The Grammy Awards announced another tune-up Tuesday, adding three new categories ahead of next year’s show.

The 2024 ceremony is set to introduce Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album, organizers said.

The Best African Music Performance category will recognize “recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent,” the announcement reads. Best Pop Dance Recording will honor “tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement,” while Best Alternative Jazz Album will celebrate “artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals.”

The new additions follow a 2023 ceremony in which the Grammys added five categories, including Songwriter of the Year.

“These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” Henry Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said Tuesday. “By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists.”

Tuesday’s announcement also revealed that Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year will move to the Grammys’ general field, which is non-genre-specific. Album, Song and Record of the Year are also in the general field, as is Best New Artist.

“We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide,” Mason said.

This year’s Grammys took place in February at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, where Beyonce set a new record with her 32nd career win. Harry Styles won Album of the Year for “Harry’s House,” Lizzo won Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” and Bonnie Raitt won Song of the Year for “Just Like That.”

©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

DeWalt, a Stanley Black & Decker brand, recently launched a pair of tools to make any dad happy. The 20V Max Brushless 1/2-inch Drill/Driver (DCD793) is an amazingly small and powerful cordless tool. It’s built with a more petite body than previous models (about 2 inches shorter) but with 16% more power.

The new light and powerful tool (6.38-by-7.88-by-2.49 inches, 2.38 pounds) is built with an efficient brushless motor and 15 clutch positions, and it’s keyless, so no chuck key needed. It works off a 20V MAX 2.0 Ah rechargeable battery and has easy-to-control variable speeds. An on-tool LED helps light up tough-to-get dark areas.

A more powerful 20V Max Brushless Cordless 1/2-inch Hammer Drill Kit (DCD798) is built with a body over 1 inch shorter in length compared to previous models with 16% more power. If your user drills into concrete, this is what you want. It features a hammer mode for concrete and masonry applications. The hammer drill provides power up to 28,050 beats/blows per minute in hammer mode.

The hammer drill (6.93-by-7.88-by-2.49 inches, 2.49 pounds) works off the same portable battery and without a loading key, and it has a brushless motor and an on-tool LED work light.

Both models have a 0.5-inch ratcheting chuck, produce 404 unit watts out of power, and run up to easy-to-control variable speeds up to 1,650 revolutions per minute.

Both are available as a single tool or in a kit. The kit includes the device, a DeWalt 20V Max 2.0 Ah rechargeable battery, a charger, a belt hook and a bag. The battery and charger are also sold separately. The DCD793 Compact Drill/Driver Kit is currently $99 at Lowes through Aug. 2, and the DCD798 kit is $184.

DeWalt’s 20V Max line, a portable tool collection, has cordless tools for almost any job inside or out and perfect gift choices for future dad gifts. They include saws, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, vacuums, lasers, impact wrenches and more.

www.dewalt.com

Soundcore’s new Motion X600 Bluetooth speaker, called by the company “the world’s first portable high-fidelity speaker,” is Father’s Day-ready, summer-ready, and any music listening at any location-ready.

Dad can take it poolside with its IPX7 water protection, or grab it by the handle and have it play his favorite playlist while tinkering in the garage. Consider it his modern-day boombox. There are no locations it’s limited to, and if you want it to be the life of the party, that’s no problem with its booming 50-watt power, enabling it to provide a room full of sound.

Inside the aluminum speaker is a 6,400 mAh rechargeable battery (USB-C to C charging cable included), suitable for about 12 hours of playtime at half volume. The 5- watt sound comes from a 20-watt left channel, 20-watt right channel, and 10 watts from the sky channel, all covered by a stainless steel grill.

The decorative features are essential, but the sound counts the most, and the Motion X600 doesn’t disappoint. Its clarity at low levels or in room-filling settings provides robust and high-quality sound. Bringing it to the higher volume levels brought both the great sound and very high volume levels, so much so that it had to be lowered a little not to annoy my neighbors during testing.

For those wanting to control the sound with customized settings, the Soundcore app will do that to achieve peak performance. Soundcore states that if you have two Motion X600 speakers, they can be paired simultaneously for authentic stereo sound.

Touch controls are responsive and easy to access across the top. An aux-in port is on the back, and there’s a built-in microphone.

https://us.soundcore.com $199.99, available in polar gray, lunar blue and aurora green

©2023 Gregg Ellman. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Shortly before 5 p.m., a Honda SUV was turning left into a parking lot when it collided with Williams’ motorcycle in the town of Dorset, according to a statement from Vermont State Police.

“Williams was unable to avoid a collision and was thrown from his motorcycle. He suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, where he was pronounced dead,” according to the statement.

Williams was wearing a helmet, police said.

The SUV’s driver received minor injuries and wasn’t hospitalized. He had signaled the turn and wasn’t immediately detained although the crash investigation continued, police said.

Williams, whose full name was Richard Treat Williams, lived in Manchester Center in southern Vermont, police said.

His agent, Barry McPherson, also confirmed the actor’s death.

“I’m just devastated. He was the nicest guy. He was so talented,” McPherson told People magazine.

“He was an actor’s actor,” McPherson said. “Filmmakers loved him. He’s been the heart of … Hollywood since the late 1970s.”

The Connecticut-born Williams made his movie debut in 1975 as a police officer in the movie “Deadly Hero” and went on to appear in more than 120 TV and film roles, including the movies “The Eagle Has Landed,” “Prince of the City” and “Once Upon a Time in America.”

He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role as hippie leader George Berger in the 1979 movie version of the hit musical “Hair.”

He appeared in dozens of television shows but was perhaps best known for his starring role from 2002 to 2006 in “Everwood” as Dr. Andrew Brown, a widowed brain surgeon from Manhattan who moves with his two children to the Colorado mountain town of that name.

Williams also had a recurring role as Lenny Ross on the TV show “Blue Bloods.”

Williams’ stage appearances included Broadway shows, including “Grease” and “Pirates of Penzance.”

Colleagues and friends praised Williams as kind, generous and creative.

“Treat Williams was a passionate, adventurous, creative man,” actor Wendell Pierce tweeted. “In a short period of time, he quickly befriended me & his adventurous spirit was infectious. We worked on just 1 film together but occasionally connected over the years. Kind and generous with advice and support. RIP.”

