On July 31, another world premiere will take place – very special in that the piece itself was written in 1939, but has (by all accounts) never been publicly performed before this year. and Tanglewood, to write in every genre of classical music, producing symphonic works, band works, choral works, ballets, and several operas, including “The Boor,” “The Juggler of Our Lady,” “Jubilee,” and “Frederick Douglass.” He was the first African American to win the Prix de Rome (he won it twice, in 1946 and 1949). Several Guggenheim grants, a Fulbright Scholarship, and a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship were among subsequent honors bestowed upon Kay. He held a position at Broadcast Music Inc. from 1953-1968, but turned down several teaching positions (from at least nine colleges and universities) in order to preserve his composing time. In 1949 he married Barbara Harrison, also a musician, and Kay’s muse throughout the remainder of his life (he died in 1995). During Kay’s tenure at BMI, she taught music in

Manhattan. During the 1960s, she was active in the civil rights movement, participating in the Mississippi Freedom Rides, the New Jersey Englewood Movement, and the “March Against Fear.” The couple had three daughters. Ferrillo would go on from her own Tanglewood experiences to become a fullfledged member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2019. Her father, John Ferrillo, has been with the BSO since 2001 and is the orchestra’s principal oboist. Father and daughter understand each other with even greater depth and appreciation now that they share the thrill of making great music in one of the world’s finest orchestras. “Sometimes I sit in front of

my father (in rehearsal or performance),” she said, “which is very special, but even if we aren’t sitting near each other, there is always a moment when we make eye contact and register that we get to play together.” For the Online Festival concert tomorrow, Mary and her father collaborated with pianist Randall Hodgkinson to record Boston composer (and BSO violinist) Charles Martin Loeffler’s Deux Rapsodies for Oboe, Viola, and Piano. In addition to the Ulysses Kay premiere on July 31, Ferrillo and Hodgdon will play Rebecca Clarke’s brilliant Sonata for Viola and Piano, and Daniel Getz and Hodgdon will play the Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 11 No. 4 by Hindemith, completing a neat teacher-student circle within the boundaries of the program. Violist Steven Laraia will be joined by percussionist Kyle Brightwell in a very different work, Luciano Berio’s Naturale for viola, percussion, and recorded voice. Other series available online this summer include “Great Performers In Recital At Tanglewood,” “Recitals from the World Stage,” “BSO Encore Performances From Tanglewood,” and many other offerings, including post-concert Q&A, commentary from celebrity hosts, etc. For information on how to access this July 31 performance and any other part of the Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival, visit the Boston Symphony at bso.org.

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MUSIC

Judas Priest delaying 50th anniversary tour

J

UDAS PRIEST HAS PUT a hold on its 50th anniversary tour due to concerns over COVID-19. The band was slated to bring that tour to the Grand Theater at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Sept. 12. The group announced it was able to reschedule most dates on the North American tour and will now end its run with a show at Foxwoods on Oct. 31, 2021. Tickets purchased for the original dates will be honored. The “50 Heavy Metal Years Tour� will also feature Sabaton as openers. In 2018, Judas Priest released “Firepower,� which became the highest charting album of its career, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Albums chart. The band formed in England in 1969 and became one of the greatest metal bands of all time.

Rob Halford and Andy Sneap of Judas Priest perform at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre on Aug 22, 2018, in Tinley Park, Ill. The band has put a hold on its 50th anniversary tour due to concerns over COVID-19, and rescheduled its Foxwoods appearance from Sept. 12 to Oct. 31, 2021.

Donnie Moorhouse LiveWire

Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. • The Mud Morganfield concert scheduled for Hawks and Reed in Greenfield has been postponed. No new date has been announced for the performance, which was scheduled for Aug. 15. Morganfield is the eldest son of blues legend Muddy Waters and an acclaimed artist in his own right. His 2012 album “Son of the Seventh Sonâ€? was nominated in the Best Album and the Traditional Blues Male Artist Album categories of the 2013 Blues Foundation Blues Music Awards.

(ROB GRABOWSKI / INVISION / AP)

Patti LaBelle will play the Mohegan Sun Arena on April 8, 2021, a make-up date for the May 3 date postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Liner notes • The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, another (AMY HARRIS / INVISION / AP) venue that had its schedule decimated by the global pandemic, has announced a new scheduled for September of date for Hot Tuna. this year and will now take The classic blues rock band, • The annual FreshGrass place Sept. 24-26, 2021. originally scheduled for a July Festival held at Mass MoCA FreshGrass features a diverse lineup of acoustic acts, show in Great Barrington, will in North Adams has been and in the past the event has return to the Berkshires in canceled for 2020. included acts such as Brandi 2021 for a July 12 show. The event was originally Tickets purchased for the original date will be honored. The venue will also allow you to exchange the ticket for a OPEN venue credit, donate it back WEDNESDAY – SATURDAY to the theater as a tax-deductible contribution, or 5:00 – 9:30 PM receive a refund at the point WITH LIMITED MENU of purchase. 429 Morgan Road, W. SpringďŹ eld The tour included an PLEASE READ GUIDELINES: at the opening slot from mandolin Irish Cultural Center IrishCenterwne.org virtuoso David Grisman. Hot Tuna was formed in RESERVATIONS SUGGESTED: 413-342-4358 1969 by former Jefferson

