Author: anthonypignataro

With the new movie ‘Oppenheimer’ out, I think about military opposition to the nuclear strikes against Hiroshima and Nagasaki

~ anthonypignataro ~ 1 Comment

The other day I got into a discussion (debate is too strong a word) with a guy I know. Highly intelligent and very experienced in politics and public administration, he was telling me about how he had just seen the new Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer. We talked about the movie, the acting and so forth, … Continue reading With the new movie ‘Oppenheimer’ out, I think about military opposition to the nuclear strikes against Hiroshima and Nagasaki

‘Strange New Worlds’ is fun! The Original Series? Not so much

~ anthonypignataro ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been a Star Trek fan since I was a boy in the 1980s, but I learned more about Jim Kirk in the July 20 episode of Strange New Worlds (“Lost in Translation") than I did in all three seasons of the original series. I shouldn't be surprised about this. Like most hack television series … Continue reading ‘Strange New Worlds’ is fun! The Original Series? Not so much

A Close Reading of Star Trek’s ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’

~ anthonypignataro ~ 1 Comment

When I was kid, watching syndicated reruns of original series Star Trek episodes on Saturday afternoon with my dad, I thought the episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which first aired on Sept. 22, 1966, was the best episode of the series. But as an adult, I see the episode very differently now. In … Continue reading A Close Reading of Star Trek’s ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’

John McGraw, Baseball, and Lynching Souvenirs

1912 image of John McGraw by Charles Conlon/Wikimedia Commons
~ anthonypignataro ~ 2 Comments

Major League Spring Training is going on now, and though the pandemic has made the thought of going to a ballpark all but unthinkable before I’m properly vaccinated (and even after, maybe), a lifelong love of the game has sent me back to Ken Burns’s 1994 PBS series Baseball. It’s been a long time since … Continue reading John McGraw, Baseball, and Lynching Souvenirs

What Happened When I Binged China Beach

~ anthonypignataro ~ 5 Comments

My girlfriend Angie and I have binged a lot of television series over the past pandemic year—comedies, dramas, and reality. We’ve bounced from Netflix to Hulu to Amazon Prime to Pluto to Tubi to BritBox to CBS All Access to Disney+, with mixed results. We were between series discussing something I don’t recall when I … Continue reading What Happened When I Binged China Beach

The Bitter Defeat of Donald Trump

~ anthonypignataro ~ Leave a comment

Like so many other men and women who had been at war physically and emotionally, exhaustion, rather than exultation, was my first reaction to victory in Europe. -General Dwight D. Eisenhower I first starting thinking about this quote, which is from Ike's memoir Crusade in Europe, around the time it became clear Joe Biden had … Continue reading The Bitter Defeat of Donald Trump

Book Review: ‘Flight 7 is Missing: The Search for my Father’s Killer’

~ anthonypignataro ~ 2 Comments

In early May, the book Flight 7 is Missing, by Ken H. Fortenberry (Fayetteville Mafia Press) came out. It’s surprising that is the first definitive account of one of the worst unsolved aviation accidents in U.S. history—the loss of the Pan Am airliner Romance of the Skies, which was flying from San Francisco to Honolulu … Continue reading Book Review: ‘Flight 7 is Missing: The Search for my Father’s Killer’

‘He Didn’t Go Away’–10 OC Women Describe Their Stalking Experiences

~ anthonypignataro ~ Leave a comment

[NOTE: This story was first posted on OCWeekly.com on Nov. 27, 2019. It was one of the last stories to go up before the paper shut down after nearly a quarter century. Since then, former owner Duncan McIntosh Inc. has scrubbed the website of all online-only stories, which included this one. While the story is … Continue reading ‘He Didn’t Go Away’–10 OC Women Describe Their Stalking Experiences

People-Watching on the Disneyland Railroad

~ anthonypignataro ~ Leave a comment

My girlfriend Angie and I recently purchased annual passes to Disneyland, so these last few weeks we’ve probably spent more time in the park than in all my previous visits combined. Each time we go I’m amazed at how many people there are–crowds and crowds of people spilling over every walkway and through every threshold. … Continue reading People-Watching on the Disneyland Railroad