Justine Williams, a writer, director and producer, tweeted that Williams was “the best.” Actor James Woods said, “I really loved him and am devastated that he’s gone.”

Lately, he has become withdrawn and silent, and he is by himself a lot. He literally sleeps all day. Oh, and he’s a compulsive liar, so we don’t know if anything he tells us is truthful. He does have depression issues and some trauma. Those signs are easy to spot in him. What gives, if you know? — Observant Uncle in Indiana

Dear Uncle: Has your nephew been treated for his depression or trauma? Whether the answer is yes or no, it’s time for him to be checked by a physician to determine whether he may be physically or possibly mentally ill or on drugs. Please don’t wait to make it happen.

Dear Abby: My wife goes to lunch with male co-workers at least a couple times a week. When she has lunch with them, she uses a credit card so I won’t know, but when she eats by herself, she uses our bank account. I have heard her make breakfast dates by saying, “You know where,” or “The place by work,” rather than saying where. Is this common? — Suspicious in California

Dear Suspicious: You seem to be a VERY suspicious spouse. It’s not unusual for male and female co-workers to have a lunch together. “You know where” and “the place by work” are descriptors used by people who have a routine, not necessarily to obscure anything nefarious. Could your wife be secretive about it because she knows if she isn’t, you will give her the third degree?

Dear Abby: I am a 13-year-old guy. I live in California. There’s an eighth grade girl I have a crush on. The last time I saw her was three years ago in a musical theater show we were both in. I knew she liked me when she passed me a note that said, “Do you like me?” Sadly, I chickened out. I did write a really cool love rap for her. The problem is, she’s on TV shows and commercials in L.A., and she might think she’s too good for me now. How should I approach her? Should I show her my rap? — Crushing in San Diego

Dear Crushing:  Approach her by letting her know you think she’s doing a great job on those shows and commercials. Then tell her you wrote something just for her and share it with her. It’s a huge compliment and she should be appreciative. However, if she indicates that she thinks she’s “too good for you now,” it is very important you remember that because someone feels that way DOESN’T MAKE IT TRUE. (There’s a showbiz adage that’s as true today than it was when it was coined: “Be nice to people you meet on your way up. You’ll meet them on your way down.”)

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com.

However, this tale in which personified Fire, Water, Earth and Air residents live together in the metropolis Element City finds its footing as it leans on tried-and-true plot devices from romances featuring star-crossed lovers and stories about parents and their children.

“Elemental” is inspired by the experiences of its director, Peter Sohn, a second-generation immigrant, his parents bringing him to the United States from Korea when he was a child. He’d go on to marry an American woman after initially hiding the relationship from his family. (He says in the film’s production notes that his grandmother’s dying words literally were “Marry Korean!”)

Bursting with vibrant colors, the gorgeous affair begins by introducing a Fire couple, Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) and Cinder Lumen (Shila Ommi), arriving by boat from the Fireland to start a new life, bringing with them only a blue flame representing their past and people. After a not-so-hot introduction to Element City — least structurally hospitable to the Fire folks, as they were the last to arrive and make a place for themselves — the Lumens find a spot in the Firetown neighborhood. They open up a shop, the Fireplace, and, more importantly, have a baby girl, Ember.

Years later, the grown Ember (Leah Lewis) is set to inherit the shop from her retirement-age father, but she has a tendency of becoming, well, hot when it comes to the behavior of customers. She desperately wants to please her dad, but she must show she can keep her relative cool before he hands over the Fireplace to her.

The residents of Firetown live in fear of water, so when a leak happens in the store, it’s a big problem. Unfortunately for Ember, who discovers it, washing in with all the H2O is a Water fellow, Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie). He’s a city inspector, and he believes the Fireplace is in violation of various building codes.

After initially sending in his report to the city higher-ups, the good-natured Wade agrees to help Ember in her efforts to keep the business running.

At first glance, the two couldn’t be more different. She’s tough, strong-willed and, yes, fiery. He’s soppy and sappy, like other members of his fluid family prone to bursting into tears the moment he hears something emotionally stirring. Ironically, though, considering his kind’s natural malleability, he’s a very solid guy, as Ember grows to appreciate.

That doesn’t change the fact that if they get too close, he could extinguish her or she could evaporate him. Even if they somehow find a way past that, Ember believes her parents would never accept him, her proud but stubborn father especially.

As we’ve come to expect from Pixar, “Elemental” is consistently inventive, certainly with its visuals. You don’t want to take your eyes off Element City or its residents, especially Ember, her ever-burning form no doubt the work of myriad artistic and technical folks. The blobby but buoyant Wade is a pretty neat creation, as well.

Penned by John Hoberg, Kat Likkel and Brenda Hsueh, with a story by Sohn, Hoberg, Likkel and Hsueh, “Elemental” serves up more than the requisite of situational puns, one Fire character calling another a “lazy ash.” Again, though, it grows increasingly affecting, the film is likely to give you at least a mild case of the feels before its end credits roll.

Summer movie preview: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Indiana Jones,’ ‘The Flash’ and ‘Fast X’ lead appealing slate

As Pixar films sometimes do, it largely eschews the casting of big names but gets strong work from its key players. Lewis (“The Half of It”) really helps bring Ember to vivid life, while Athie (“Jurassic World: Dominion”) infuses Wade with an appealing steady-Eddie if also deeply compassionate vibe.

And in portraying a character who seems to have borrowed, um, elements from different ethnic groups, del Carmen (co-director of Pixar’s “Inside Out”) brings a dimensionality to Bernie that is revealed over time.

The most easily recognizable voice is that of Catherine O’Hara (“Best in Show,” “Schitt’s Creek”), who brings a little pizazz to Brook, Wade’s mother, who is very accepting of Ember.

Like many PIxar efforts in recent years, including an Academy Award winner or two and 2015’s Sohn-directed “The Good Dinosaur,” “Elemental” doesn’t reside among the studio’s best work, such as 2009’s “Up.”

(By the way, “Elemental” is preceded by “Carl’s Date,” a cute “Up”-verse short film featuring Ed Asner returning to voice charming curmudgeon Carl, who gets advice about the opposite sex from talking dog Dug, voiced by director Bob Peterson.)

That said, “Elemental” has enough winning elements to make time for it in the busy summer season.

‘Elemental’

Where: Theaters.

When: June 16.

Rated: PG for some peril, thematic elements and brief language.