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Carlile, Alison Brown, BÊla Fleck, and Del McCoury. This year’s event was to include Alison Krauss, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Steep Canyon Rangers. FreshGrass is a family-friendly music and camping festival that takes place in North Adams and Bentonville, Arkansas, each year.

for the May 3 date that was postponed due to COVID-19. Tickets purchased for the original date will be honored. LaBelle started her career in the 1960s as the leader of Pattie LaBelle and the Bluebelles. She launched her solo career in 1976 and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has won two Grammy Awards, an Emmy, and has • Patti Labelle has a new date for Mohegan Sun in Unc- authored six books. asville, Connecticut. LaBelle has also launched The soul icon will play the a successful food line that arena on April 8, 2021. includes a variety of pies, The concert is a make-up cobblers and cakes.

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MOVIES there are no consequences for anything you do? Hit by a car? Wake up in the morning. Hook up with the bartender? Wake up in the morning. Perform an elaborate dance routine wearing matching denim jackets in the local dive bar? Wake up in the morning. It’s the power of an infinitely clean slate, which Nyles uses to test the boundaries of polite behavior and enjoy a perpetual vacation, sipping cervezas on a pool floaty. Sarah, on the other hand, craves more: more meaning, more weight to Cristin Milioti, left, and Andy Samberg appear in a scene from the film “Palm Springs.” her actions, more redemption. (JESSICA PEREZ / HULU VIA AP) These are the questions that MOVIE REVIEW drive the curious existence of Nyles and Sarah in “Palm Springs,” which is as high-concept as it is low-key. Barbakow achieves a chill and stylish vibe for what is fundamentally a hangout movie that begs the question: How weird can you get? What Nyles and Sarah find ing that nightmarish day again, dance move, predicting every in the weirdness is the deep and again, and again. This is hookup. He’s either really, rehuman connection they’ve ally intuitive, or he’s been here been lacking, Nyles coasting a vision of a sun-drenched, before. When Sarah follows perfectly Pinterested hell that in a vapid relationship with him into the desert at night, she bridesmaid Misty (Meredith screenwriter Andy Siara and discovers that Nyles is trapped Hagner, who absolutely owns director Max Barbakow have By Katie Walsh in an infinite time loop, like Bill the niche she’s carved out for conjured as the setting for Tribune News Service Murray in “Groundhog Day” their cerebral “Groundhog herself playing absurd ditzWe’ve probably all been to a Day”-inspired rom-com, “Palm or Natasha Lyonne in “Russian es), Sarah stuck in the broken wedding that felt like it would divorcée rut. Doll,” and now she is too. Springs.” Sarah is saved from the Barbakow and Siara build never end. For Sarah (Cristin Against the expansive desert speech by a beer-swilling char- backdrop and a repeating ritual a world around a fantastical Milioti), that wedding is her acter in a Hawaiian shirt, Nyles of love, Sarah and Nyles will premise, but it feels real and younger sister’s, where she’s (Andy Samberg), who seems natural. The infinite time loop drowning herself in red wine reckon with what it means to to have perfected his wedding never grow old, never die. How is outlandish enough, so there’s and extremely unprepared to no need to mug for cheap give a speech. Now imagine liv- routine, anticipating every will you live your life when

‘Palm Springs’ is rom-com inspired by ‘Groundhog Day’ Cristin Milioti stars in breakout performance

‘PALM SPRINGS’ rrrt

Rated: R Running time: 90 minutes. How to watch: Hulu

laughs, and the laugh-outloud moments are organically earned. It offers the actors a sense of freedom to be as real or as kooky as they want to be. It’s nice to see Samberg in a romantic leading role that plays on his strengths of sweet silliness, but “Palm Springs” belongs to Milioti, in a breakout performance. Although she’s had an enormously successful career on stage and in TV, this feels like the first leading film role for Milioti that allows her to show new shades of her range. She’s darker, funnier, wackier than she’s been before, but still grounded. The canon of infinite time loop texts is often about finding serenity in the insanity, their neurotic protagonists learning to surrender to the scenario. That message is even more poignant now, as we all seem to be trapped in the never-ending sameness of quarantine. But “Palm Springs” takes it one step further: It’s not just about accepting, but finding connection in the madness. Maybe that’s the only way to find salvation within, and possibly escape the loop.

