Manhattan User's Guide

today's MUG 02.15.19

arts
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the skint

mothers and fathers ‣ Jack Whitehall's standup comedy, for which he is best known, leaves us lukewarm, but his two-season series with his father, producer and talent agent Michael Whitehall, had us smiling throughout and laughing not infrequently. The premise of Travels With My Father is simply the relationship between Michael and Jack: the former is cantankerous, dislikes travel, and pretty much all of modern life, the latter quite the opposite. It's a reality show of sorts — the producers arrange the itinerary — but the best moments, full of bickering and funny, boundary-crossing comments, reveal the deep affection between the two. Find it on Netflix.

Beginning previews at the Atlantic Theater Company on February 20, Florian Zeller's play The Mother starring Isabelle Huppert dealing with an especially acute case of empty-nest syndrome. Chris Noth co-stars, Trip Cullman directs. [Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0]

movie ‣ Hong Sang-soo's Hotel By The River is a meditation, both comic and reflective, centering on an aging poet, his perhaps impending death, his estranged sons, and two women he meets at the hotel.

book ‣ Riveting, painful, beautiful, The Atlas of Reds and Blues by Devi S. Laskar is about racism in America as refracted through the mind of a woman, shot by police on her driveway.

food ‣ At AMNH, on March 6, 7pm, Rachel Carmody asks a basic question: Why is food processing so universal? She will answer same as part of SciCafe in an evening titled The Raw Truth About Cooking.

talk ‣ Artisan Tim Alpaugh talks about his work in a lecture called The Restoration of Hickory Golf Clubs and The Crafting of Divot Tools. Even if it's not exactly a mainstream pursuit, it's easy to see the beauty of these clubs, all pre-1935. It takes place at the General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen on Tuesday, February 26, 6:30pm.