Runtime: 1 hour, 42 minutes.

Stars (of four): 3.

Q: Why is it important that Peggy be an addict?  I kept thinking when this was being developed, did people sit there and say, ‘We can’t have her be an addict, struggling through this. This is too serious or too depressing.’ Or whatever?

PATRICIA ARQUETTE:  Yeah, I’m sure. That is why we got turned down by 100 million places. We have to do it though. Because after two, everything’s going to clean everything up. And then we get back to this just homogenized, boring middle ground. But the truth is: We all know addicts. And this story was based on one of our show’s creator and show runners Nancy Fishman’s sister, Marjorie, who was an addict and who’s now passed on. Who struggled with these things and loved opera and took care of her mom. And was a liar and a manipulator and incredible person. She  also said to Nancy once, ‘I’m going to be a PI (a Private Investigator) and she thought, ‘That’s crazy, but you could actually be an amazing PI.’  So, this is born of love. And born from and inspired by a person who had struggled with drugs. I think we’ve all loved addicts, and they can have some beautiful, beautiful qualities. And it’s sad, you know. It’s an illness.

Q: The two of you have this combustible marriage. We begin with a prologue where every life looks spectacularly good and then the police come and that life goes Splat!  We jump to years later and we meet Matt in prison where Peggy visits while tripping on acid. How did the two of you create what the history of this couple is?

PA: That was actually the last scene that we shot. But do you want to talk to those?

MATT DILLON: To credit the writers, the foundation was already laid, right? So it made it easy for us to go have fun and make the most of this because the backstories are so strong. Like Denny comes walking into the prison’s visitors room and they look at each other — they’ve got a past, right? And it’s really nice. Because we know what that past is.  Because the show, the characters, are real. It was interesting on the set, because we’d be talking about these characters like they were real people! Because in a way they were — because as Patricia said Peggy was inspired by Nancy’s sister. And then Denny was inspired by Nancy’s sister’s husband.  So that was very, very real. That richness is what made it fun. What made me want to go to work and why I enjoyed it so much, Denny was a fun character for me to play because of all the polarizing qualities in his personality.  He’s spiritual and he really genuinely is seeking the spiritual life. And yet, he’s a he’s a criminal, man.  He’s a convicted felon, a kind of a career criminal and a manipulator. He’s going to use the spirituality to help him in his other endeavor, which is illegal activity. (A laugh) This is what is kind of fun about all this complexity. I mean, Peggy’s character, she’s all over the spectrum — classical music, drug addict, co-dependent.

NEW DVDs:

DOOM & GLOOM DOMINATE THIS CABIN                 ‘Knock at the Cabin’ (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Code, Universal, R) is M. Night Shyamalen’s latest twisted thriller, a Doomsday fable that is completely sincere – and totally bonkers. Fun this is not, but provocative? Decidedly.  The cabin in the woods has a vacationing gay couple (out actors Jonathan Groff of ‘Mindhunters’ and Britain’s Ben Aldredge, ‘Spoiler Alert’) with their daughter who are taken hostage by 4 strangers, led by David Bautista.  Needless to say they aren’t here to rob & pillage but on a Divine Mission to save planet Earth.  With a human sacrifice!  Unrelenting.  Bonus: Deleted scenes, the Chowblaster Infomercial that features the filmmaker, Behind the Scenes and ‘Tools of the Apocalypse.’

CHRISTOPHER REEVES’ 5 FLIGHTS                      Before there was Tim Burton’s spectacular revival of Batman, there was Richard Donner’s go-for-broke resuscitation of the all-American comics hero who fought for ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way.’  Yes Christopher Reeve became a star as the alien from Krypton who, when he wasn’t saving the planet and people, worked as reporter Clark Kent at the Daily Planet.   Warner Bros. has now issued the entire 4-film series in a 4L Ultra HD upgrade:  ‘Superman: 5 Film Collection 1978-1987’ (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code, WB, PG).  There are ‘Superman: The Movie,’ “Superman II,’ ‘Superman III’ and ‘Superman IV.’ Here also ‘Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut,’ which makes for a quintet.  Super Special Features are included in the multiple Bonus:  From commentaries and vintage featurettes to 1940s and ‘50s WB cartoons like ‘Super-Rabbit,’ ‘Snafuperman’ and ‘Stupor Duck.’  There’s a featurette on restoring Donner’s vision to ‘II’ with deleted scenes, a 50th anniversary Superman 50th anniversary TV special from 1988, a 1983 TV special on making ‘III.’  Standouts among the ensemble: Gene Hackman, Richard Pryor, Annette O’Toole, Mariel Hemingway and Terrence Stamp.

BORIS KARLOFF’S EXIT                                       Forever known as Frankenstein’s monster, Boris Karloff ended his career with the heralded 1968 debut of a promising writer-director named Peter Bogdanovich who would go on to make the Oscar-winning classics ‘The Last Picture Show,’ ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ and ‘Paper Moon.’   Conceived with his then wife Polly Platt, the low-budget ‘Targets’ (Blu-ray, Criterion Collection, R), filmed in 3 weeks for $125,000, owes its existence to the legendary King of the Bs, Roger Corman. Karloff owed Corman 2 days’ work and had made a terrible Gothic horror movie. If Bogdanovich, a film buff, could use Karloff with the limited time, insert footage of his bomb movie and then fill in the rest for a new movie, he was in business.  ‘Targets’ has Bogdanovich onscreen as a director eager to use a legendary horror icon called Orlok (Karloff, playing a version of himself) for one last role.  At a drive-in premiere they will cross paths with a psychotic young man, a disturbed Vietnam vet, who after killing his wife and mother has gone on a shooting spree.  The killer is based on the notorious 1966 U of Texas-Austin Clock Tower sniper and mass killer Charles Whitman.  Yes, “Targets” presents an all-too-familiar quiet ‘nice guy,’ but the real, prophetic target here is an America awash in guns.  The film flopped when released after the RFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinations. Today it’s a model of cinema’s classic push/pull regarding screen violence.  The Criterion extras, from a 4K digital master, include the filmmaker’s 2003 commentary and an introduction (Bogdanovich died last year), a 1983 audio interview with Platt and a new, all-encompassing overview with Richard Linklater (‘Boyhood,’ ‘School of Rock’) who lives and works in Austin.