DVD RELEASES

‘Body Cam’ tackles cop corruption with horror By Katie Foran-McHale

a seemingly routine traffic stop, kicking off a disturbing Corrupt cops run rampant in series of deadly attacks. Amid the top new DVD pick for this the killings, reckless Renee week. and reluctant Danny set off to “Body Cam”: After a suspen- investigate, with supernatural sion and while grieving her pieces to the puzzle not-soyoung son’s accidental death, neatly dropped along the way. It’s an intriguing tale, helmed police officer Renee Lomito-Smith (Mary J. Blige) is back by director Malik Vitthal and at work with a new partner, the written by Richmond Riedel green, easily affected Danny and Nicholas McCarthy, if a tad Holledge (Nat Wolff). While too on the nose. As Blige begins on patrol, the pair discover the to unravel a web of corruption gruesome remains of anothin the department, her charer colleague who’d been on acter development remains Tribune News Service

flat, and despite a disturbingly devastating twist amid the gore, the stakes remain relatively low. There’s just something that feels off about the tone — despite all the blood and guts, it ends up feeling less like a horror movie and more like a meditation on grief, rage and revenge, in more ways than one. Also new on DVD “Castle in the Ground”: Dealing with grief, a teenage boy (Alex Wolff) makes friends with a troubled neighbor

(Imogen Poots) amid the opioid epidemic. “Enter the Fat Dragon”: A remake of the 1978 film, a cop (Donnie Yen) who’d been sentenced to the evidence room searches for answers after a suspect dies in his custody in this action-comedy. In Japanese and Chinese. “The Magicians: Season Five”: The Syfy series following a group of 20-somethings who have discovered the wonders and dangers of the magical world comes to a close.

“The Red Shadows”: A police officer (Nadia Fares) becomes fixated with finding her abducted sister decades after the kidnapping in this series. In French. “The Swing of Things”: A groom (Chord Overstreet) unintentionally hosts his wedding and honeymoon at a destination venue for swingers. “VHYes”: A boy records talk shows and infomercials on a VHS tape, inadvertently recording over footage of his parents’ wedding.


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THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020 | E7

MOVIES

What to stream? By Michael O’Sullivan

Washington Post

Based on Robert Seethaler’s 2012 novel, “The Tobacconist” tells the story of the friendship between Franz (Simon Morzé), a naive 17-year-old apprentice in a Viennese tobacco shop, and the shop’s most famous customer, Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz). Opening in 1937, not long before the German annexation of Austria, this thoughtful, well-made and poignant coming-of-age tale features two instances of heartbreak: the first involving Franz’s infatuation with a Czech dance hall performer (Emma Drogunova), and the second precipitated by the teenager’s dawning consciousness of evil. Set against the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathies, the film doesn’t go anywhere that is especially unexpected, but where it does take you, it does so with nuance and quiet authority. The late Ganz — an actor known for playing both an angel (“Wings of Desire”) and Hilter himself (“Downfall”) — inhabits the complexities and contradictions of Freud with subtlety, in a story that plies themes of pleasure and vice. Of course, Franz seeks advice from the head doctor, as he calls him, about women, but Freud isn’t able to provide much of that. Nor can he explain away the horrors that Franz eventually must confront. This is a film that offers no pat insights, other than the one bit of wisdom that the psychoanalyst does throw

out: “We’re not in this world to find answers,” he tells Franz, “but to ask questions.” Unrated. Available at theavalon.org, afisilver.afi.com and jxjdc.org. Contains sex, sensuality, nudity, mature thematic material and anti-Semitism. In German with subtitles. 113 minutes. The documentary “I, Pastafari” makes a nice companion piece to last year’s “Hail Satan?,” which took a cheeky look at the efforts of the Satanic Temple to highlight separation of church and state. By going to court in an effort to install demonic statuary next to Christian artworks on government property, members of the Temple hope to make a silly-seeming but serious point: Religion and government don’t mix. Like that provocative and not entirely straight-faced film, “Pastafari” also involves court cases: by people around the world who have claimed the right to wear pasta strainers on their heads in official government photographs. (Many jurisdictions prohibit headwear in driver’s license photos, for example, except for religious reasons. The folks in the new film claim to be adherents of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarians.) The tone of the film is light, but the legal challenges are not made in jest – the point being that preferential treatment based on religion should be applied equally to every faith, or not at all. “I, Pastafari” is short and sweet, but like “Satan?” leaves

Mathé Coolen, left, and Derk Venema in a courtroom scene from “I, Pastafari.” (GRAVITAS VENTURES / BREAD BAG BOOT)

Bruno Ganz, left, and Simon Morzé in “The Tobacconist.” (PETRO DOMENIGG / GLORY FILM)

afi.com. In English, Mandarin and Arabic with subtitles. 78 minutes.

