Dominoes: The Game and the Art of Toppling Them

Whether playing the game or toppling the game pieces, dominoes make for a fun diversion.

by Rich Watson 

The game of dominoes goes at least all the way back to thirteenth century China. Europe popularized it, in a different form, during the eighteenth century, especially France. Today it’s known and played all over the world. 

At one point it became popular to stand domino tiles up and knock them down, not as a game but as an activity. Called “domino toppling” or the “domino effect” or a “chain reaction,” people arrange thousands of them in elaborate patterns, sometimes with devices that help trigger the chain reaction, and watch them fall one by one.

How did that get started?

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The Macabre Fairy Tale Behind the Movie “The Red Shoes”

This celluloid all-timer was inspired by a fairy tale with a creepy plot twist.

by Rich Watson 

This post is part of the Rule Britannia Blogathon, a blog event celebrating British film. At the end I’ll tell you where to find more posts like this.

British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger created their 1948 movie The Red Shoes inspired by a story by Hans Christian Andersen. Like most of their films, it’s magnificently photographed in Technicolor. It has dazzling costumes and makeup. The performance by Moira Shearer showcases her balletic skills. The production is overstuffed with beauty.

Which is ironic, since the story on which it’s based is pretty gruesome.

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#HudsonValley: In Nyack, Toni Morrison Preserved African-American History With a Bench

An ex-slave turned businesswoman and abolitionist is remembered in Nyack thanks to the author of Beloved.

by Rich Watson 

Toni Morrison was one of the most critically acclaimed authors of the twentieth century. In addition to winning the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, she received the Pulitzer, the American Book Award, seven honorary doctorates and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Her 1987 novel Beloved was the impetus for a project that commemorated the lives of African slaves. She used benches to mark their memories, in places across America—including her adopted hometown of Nyack.

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