FLY & SAY GOOD-BYE                                             ‘Ant-Man + The Wasp: Quantumania’ (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Code, Marvel, PG-13) concludes a trilogy begun in 2015.  This ending is determined not by the Marvel-ous storytellers but the middling box-office.  Superhero fantasies are incredibly expensive and blockbusters are the Darwinian result of who gets to fly sky high again and who doesn’t.  ‘Quantumania’ to be fair is very complicated storytelling spanning decades.  Standouts in the large cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, the revered veterans, Paul Rudd (of course! he IS Ant-Man) and as the mighty villain Kang, Jonathan Majors.  Bonus: Gag reel/deleted scenes, an audio commentary from director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jeff Loveness, plus the actors’ on their characters.

GIVE US BACK THAT STOLEN NAZI ART!                 ‘Righteous Thieves’ (Blu-ray + Digital, Lionsgate, R) has a terrific hook, hanging its brazen efforts to retrieve stolen Nazi art.  Those very long time coming reparations have been stalled since WWII ended.  Annabel (Lisa Vidal) leads a top-secret group whose only business is to recover stolen art.  Their target is a sneering neo-Nazi Otto (Brian Cousins) whose Monet, Degas, Picasso and van Gogh do not rightfully belong to him. Although Otto would not agree.  Naturally there is more to Annabel’s quest than millions of Euros in paintings.  Bonus: ‘Coming for It All’ featurette.  Optional subtitles in Spanish and English SDH.

SCOTT CAAN LEADS THIS LION                            Scott Caan, a veteran of 10 years on TV’s ‘Hawaii Five-Oh’ reboot in a supporting role, takes command as the star of this comedic hit man drama ‘One Day as a Lion’ (DVD, Lionsgate, R).  Caan’s Jackie Powers (the name sounds like a genuflection to Elmore Leonard) is to kill JK Simmons’ debtor but fails the assignment and flees by taking a waitress hostage.  She, surprisingly, is sympathetic because Jackie needs money to spring his son out of jail.  (At this point, let us agree it is not a lucky family.)  Also around as the bullets fly: Virginia Madsen and Frank Grillo.  Bonus: Deleted scenes.

YET ANOTHER HIT MAN STUMBLES                                  A classic setup. An international assassin (Daniel Stisen) finds himself in a ‘reassignment’ center where he’s to be given a new identity, only all too soon he finds himself fighting for his life in that center in ‘The Siege’ (Blu-ray, Well Go USA, R).   The assault team is intent on removing all witnesses so our would-be killer has no choice if he is to survive the night unless he teams up with a hitwoman (veteran stuntwoman Lauren Okadigbo) to defend their turf.  Or die trying.  Bonus: Making of featurette.

“This show requires all of you,” Chanel told the Herald. “It’s mentally, physically draining. Yes, acting is not real, and we know that. But sometimes your body and mind have a disconnect, so your mind knows it’s fake but your body is going through something physically. That can mean trembling. It can mean hearing words that trigger a certain experience. The show is exhausting.”

But the exhaustion comes with tremendous artistic satisfaction.

Despite being based on Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill,” this is no silly jukebox musical indulgence. This is a decidedly modern Broadway production – “Jagged Little Pill” plays at the Citizens Bank Opera House June 13 -25.

Developed at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theatre before it went to Broadway in 2019, the show pulls Morissette’s ’90s angst into today. Morissette, Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody collaborated on a show that follows Frankie, Mary Jane and the rest of the Healys through a suburban hell. What starts with little family failings (light pill popping, mild online porn addiction, keeping up with the Joneses) graduates to spectacular breakdowns (overdose, abuse, assault).

While the material is intense, Chanel finds rewards in the role of Frankie – her first on a national tour.

“I enjoy how raw the show is, how realistic the show is,” she said. “You can think of somebody in your life who has dealt with the topics (explored in the show).”

Confronted with her mother’s relentless-but-hollow cheer, Frankie struggles to find her place in the world and develop a real relationship with her adopted mother. As Frankie’s girlfriend, Jo, tells her, “You’re a Pinterest fail.” While other actors might try and keep their emotional distance to the role, Chanel worked hard to connect with Frankie.

“I had to learn to be Frankie from within myself, meaning, I had to relate to her,” Chanel said. “I grew up in a suburban area (in Atlanta). I grew up in a predominantly white area. I had to navigate how that made me feel.”

“I also did research on real-life transracial adoptees,” she added. “I had interviews with them to get to know, generally, what that is like because I don’t know what that is like.”

Chanel says she did the research and goes into each performance with a deep breath knowing what it takes to pull off the role.

“I like to sit with being uncomfortable, and this show lets you explore that,” she said.

For tickets and details, visit boston.broadway.com

I have told him I need to go somewhere to see more of the world very soon. I’d be willing to go by myself. He told me we needed to close out an old bank account in which there was $3,000. We have spent other money I don’t think was necessary. We are going to his sister’s wedding in a few months, which will cost around $2,500, and he’s already talking about how he’s going to take his annual vacation to see his family.

My sister said she and I should take a trip together this year to a destination four hours by car. It would be for about four days. My husband said “we’ll see” if we can afford for me to go. He doesn’t seem to realize that this is an issue about my mental health. I have explained my reasons several times. I’m tempted to just go and charge it on the credit card, but it might damage our marriage. I love him. What can I do? — Wanderlust in Oregon

Dear Wanderlust: Your medical problem lends some urgency to your desire to scratch some items off your bucket list. In light of the fact that you are unwell, perhaps “just this once” your husband could postpone his annual family visit? Please discuss this further with your therapist. Your husband should not be controlling the purse strings to the extent he has been because it appears he has been using the money to do only the things he wants to do.

Dear Abby: I am at my wits’ end about my marriage. Among many other issues, today feels like the last straw. My 8-year-old son stole a small toy from a store, and I made him go back into the store with me to pay for the item. My husband chastised me for doing so, saying I humiliated the boy. I saw it as an opportunity to teach my son a lesson about taking things, and my husband is worried about him feeling humiliated?