Ji-hu Park in “House of Hummingbird.” (WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT)

you with something to think about. Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. Contains some disturbing footage of sectarian violence. 56 minutes. Also streaming The documentary “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” examines the making of “Large,” a 20142015 installation on the theme of political prisoners created by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in the former penitentiary on Alcatraz Island (part of which was subsequently shown at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2017). ARTnews calls the film a “moving cinematic experience and so wide-ranging a project that it is likely to appeal even to those who might not think they are interested in the famed artist.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.

nection. According to the New York Times, filmmaker Bora Kim “discreetly balances the personal and the social, bringA vacationing college student ing us close to Eun-hee while also letting us see the other (Liana Liberato of Hulu’s realities and truths — a national “Light As a Feather”) finds tragedy, a news bulletin, a the tranquility of her secluded beach retreat marred by a friend’s pain — that she is slowmysterious ecological outbreak ly starting to notice.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. in the horror film “The Beach In Korean with subtitles. 138 House.” Unrated. Available on minutes. shudder.com. Contains some disturbing violence. Gillian Jacobs plays a 35-yearold struggling writer looking A real estate developer’s for a morale boost in a visit to plans to build on a site once her alma mater in “I Used to Go used for human sacrifice turn Here,” a comedy from Kris Rey deadly when construction (“Unexpected”) that IndieWire disturbs the cursed soil in “A calls the writer-director’s best Deadly Legend.” Unrated. Available on demand via various work: “Armed with her funniest streaming platforms. 97 minutes. material to date and a winning performance from Gillian A documentary from execu- Jacobs, the filmmaker finds tive producer Alfonso Cuarón new dimensions for both her (“Roma”), “Hands of God” tells work and the millennial ennui the story of the Iraqi National that has always inspired it.” Boxing Team’s struggle to Unrated. Available on demand qualify for the Olympics in the via various streaming platforms. face of threats from the Islamic 80 minutes. State and the bombing of their training gym. Unrated. AvailFeaturing interviews with able on iTunes, Amazon and Robert Rodriguez, Michelle Vudu. In Arabic with subtitles. 78 Rodriguez, Donal Logue and minutes. Cheech Marin, “Inmate 1: The Rise of Danny Trejo” is a docuIn the Korean coming-of-age mentary portrait of a man who turned an early life of drugs drama “House of Hummingbird,” a lonely 14-year-old girl, and armed robbery around to Eun-hee (Ji-hu Park), moves become an unlikely movie star SEE STREAM, PAGE E8 through Seoul seeking con-


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VIDEO GAME REVIEW

‘Iron Man VR’ feels like test run for better game By Christopher Byrd

‘IRON MAN VR’

Special to The Washington Post

A couple of years ago, I was on a panel when the topic of virtual reality came up. A fellow panelist predicted that VR would go the way of 3D television. I countered that it’s still too early to make such a claim since the tech is, relatively speaking, in its infancy. It seemed obvious to me that there was so much room for improvement on the hardware side that it was premature to predict the medium’s extinction. I still feel that way, particularly after playing “Iron Man VR” — a piece of light entertainment that has a number of favorable qualities but which is fundamentally hobbled by technical limitations. “Iron Man VR” casts players into the role of Tony Stark, the famed industrialist popularized by Marvel Comics who created his own flying suit of armor to fight back against villains of various stripes. At the start, Tony is celebrating what he hopes to be a new stage in his life as his company phases out weapons manufacturing to focus exclusively on clean energy. Before he has much time to settle into his new

Stream

Developed by: Camoflaj Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment Available on: PlayStation VR

A scene from “Iron Man VR.” (SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT)

life, he is ambushed on his private jet by a drone designed by his own company. After narrowly preventing disaster by donning his Iron Man suit and fending off the drone strike he is taunted by Ghost, a masked woman, who promises to wreak havoc on his life on behalf of the people who suffered collateral damage from the arms produced and sold by Tony’s company. Using the PlayStation Move control-

Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me to Be?” looks at the life and career of a man who has worn CONTINUED FROM PAGE E7 many hats: actor, rock musician (“Machete”). Unrated. Available and, currently, DJ on the Sirius on various screening platforms. XM radio station Little Steven’s 107 minutes. Underground Garage. Unrated. Available on various streaming The life and career ups and platforms, including Amazon, downs of basketball playFandangoNow, Google Play, You er-turned coach Stephon Tube and Vudu. 82 minutes. Marbury, a two-time National Basketball Association all-star, “Mucho Mucho Amor” is a is examined in the documenta- documentary portrait of the ry “A Kid From Coney Island.” flamboyant Puerto Rican TV TV-MA. Available on Netflix. 89 astrologer Walter Mercado. The minutes. Chicago Sun-Times calls the film “illuminating and insightThe documentary “The Med- ful.” TV-14. Available on Netflix. icine” looks at the potential In English and Spanish with benefits of the plant-based subtitles. 96 minutes. psychedelic tea known as Ayahuasca, a traditional brew Set in 1970 Chile, “The in Amazonian shamanism that Prince” is a homoerotic prison some claim has benefits in fantasy about a beautiful young treating addiction, depression, man who’s thrown into jail and disease. Unrated. Available after murdering a friend. Of on various screening platforms. the film’s bed-hopping antics, 125 minutes. the Hollywood Reporter asks: “What is a viewer, who by this The documentary “Michael point must have accepted the

