Out There: April 2009 Archives
I don't usually like my own voice, but the pictures make the sound easier to bear. Here are links to Obit Mag and also Daylight Magazine, where this appears.
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Rarely has this writer, even in the guise of critic, thought it wise to promote a product without immersing the recommendation in a cleansing bath of context. A pleasing exhibition? Look at the history, the economy that produced the work. A fine restaurant? Look at the economy, the history that ... .
Yes, I know. But the result need not be hortatory or didactic, and may be at least a bit more defensible than writing long-form blurbs.
Except in this case. I want you to watch a new HBO series, period. It's rich with detail, tells charming stories -- and has all the context anyone would require. Jill Scott stars as Botswana's Mma Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (she beat Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah and many others for the role).
The first two episodes match the easy pace, heightened sense of place -- filmed entirely in Botswana -- and deceptive simplicity of the books upon which they are based, an immensely popular series by Alexander McCall Smith. Here's what I wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer when one of those books came out, and so far, the new version confirms my praise:
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