I have tried therapy for many other issues we have, but we haven’t made much progress. After today, I’m ready to give up. Fundamentally, we just don’t have the same values or want the same things. Please tell me your thoughts on what happened with my son. It breaks my heart because it is so confusing to the boy. — Trying to Parent

Dear Trying: You handled the petty theft incident perfectly. You corrected your son’s misdeed and made him take responsibility for it. For that you should have been applauded, not chastised. But setting that aside for a moment, you stated that there are many problems in your marriage. Since they haven’t been able to be resolved with counseling, it may be time to weigh alternative options such as a temporary separation or divorce.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

“Rooted,” the Lyric Stage, now through June 25

We’ve all done it. Accidentally start a cult, that is. Emery Harris is a loner living in a treehouse with her plants. Emery’s only contact to the outside world is her sister, Hazel, and her plant-centric YouTube channel. But when Emery’s channel goes viral and the citizens of her small town come to view her as a botanical messiah, she is forced to confront the public. Lyricstage.com

“Private Lives,” Gloucester Stage, Gloucester, now through June 25

Noël Coward’s 1930 play begins with ex-husband and wife discovering they picked the same French hotel to honeymoon with their new spouses. Did the hotel book them in rooms that share a balcony? Yes. Do sparks fly? Yes. Do hijinks ensue? Oh, absolutely. Gloucesterstage.com

“As you Like It,” Balch Arena Theater, Medford, now through June 25

The Actors’ Shakespeare Project closes its season with the crossdressing chaos and gender twisting of the Bard’s best comedy at a time when state legislatures across the country have set out to ban drag performances. actorsshakespeareproject.org

“Evita,” Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, now through July 30

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical about Eva Perón’s rise from a poor, rural childhood to first lady of Argentina had no business succeeding. But “Evita” won seven much-deserved Tonys. Come see what the always-adventurous American Repertory Theater does with the complex and stunningly-beautiful rock opera. Americanrepertorytheater.org

“Not Eye, Us,” Calderwood Pavilion, June 22-24

Directors Fernadina Chan and Adriane Brayton have created an immersive dance-theater work inspired by Michael Alfano’s sculpture “Cubed.” Through manipulation of the sculpture’s nine moveable pieces, each the color of a different skin tone, “Not Eye, Us” explores individual diversity and united community. Bcaonline.org

“The Sound of Music,” North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, July 11-23

The North Shore is alive with the sound of music. Return to this charming tale of love, loss, mountain ranges, bedtimes, lonely goat herders, and all your favorite things. Nsmt.org

“Macbeth,” Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common, July 19 – Aug. 6

As a democracy, we would do well to mind our Shakespeare. Set in a land of wild civil strife, a place where the social fabric is rotting, Macbeth dives into a murderous plot to become king. Come for the art, stay for the politics. Oh, and it’s free! Commshakes.org

“Come From Away,” Citizens Bank Opera House, Aug 8 – 13

Set in the week following the Sept. 11 attacks, “Come From Away” is inspired by the true story of 38 planes forced to land in a tiny town in Newfoundland and the townsfolk’s effort to keep 7,000 stranded travelers safe and sane over five days. Straightforward, sincere, kindhearted and revelatory, “Come From Away” is unlike any other Broadway show. boston.broadway.com

My concern is that this man gives his two children so much money every month that there’s none left over to help with any of our household expenses. He knows he will have to wean them off financially before he retires. I’m loath to ask him to stop, because I don’t want to lose him over this issue. However, I didn’t budget having to support him for the rest of my life.

He hasn’t saved any money for his retirement. When I’ve asked why he sends them all his money, he says that when he and their mom divorced, it upset them and he feels guilty (it has been 18 years!), or when he gets old and senile, they’ll care for him. When I mentioned that when he gets old and senile, I’ll ship him out to his daughter, he said she has her own life and won’t want him there. It’s driving me crazy! What do I do? — Stressed Retiree in Washington

Dear Retiree: You must protect yourself — that’s what you do. Speak up and tell this kind, loving, generous freeloader that unless he’s prepared to pay his half of the household expenses, he will have to move. It may not be a pleasant conversation, but you will avoid a lot of heartache — not to mention financial ruin — if you assert yourself NOW. By the way, there are no guarantees his daughter would be willing to take care of her father when he’s old and senile. Many parents, to their dismay, discover that sad fact when it is too late.

Dear Abby: My daughter-in-law is a terrible housekeeper. I watch my grandchildren three days a week and am expected to drop them off at her house after I pick up the oldest (age 5) from school. It is troubling for me to see how dirty the house is, so I end up secretly cleaning. What’s the best way to address this with her? I could offer to help her with the housework a few hours a week. — Tidy in Tennessee

Dear Tidy: The best way to address this would be the direct approach. Ask your daughter-in-law if she has noticed that you have been helping to clean her house. If the answer is no, explain that you would be glad to continue helping out and you have a few hours a week to work WITH her, if she’s willing. You are a kind and considerate mother-in-law, and I hope she is appreciative.

Dear Abby: I’m wondering if you can give me a tactful suggestion on how to get lingering family members to go home when I entertain. In times past, cousins stayed into the wee hours playing cards and were generally pretty noisy in my parents’ large home — all of which could go on for days.

Today, our relationships with certain family members are fairly strained, but they still want to overstay. Any suggestions about how to let them know it’s time to return to their own homes? — Back to Normal in the East

Dear Back to Normal: Try this: Stand up and say, “It has been fun getting together, but it’s time to call it a night. We need our rest if we are going to be productive tomorrow. Thank you for being with us. We’ll do it again.”

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

While this has always been annoying, it was fairly easy to brush it off — until after I married. My husband, “Jay,” a wonderful man, is chronically ill. Like many chronically ill individuals, his life is filled with doctors’ appointments, various treatment plans, trying new medications and a lot of financial stress around how to pay for it all.

Through it all, Jay perseveres. He goes to work, cares for me and our animals and does his best to live a full, joyous life. Watching my husband suffer has been one of the biggest challenges of my life. He is strong and brave, and now that I see how chronically ill people struggle to live a normal day, my sister and her fake issues have gone from bothersome to infuriating.

The truth is, she has no idea what these wonderful, strong humans endure on a day-to-day basis, and the fact that she hijacks that struggle for her own purposes makes my blood boil. I know hypochondria is an issue on its own, but she refuses to acknowledge it, let alone seek treatment for it.