lers, which serve as your hands in the game, you can squeeze the triggers to fire the miniature jet engines embedded in Iron Man’s gauntlets to whisk through the air. By extending your hands behind you, and double-clicking on the triggers you can boost forward and steer by looking in the direction you wish to go. Pressing the move button (the central top button on the Move controller) and holding the controllers upward fires your main

weapon, repulsors, while holding the controllers flat and pressing the move button fires your secondary weapons, such as lock-on missiles. In between combat missions, you can tinker with your suit by crafting new components. Armor, weapons, and cosmetic upgrades can be swapped in and out. And you can also make changes to your hand thrusters to accelerate faster, reach a higher top speed, etc. Most combat missions involve fighting against an array of drones — both ground and airborne varieties. Combat is a 360-degree affair and it’s here where the PSVR’s technical limitations really come into play. Although you can turn and fire behind you, doing so sometimes results in the PlayStation camera mistracking the

obscure what is essentially an empathetic, textured portrait of loneliness and loss.” Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. 92 minutes.

penal complex as a kind of alternate reality/paradise for gay men, supposed to make of this reminder that a different reality exists outside the prison’s sweaty walls?” Unrated. Available on demand via various streaming platforms. In Spanish with subtitles. 95 minutes. In the horror movie “Relic,” the feature debut of director and co-writer Natalie Erika James, Emily Mortimer plays a woman who is increasingly worried about her mother’s erratic behavior. According to Slash Film, James — who was inspired to make the film by a visit to her grandmother with dementia — “possesses a clear vision with her storytelling and has a natural flair for capturing a menacing, atmospheric tone.” R. Available on various streaming platforms. Contains some horror violence, disturbing images and strong language. 89 minutes. Daniel Myrick, who with Eduardo Sánchez wrote and

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Artist Ai Weiwei in his studio in “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly.” (FIRST RUN FEATURES)

directed the 1999 indie horror hit “The Blair Witch Project,” has made another faux documentary. According to the New York Times, “Skyman,” which purports to tell the story of Carl Merryweather (Michael Selle), a man who was visited by an extraterrestrial as a child, “refuses to lean into the mystery of Carl’s claims or wind us up for a final resolution. Those elements might be present, but they’re never allowed to

Four newly orphaned Japanese 13-year-olds form a pop band in “We Are Little Zombies.” The film is “raucously irreverent about life and death and family and celebrity,” according to Variety, “but it has a deeply touching faith in the ability of these children to find in each other the strength to do the sudden growing up that their tragic circumstances require of them.” Unrated. Available at afisilver.afi.com. In Japanese with subtitles. 120 minutes. “Where Sleeping Dogs Lie” is a darkly comic drama about two brothers and their childhood friend who endure a tragic twist of events during a botched robbery. Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. 96 minutes.


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DINE & WINE

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Dessert festival becoming online event

ASTRY CHEFS AND dessert lovers take note — Dessert Goals, the annual sweets-focused food festival, is being held virtually at the end of this month. Customarily a New York and Los Angeles expo-style event, Dessert Goals is going online this year. Themed as “Creamsicle Dreamsicle,” the event will consist of web-based interactive programming on July 31 and Aug. 1.

a whole wheat tortilla wrap and sliced roasted chicken breast; the Chicken Club Wrap also incorporates peppered bacon, cheddar cheese, and honey mustard. A Creamy Mediterranean Wrap features banana peppers and green leaf lettuce with a tzatziki sauce, while the Jalapeno Bacon Wrap gets its flavor signature from pepper bacon, roasted jalapenos, and a Parmesan peppercorn dressing. There’s an Arby’s Restaurant at 1483 Granby Road in Chicopee which answers at 413-593-1437.

tions” burger bar are also part of the noon hour agenda. Reservations are suggested, and they can be made by calling the restaurant at 413734-7475 or reserving online through Open Table. • This summer Chick-fil-A outlets are featuring two limited-time-only beverage creations. Mango Passion Tea Lemonade is sort of an “Arnold Palmer” combination enhanced with tropical fruit flavors, while the Peach Milkshake, a blend of vanilla soft serve and peaches, takes its flavor from one of summer’s iconic tree fruits. A Chick-fil-A restaurant operates on Route 33 in Chicopee across from the Massachusetts Turnpike entrance. Take out, drive-thru, and delivery are available.

