Pitchfork, the Early Years

How does it feel to be an Oscar nominee? It’s like getting the M.V.P. at the Super Bowl. Crazy. It’s what I always just hoped and dreamed would happen, but for it to actually happen, I’m in shock! It’s like what it says in “The Color Purple”: “Look what God has done.” What did you…

On Oct. 28, 2019, the animator and YouTube personality Vivienne Medrano celebrated a milestone: the release of “Hazbin Hotel,” a 30-minute pilot for an animated musical-comedy about a rehabilitation program that aspires to help Hell’s repentant demons get to Heaven. Produced and directed by Medrano and brought to life by a team of several dozen…

Frankie Grande likes to stay busy — even on Sundays. “From the moment I wake up, it’s go, go, go,” said Mr. Grande, a 41-year-old actor, singer and reality TV personality. This month, he returned to playing Victor Garber in “Titanique,” an Off Broadway parody musical of the movie “Titanic.” He first played the character…

And it’s more of a spectacle than a service. Instead of emulating a leader-follower dichotomy, “Terce” draws from the talents and experiences of a singing, dancing and playing ensemble of 38 “caregivers and makers” — some professional and even virtuosic like Christian, some amateur and unpolished. Keyboards, guitars, woodwinds, strings and percussion are part of…

Ian McShane stars as an assassin killing time in the Canary Islands.

David J. Skal, a witty historian of horror entertainment who found in movies like “Dracula” and “Rosemary’s Baby” both a mirror of evolving societal fears and a pressure-release valve for those anxieties, died on Jan. 1 in a car accident in Los Angeles. He was 71. Mr. Skal was returning home after a movie and…