How can I maintain a relationship with someone whose behavior, in my opinion, is extremely selfish? She has been confronted, but she just won’t stop. — Sees Real Illness in Michigan

Dear Sees: According to the DSM-5, published by the American Psychiatric Association, your sister may suffer from “illness ANXIETY disorder.” (The caps are mine.) She may not be seeking attention or trying to divert it away from your husband and his daily struggles; she may be GENUINELY fearful and distressed.

If interacting with her as often as you do is as upsetting as you indicate, for your own mental health, consider talking to or seeing her less often. Confronting her is not the answer; a licensed psychotherapist may be — if she would admit she may need one.

Dear Abby: Recently, I started a group dinner for the wives of my husband’s poker buddies. It started out well. However, a newer member of the group has instigated praying in the restaurant, including holding hands while we do it. This is not my style, nor is it for some of the others.

We feel we are being held hostage to her request, and we’re not sure how to put a stop to this display. I’m private about my spiritual life, and another group member is agnostic. Can you please advise me on a tactful way to address this dear woman? —  Uncomfortable in California

Dear Uncomfortable: TELL the dear, deeply religious woman that you are very private about your spirituality, and at least one other member of the group is agnostic. Then suggest it would be appreciated if she kept her devotions silent and contactless when you are in a public place. (Could she be praying for her husband to win?)

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

Maureen Ryan can’t deny it, as she writes in her first book: “Burn It Down: Power, Complicity and a Call for Change in Hollywood.” For much of her life, the former Chicago Tribune and Variety critic and reporter couldn’t get enough of the grisly, salacious show-business lore spawned by the tyrants, the predators, the power structure, the bias, the damage, the wreckage. The all of it.

She “consumed these narratives like candy,” she writes in her book. “Horrible behavior — hundreds of pages of it — in ‘Live from New York,’ the oral history of ‘Saturday Night Live’? Of course I devoured the whole thing. When I was coming up, not only as a consumer of popular culture but as someone who wrote about the industry, these narratives — dishy stories of industry people behaving badly — were, in and of themselves, a popular subgenre of entertainment.”

Change, and some real consequences when it came to a conspicuous handful, came in 2017 with MeToo and the fall of Harvey Weinstein. Meantime, increasingly widespread pushback on racial, financial and gender inequities in Hollywood — inequities Hollywood set in quick-drying cement a century ago — gathered momentum.

Yet a lot of the old structural biases remain in place, even if things are fairer now. Better. Mostly. Partly? Depends on who you talk to. In “Burn It Down,” Ryan, now a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, collates a wide range of stories, examples and evidence of how some shows, such as the ABC-TV hit “Lost,” were also amiss in terms of what was going on behind the scenes. Already widely read, Ryan’s chapter on the rancor behind the making of “Lost” was excerpted this month in Vanity Fair.

“Burn It Down” (available June 6 from HarperCollins) canvases dozens of sources and interview subjects, drawing together stories of bullying, humiliating, rage-aholic producers such as Scott Rudin — who, Ryan’s sources suspect, will be back in action soon enough. The second part of “Burn It Down” looks ahead to what needs to happen next — especially, Ryan says, since a certain weariness has begun to afflict both the industry and the public regarding the revelations of the last few years.

Ryan lives in Chicago’s western suburbs with her husband and their son. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: When did you get the idea that everything you’d learned needed to be dealt with in book form?

A: In 2020 and 2021, when we were all dealing with the pandemic. People were tired of various entertainment industry reckonings. I understand that feeling. I get tired of these topics, too, at times. But I also got the sense that people thought it was more or less fixed. Exploitation, abuse, racial bias, gender bias — all these affect Hollywood very deeply. People had begun to think that because some high-profile people made the news, it wasn’t going to happen anymore. In the first six months of 2021, it got frustrating to write about more and more unprofessional or even horrifying behavior being enabled and allowed to continue. I felt I was living inside some sort of rerun. “Groundhog Day,” you know. So I decided a book was my way of getting at how these outcomes were basically preordained, and had been for a century, because of the dynamics baked into the industry.

Q: In the book you write: “Opportunities to paint on the big canvases and scream at the little people are not distributed equally.”

A: For so long, many different forms of bullying or intimidation or outright abuse were filed under the heading of “creativity.” Creative license. But that wasn’t true for everyone. The opportunities were not handed to everyone. They may have been the norms, until recently. But we have to remember: For who?

Q: In “Burn It Down” you call out various A-listers who’ve worked with film and Broadway producer Scott Rudin, from Frances McDormand on down, who stayed mum when it came to showing any solidarity to those who accused the producer of some pretty grubby and violent behavior.

A: I still don’t understand it, to be honest. I don’t get the downside in standing in solidarity with those Scott Rudin abused. Just to say: “I’m going to do my level best in this industry to stop that kind of behavior and create a better culture.” Look, I understand why people are afraid of vindictive people or companies. But at some point, if your’re espousing a certain set of values, then you have to act on those views. Privately is one thing. Publicly is another.

Q: You write about the train wreck appeal to so many of us when it comes to megalomaniacal Hollywood. We eat these stories up. And as viewers — take “Succession,” say — there’s a sizable audience for whichever show nails the winning formula of “snake pit” plus “scads of money.”

A: You can’t deny the voyeuristic element to tales of bad behavior. We’re constantly watching these visions of terrible people doing terrible things, and often they’re done brilliantly as pieces of storytelling. But you know? Keep it on the screen, guys! I liked watching the Roy family being jerks to each other as much as anybody! But I wonder if we’ve been trained all these years to accept it behind the scenes.

I’m not saying all entertainment has to be squeaky-clean and goody-two-shoes. The people who make our entertainment don’t have to be perfect; we all have any number of flaws and neuroses. Just, you know, stop acting in ways that damaging to your co-workers over time. For too long Hollywood has said, basically, that it wouldn’t be a creative workplace environment if people weren’t being toxically damaging to each other. But it can be done. Look at (creator and director) Vince Gilligan; he did it twice, with “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” As far as I heard, that’s a load of fascinatingly awful behavior being handled by good, responsible people behind the camera.

Q: For those who haven’t read what you wrote for Variety in 2017: Can you talk about what happened to you in 2014?

A: Sure. In 2014, I was physically assaulted by an industry executive. A number of things happened that evening, and they had a cataclysmic effect on my life. Also it came at a really tough time in my life. I struggled for a long time.

But it gave me something valuable. It gave me this absolutely ferocious understanding of what happens to someone who goes through something like that. And when they try to fix it in some way by reporting it to someone in authority. I understand what it feels like to worry about repercussions to your career, and to go through these processes that can damage you all over again.