• The Student Prince and The Fort in Springfield recently announced that it was resuming lunch operations Tuesday through Saturday. Visitors can enjoy their Hugh Robert midday meal either inside the Off The Menu • Champney’s Restaurestaurant, where limited, rant, the gastropub located at socially distanced seating is The two-day event will the Deerfield Inn in Deerfield, available, or outside on Fort include virtual panels, baking has reopened and plans to Street, where the restaurant demos with celebrity chefs, offer, going forward, a weekly has been allowed to set up and a daily dessert happy calendar of dining specials. an elaborate al fresco dining hour. Panel topics will range Mondays will be “$15 area. from “How to Start a Food Pizza Nights,” with pies The lunch menu offers Business” to “How to Become custom-garnished with a full a selection of “Fort Street a Food Influencer.” selection of toppings. Classics” that includes HunThe Sierra Grille, 41 Strong Ave. in Northampton, has begun Tickets to this virtual event offering limited menu curbside takeout that is available Thurs- garian beef goulash, WeinTuesday evenings have been will incorporate access to a er schnitzel, skin-on pork designated “Burger Nights.” day, Friday and Saturday starting at 3 p.m. The service involves curated dessert marketplace shank, and various German Champney’s will be offering order placement and payment over the phone and curbside of 20-plus vendors, many of sausages. Black Angus beef burger, pickup at the restaurant. (DON TREEGER / THE REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO) which will be offering specialSandwich specialties, entree salmon burger, or veggie burgSEE MENU, PAGE E11 ty treats discounted for home salads, and a “choose your opMore information on Digital smoked chicken wings, mac delivery. Online attendees and cheese, an assortment will also have access to recipes Dessert Goals can be found at the Dessert Goals website, of panini sandwiches, and and a virtual “goody bag.” WESTFIELD Red Velvet NYC, a vendor dessertgoals.com. crab cake sliders. The bill of Open for Lunch & Dinner of trend-forward dessert kits, fare additionally offered a 7 Days • 7 Nights Side dishes is offering a discount code family-style entree of a whole • Last weekend The Sierra grilled chicken with potato for a demo dessert box so Grille in Northampton, takthat Creamsicle Dreamsicle salad, coleslaw, and corning what chef-owner O’Brian bread. participants can attend the For the latest posted menu bake-along demo session that Tomalin called “small steps,” began offering limited menu go to the restaurant’s FaceRed Velvet will be hosting book page at facebook.com/ curbside takeout. Available during the festival. Admission to Creamsicle The-Sierra-GrilleThursday, Friday, and SaturDreamsicle is $25, with $1 day starting at 3 p.m., the ser- 199431920091369. vice involves order placement from each ticket sold being The Sierra Grille answers at and payment over the phone donated to No Kid Hungry. 413-584-1150. and curbside pickup at the Tickets may be ordered restaurant’s Strong Avenue through Eventbrite.com • Arby’s Restaurants have at eventbrite.com/e/dig location. introduced three new wrap ital-dessert-goals-tickets The inaugural menu includ- sandwiches to its permanent ed St. Louis style pork ribs, -112565239662. menu. All three are built from 2 Broad Street, Westfield • 562-0335

OPEN

Lunch and Dinner 7 Days a Week

Indoor and Outdoor Dining Carry Out Service


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DINE & WINE

Nutty (and not) beer trademark squabbles

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ITH THE NEWS of Iron Duke being pressured to change its name, I started ruminating further about the whole deal. As I recently mentioned in this column, the Ludlow-based brewery was forced into this position by Duke University, which felt the brewery’s name infringed on its trademark. (There is a school support group named the Iron Dukes.) I felt that was a bit of a stretch, and it got me a little peeved about other cases I’ve read about over the years. Although I’m a big defender of copyright and trademarks, it seems sometimes organizations go overboard defending what they consider to be their intellectual property. This is particularly true when one brewery goes after another. Can’t we all just get along? With more than 7,000 breweries now in the country, overlap and similar puns are almost inevitable, but some words/terms/phrases are more generic than others and not all combinations need to be guarded like they were the recipes for Coca-Cola or KFC (two of the most ardently guarded secrets in the world). Take the case of small Vermont brewery Rock Art, which was sued by the huge beverage company Hansen’s Naturals, which makes the popular Monster Energy drink. Rock Art was using “The Vermonster” for one of its beers, which Hansen’s said violated its trademark, as it might want to get into the alcohol business at some point. But besides the fact that you legally can’t trademark unrealized future concerns, this one seems a bit silly. First of all, Rock Art is actually in Vermont, while Hansen’s isn’t, and secondly, this seemed more

George Lenker Beer Nut

With more than 7,000 breweries now in the country, overlap and similar puns are almost inevitable, but some words/ terms/phrases are more generic than others and not all combinations need to be guarded like they were the recipes for CocaCola or KFC (two of the most ardently guarded secrets in the world). like a case of a billion-dollar company just greedily hoarding as much of the pie as possible. Although “Vermonster” is a unique coinage, there are too many other gray areas in my mind. On the other hand, when Steelhead Brewing, which makes an imperial IPA called “Hopsasaurus Rex,” found that Freetail Brewing had begun calling a hops infuser by the same name, it seemed like a legitimate claim. First off, the name Hopsasaurus Rex