Q: In the book you write a bit about your Chicago upbringing as the daughter of a cop, and a product of Catholic schooling. I know you’re a Buddhist now, but it sounds like you were raised a lot more Catholic than I was. I wonder if there’s some measure of atonement going on in secular Hollywood among the white male block of “creatives” who are starting to acknowledge they’ve had a pretty sweet deal all these years. And that change isn’t just inevitable; it’s plain right.

A: I think more people now have an awareness of the difficulties and obstacles other people face. There’s a different kind of awareness and honesty in the air now. Whether that translates to people from historically excluded communities getting into more positions of power — that’s still very much up in the air. It’s a hard conversation to have. But more and more people seem invested in trying to right these historic wrongs.

Q: Was there an emotional toll, revisiting and recounting everything that provoked this book?

A: When you embark on any ambitious project, you put on rose-colored glasses about what you’ll be able to accomplish and what it’ll take. But then, some weeks …. There was one week when I talked to a woman, funny, smart, brave, someone in the orbit of “Saturday Night Live.” (The woman spoke to Ryan under an alias. Earlier this year, she also anonymously spoke with ABC News “Nightline” regarding “SNL” cast member Horatio Sanz, whom the woman accused of sexual assault.) This was the same week I talked to a Cosby (alleged assault) survivor, whose story is harrowing. When I talk to people, especially the first or second time, it’s not unusual for me to talk for two or three hours. I want to answer their questions. And I want to give them space to tell their story and make them comfortable.

Weeks like that, I’m privileged to hear those stories and I’m grateful they’re willing to share them with me. You don’t get a ton of writing done in weeks like that.

Q: What’s your hope for the book’s reception?

A: Well, I’d much rather be writing about the cool stuff people are making (laughs). I don’t want to sound like a megalomaniac, the sort of megalomaniac I’ve covered. But since MeToo I hadn’t seen a book quite like this. Various reckonings have informed all kinds of books, often someone’s autobiography, or a look at a specific set of issues. But with this, I’m trying to take a bird’s-eye view of the industry as a whole. To use a phrase used by Orlando Jones: The Hollywood power structure was set up to produce this outcome. I wanted to look at that. And I hope there’s some value in it.

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

America’s fascination with true crime is played for satire in the dark comedy “Based on a True Story,” a Peacock series starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina as a married couple who, dollar signs in their eyes and bad judgment in their hearts, seize upon the opportunity to make a podcast with a serial killer.

Tonally, the eight-episode series teeters between slasher territory and the humor of domestic ennui. Ava and Nate’s marriage has grown stale, their professional ambitions thwarted. She’s a real estate agent who struggles to land high-end clients; he’s a tennis pro at the Beverly Club who has recently been demoted. To be clear, this is a very upper-middle-class kind of frustration, and while the show hints at some class issues, it doesn’t go far enough. Ava and Nate are not rich compared to their friends, but there’s an unspoken reality the show is sidestepping: In the Los Angeles housing market, that cozy home of theirs is worth millions. They’re also expecting their first child (the show incorporated Cuoco’s real-life pregnancy into the story), though it’s unclear how they feel about becoming parents. They seem neither excited nor anxious. The pregnancy is just sort of there, in the background, like their home’s faulty plumbing.

Stalled careers and annoying home repairs have made life dull, but the couple isn’t in desperate straits. They’re just restless and unhappy. So Ava seeks refuge in true crime stories, and when she and Nate suspect a new acquaintance might actually be a serial killer dubbed the West Side Ripper, a proposal is hatched: What if we made our own podcast, where the killer shares all but remains anonymous? It’s never been done before; surely riches will follow.

Not so simple! In over their heads, Ava and Nate are continually yanked around by this unpredictable man. (Peacock prefers the identity of the killer remain a spoiler, though it’s revealed in the first episode.) The threat of violence is always hovering around the edges and, as a result, Cuoco’s performance involves a lot of “shocked face.” She’s not mugging exactly — well, she is, but it’s a self-aware mugging and that’s part of the show’s sense of humor. But as a character, Ava is too underdeveloped, floating prettily through what she sees as a boring existence. A closer read on what actually makes her tick would have been interesting. Messina gets more to play with, as a man with a deeper, angrier sense of middle-aged resentment that he barely keeps suppressed below the surface.

Their main competitors in the podcast world are the wonderfully ludicrous Sisters in Crime (played by the very funny June Diane Raphael and Jessica St. Clair) who confidently assert that the great American art form isn’t music or film or television. No, America’s great art form is murder: “We watch it. We celebrate it. We obsess over it. And we commit it.” That captures the show’s approach, which is ridiculous and occasionally menacing but also entirely plausible. All the same, “Based on a True Story” isn’t looking to examine any of these ideas so much as play them for comedy and horror.

It’s an approach that’s propulsive and keeps you guessing, both skewering the ghoulishness of true crime while also indulging in it. That’s a neat, if somewhat dubious, trick. I like the show overall, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. That’s OK — it can exist purely in the realm of upbeat, if sinister, high jinks, so long as we’re not pretending it’s saying something more. The show’s creator is Craig Rosenberg, who is an executive producer on the Amazon superhero satire “The Boys,” which also subverts and pokes a few holes in a popular genre.

Ava and Nate’s story is forever unraveling and it might have benefited from a clearer sense of what these two hope to achieve with the podcast. There’s not one substantive conversation about what happens if enough people believe they’re really platforming a killer, and while I think that’s true to life (we rarely fully anticipate the consequences of our decisions), the beauty of fiction is that it can imagine what that thought process might look and sound like.

The season ends on a cliffhanger — an unfinished thought, really — which I think is a mistake in the streaming era, with the uncertainty it has foisted upon the TV landscape. Who knows if that was Rosenberg’s choice or something Peacock pushed for, but the streamer has not indicated if the show is getting a renewal and, for some audiences, that may be reason enough to skip it altogether.

What about the podcast itself? We don’t hear much of it, or see the work that goes into putting it together (a task that is harder than the show would lead you to believe) but the killer is unhappy with an early edit and has plenty of ideas of his own. He’s trying to protect his brand “and you keep wasting time cutting to these other characters,” he says with some annoyance. The victims’ families are just a distraction from the main event.