SEE BEER, PAGE E12

Galerie Wines produces outstanding reds, whites

S

OME ARTISTS CREate masterpieces with brushes and paint. Others use chisels and

stone. But for some, their materials can be found on grape vines and in barrels. And in the case of one Napa Valley winery, the bottles even look as beautiful as the wines taste. I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover or a wine by its label. But I was intrigued by these two bottles from Galerie Wines even before I opened them. Both bottles I tried recently featured artwork on the labels that remind me of a Jackson Pollock drip painting or abstract depictions of grapes. Turns out, Galerie Wines put a lot of thought into its labels. Each label in the Galerie collection exhibits a different section of a grapevine watercolor painting created by Malia Pettit. The idea was to highlight “the individuality of each wine as well as their shared parentage,” according to the winery’s website. In particular, the artist used “her breath to render the vine’s branches” and “blew the paint to move it across the page. She punctuated the delicate vine shoots with individual droplets of paint that spattered naturally with their own momentum.” Not surprisingly, such attention to detail is evident in the wines themselves, which have a velvety smooth finish and subtle, fragrant flavors. I hope you enjoy these wines as well, which I should note can be ordered online directly from the winery in most states around the country, including Massachusetts. About Galerie Wines Founded in 2011, Galerie Wines features wines made with grapes from two

Two wines recommended this week from California’s Galerie Wines in Napa Valley. (KEN ROSS PHOTO)

Location: Longwood Ranch and Wilson Ranch, Napa Valley, California Tasting notes: French for “birth” or “beginning,” Naissance was the first wine made by Galerie Wines. A subtle, understated white wine, I was thoroughly impressed by this wine’s soft, fruit flavors and aromas, including hints of Ken Ross peach, pineapple and a dash Wine Press of grapefruit. Let me add that none of these fruit flavors of California’s best-known are overpowering or over the wine-growing regions — Napa top. Everything about this Valley and Knights Valley. Five sauvignon blanc is subtle and wines are currently for sale on beautiful. A real gem which reminded me of certain smooth, the winery’s website – a riesling, two sauvignon blancs and elegant sauvignon blancs from France’s Loire Valley. two cabernet sauvignons. Gianna Kelly serves as the head winemaker at Galerie Wines. 2016 Galerie Pleinair Cabernet Sauvignon ($65 SRP) She previously worked as an Grapes: 100% cabernet enologist for two, highly-respected California wineries sauvignon – Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Location: Stagecoach, Gaskin, Bosche, Red Hen, Van Z, St. Francis Winery. Spring Mountain and Oakville Wine tasting notes Vineyards in Napa Valley, 2018 Galerie Naissance California. Napa Valley Sauvignon Tasting notes: A truly Blanc ($30 Suggested Retail stunning, smooth red wine, Price) this showstopper that features Grapes: 100% sauvignon a blend of cabernet sauvignon SEE WINE, PAGE E11 blanc


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WEEKEND

Menu

Not surprisingly, such attention to detail is evident in the wines themselves, which have a velvety smooth finish and subtle, fragrant flavors.

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er options as well as a changing-weekly burger special. A Champney’s tradition, Oyster Wednesdays, are returning, with fresh oysters available from 4 p.m. until the supply is gone. Thursday evenings will feature “Summer Music on the Terrace” with a different local artist each week. The live entertainment will start at 6 p.m., and a special barbecue menu will be available. For more details contact Champney’s Restaurant at 413-772-3087. • On the Border is enhancing its “to go” options by promoting a Build-Your-Own Taco Kit, a some-assembly-required family pack that incorporates 10 taco shells, a choice of ground beef or chicken tinga filling, and various garnish ingredients. Also included are chips and salsa, queso sauce, Mexican rice, and refried beans. The kit is a limited time special offer. Other Family Meals available from On the Border include enchilada and fajita packages. They can be ordered online at onthebor der.com for delivery or pickup at the restaurant, which is located in West Springfield on Riverdale Street just north of the I-91 interchange.

Wine CONTINUED FROM PAGE E10

Champney’s Restaurant & Tavern, located at the Deerfield Inn, has reopened and plans to offer, going forward, a weekly calendar of dining specials, including burger and pizza nights. (DON TREEGER / THE REPUBLICAN FILE PHOTO)

• Refocusing on its pre-pandemic strategy of developing a trend-forward lineup of beverage offerings, Dunkin’ has been testing several new drink items locally this summer. They include brown-sugar and strawberry bubble tea variants; the strawberry bubble tea has “popping bubbles” that deliver a burst of strawberry flavor in the mouth. The bubble teas are available at Dunkin’ locations in Westfield, Northampton, and Haydenville. Other new products in testing at various New England locations for the next month or so include a sparkling iced coffee (Rhode Island locations), two “shandy” beverages made with lemonade and cold brewed coffee or iced tea (south-central Connecticut), and coconut-cocoa infused cold brew coffee (greater Hartford, Connecticut).

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 45 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached online at OffTheMenuGuy@ aol.com.

Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s weekend section every Thursday.

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• On July 7, the Mezze Restaurant Group in Williamstown announced that it had added two members to its ownership team. Linda Stripp, who has worked for the Mezze Restaurant Group for 20 years, previously served as the director of Mezze Cater-

ing + Events, a business unit she grew dramatically during her tenure as Mezze’s event planner. Mezze Restaurant Group Executive Chef Nicholas Moulton is another long-standing Mezze employee. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, Moulton has recently appeared as a chef-competitor on the “Food Network,” where he was awarded the title of “Veggie King.” Moulton is also known for his strong commitment to the farm-totable movement. Stripp and Moutlon join Nancy Thomas and Bo Peabody as co-owners of the Mezze Restaurant Group, which is headquartered in Williamstown and operates Mezze Catering + Events and Mezze Bistro + Bar. More information is available at the group’s website, mezzaresaturantgroup. com.

grapes from seven different vineyards shows what a great winemaker can accomplish using a single grape variety. Aged for 19 months in new French Oak, the name of this wine refers to the French painters’ method of painting outdoors (en plein air). And in this particular case, winemaker Gianna Kelly has crafted an absolute masterpiece with hints of dark, ripe blackberries, blackcurrants and toasted almonds. Many times, many higher priced red wines from Napa Valley taste completely over the top with fruit flavors

that seem to assault your tastebuds. This wine is the complete opposite. Like a great, refined red wine from France’s Bordeaux region, this cabernet sauvignon takes a much more subtle, gentle approach. Instead of shouting, this wine whispers and hints at its subtle flavors and aromas. Think of this wine as the Roger Federer of California cabernet sauvignons, a modest Grand Slam champion who doesn’t need to grandstand or brag about his exploits. Cheers!

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• Bistro Les Gras in Northampton has announced that the restaurant will be closing for a “summer break” beginning July 30. Chef Daniel Martinez is scheduled to take some medical leave, with the restaurant expected to reopen in early September. Until the end of July, Bistro Les Gras will remain open for outdoor seating on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays only. Outdoor dining requires reservations (which are handled online through Resy) and is, of course, weather dependent. Menu information is available on the restaurant’s Facebook page, facebook. com/bistrolesgras.

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controllers. Plus, if you end up facing away from the camera (which is certainly easy to do in a game with 360-degree fighting) you’ll often be greeted with a sign pointing you to turn and face in the direction of the camera. “Iron Man VR” is spotted with numerous such immersion-breaking moments. Virtual reality at its best allows you to lose yourself in the game for any extended period of time. I found it hard to do so in “Iron Man VR” because of the game’s real-world requirements. In addition to facing the camera, you must stay positioned in a narrow circle on the floor or you will be greeted with a sign telling you to step back into the circle. To avoid tangling the cords of the headset and my headphone I had to curb the impulse to spin around to shoot drones. Flying in the game is certainly a high point, and the movement never bothered me (though I’m not particularly prone to motion sickness). But even at the game’s best, immersion-breaking moments are always around the bend. For instance, at one point, on a stage that takes place in Shanghai, I struggled to remove a power core from a machine before an explosion.

As I did so, I watched helpfit immensely from a wireless lessly as the game registered headset, better tracking, and that I placed my hand around the component but failed to recognize me yanking it out. The result was a necessary do over and more haltering animations before I finally completed what should have been a simple task. Moreover, during numerous scripted moments where Iron Man’s arms popped into view, I was reminded of the disjunction between where my elbow was positioned in and outside of the game world. By contrast, the developers at Valve wisely decided not to give arms to the protagonist of its VR title, “Half-Life: Alyx,” because, at present, it’s difficult to ensure that players’ arms align with their avatars. If you’re not into fighting drones and performing flight and combat challenges — i.e. time trials — then “Iron Man VR” may feel like a pretty narrow game in terms of what it offers. Personally, I think it’s best played in small doses as an arcade experience rather than as a marathon-beckoning, single-player game. Nonetheless, the dialogue and the voice acting deserve some credit. Josh Keaton does a fine job as the voice of Tony Stark, the laid back billionaire who always has a quip at the ready. And the rest of the cast seems to have fun with the effervescent script. “Iron Man VR” would bene-

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more variety to its action scenarios. As it stands, the game

feels like a decent test run for something better in the future.

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brewery having fun. I could see if a name of a beer overlapped with a name of a sobriety orCONTINUED FROM PAGE E10 ganization — the organization is unique, and Steelhead and wouldn’t want to be associated Freetail sound a little too much in any way with beer — but a TV alike. Freetail ended up chang- show about a meth dealer? ing the name. Anyway, I just wish more Sometimes, it’s not just a squabbles could be settled the squabble between two beverway that Avery and Russian age makers. Last year, Sony River breweries did in 2001 Pictures Television, which when they both brewed beers helped produce the hit show named “Salvation.” The “Breaking Bad,” took exception owners chatted over beers and with a beer named “Breaking decided that there was no harm Bud” from Knee Deep Brewing in both having a beer by that Co. This “infringement” seems name. They later solidified specious at best to me. their agreement by putting While the beer name is their heads — and brewing talcertainly a play on the name ents — together and making a of the series, what harm can beer called “Collaboration Not come from it? It’s just a small Litigation Ale.”


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