What a savage comment on how hollow many of these projects actually are.

———

‘BASED ON A TRUE STORY’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: Peacock

———

©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

We do a deep dive into the psychological thriller co-starring Amanda Seyfried as well as one of 2023’s best films of the year, “Past Lives.” And there’s a terrific stand-up-and-cheer feature debut from Eva Longoria.

Here’s our roundup.

“The Crowded Room”: Tom Holland flings himself into any role, from Spider-Man to his latest — as a troubled crime suspect in a gripping Apple TV+ limited series. It’s one of his most demanding roles — requiring a greater level of commitment than what was demanded of him in Apple TV+’s terribly overblown “Cherry.” Thankfully the 10-part “Crowded Room” is worth his considerable talents and versatility. Holland is an actor who makes you want to see his character do well, no matter all the bad stuff happening around him. It is that relatability, and Holland’s fierce commitment to lose himself in his character, that bolsters this engrossing series inspired by Daniel Keys’ non-fiction novel “The Minds of Billy Milligan.”

Holland stars as Danny Sullivan, who’s arrested for an alleged shooting at Rockefeller Center in New York. The one trying to extract the why’s and the what’s from a jailed Danny and earn her tenure in the process is interrogator/psychology professor Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried). Each tension-filled episode features their “sessions” together and leads to flashbacks to Danny’s years spent with his emotionally distant mother (Emmy Rossum of “Shameless”) and his step-father (Will Chase). Showrunner Akiva Goldsman takes full advantage of the 1979 setting and fashions a successful psychological thriller filled with good performances and taut direction. But this series belongs to Holland and he’s shattering to behold. His emotionally staggering performances takes “The Crowded Room” to a whole new level. Details: 3 stars out of 4; three episodes drop June 9 with one following each week on Apple TV+.

“Past Lives”: On paper it looks at first like filmmaker Celine Song simply recycled a stale romance trope — two childhood friends who’ve been separated for decades meet up only to find out that they are the ones who … . But Song’s trick in her heartbreaking feature is that she avoids filling in the dot-dot-dots and creative spaces with what we’ve come to expect. Instead, she gives us three complicated but likable protagonists — New York playwright Nora (Greta Lee), her author husband Arthur (John Magaro) and Nora’s sweet reminder of what life was like in South Korea, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). Their coming together doesn’t lead to a cliched affection tug-of-war but contemplates complex issues about cultural identity, how the past shapes present relationships and how a partner can never entirely share what their lover’s previous life was like.

For all those heady reasons, time serves as a powerful metaphor in “Past Lives,” and Song — a playwright herself — makes the passage of hours, days and years appropriately fluid, allowing scenes to reveal how much time has elapsed through dialogue. It puts us into a sort-of dreamy fugue state at times, and it pairs well with the Korean concept of in-yun — how interconnections from our past lives affect the here and now, which Song also explores. Gorgeously shot on 35mm, this a beautiful film to behold and is, in a sense, a visual poem. It certainly presents its actors with rich material. Lee has the trickiest part and is asked to convey — in one of the most profound endings you’ll see this or any other year — a wave of emotions with limited dialogue. Magaro and Yoo are in sync with her every step of the way, and each creates a remarkable character who’s sensitive to Grace’s needs yet captivated by her. “Past Lives” treats these very human characters with respect and care, and in turn we care for all of them. “Past Lives” is easily one of the best, if not one of the most profoundly moving, films you’ll see in 2023. Details: 4 stars; in theaters June 9.

“Flamin’ Hot”: It’s sadly a rarity to see Hollywood make a feel-good movie about a Mexican American underdog who relies on his ingenuity and determination to gain respect from friends and family and even land a huge promotion — one he never imagined he could ever achieve. In an energetic and irresistible style, Eva Longoria’s feature debut does a fine job of raising the voice of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia), a janitor trying to get noticed at a Frito-Lays factory planet in Rancho Cucamonga, as well as hardworking wife Judy (Annie Gonzalez). The game changer in both of their lives is the fiery notion to spice up one of the company’s biggest snacks, Cheetos. Screenwriters Lewis Colick and Linda Yvette Chávez keep it mostly peppy but they do address such serious matters as the fact that most drug runners make more money than Montañez did. But “Flamin’ Hot” doesn’t dwell on that topic, nor should it. This enjoyable movie is designed to make you laugh, smile and cheer on the underdog. It’s a sweet surprise this summer. Details: 3 stars; available June 9 on Hulu and Disney+.

“Rise”: Happiness, as we all know, can be elusive and fleeting and eviscerated with just one misstep. Such is the fate that befalls up-and-coming French ballerina Elise (Marion Barbeau), who injures herself when she loses her focus upon discovering her dancer boyfriend is cheating on her. Having dedicated her life to dance, the devastating news that she might be done doubles the devastation. Unlike the harsh and deluded ballerina-eat-ballerina world depicted in “Black Swan,” director Cédric Klapisch’s dance world is more enlightened and supportive. Choreographed to perfection and filled with rich and encouraging exchanges with interesting characters who talk about following their passions or observing them from the sidelines, “Rise” is an exquisite French drama that celebrates the tenacity within us all and our ability to adapt and rise above what we were before. It’s a lovely film, filled often with lovely dancers who adjust their dreams accordingly. Details: 3½ stars; in select theaters June 9.

“Daliland”: The psychedelic, anything-goes New York art scene comes to colorful life in Mary Harron’s dishy romp in which handsome gallery assistant James Linton (Christopher Birney) crosses paths with iconic surrealist Salvador Dali (Ben Kingsley, chewing into the part) and the painter’s tempestuous wife Gala Dali (Barbara Sukowa). James gets entangled into that couple’s stormy relationship. But can he earn a permanent spot with this crowd or is he just a plaything? Harron (“American Psycho,” “I Shot Andy Warhol”) ponders that question a bit in this sinfully fun feature. It’s not one of her best works, but it is an entertaining one. Details: 3 stars; opens June 9 in select theaters.

“Unidentified Objects”: Juan Felipe Zuleta’s weird and marvelous first feature is a “road” picture that finds the grouchy, pretentious Peter (Matthew August Jeffers, in a performance of bite and anger) agreeing to drive eccentric sex worker Winona (Sarah Hay) to the site where she claims she had a close encounter with aliens. What could have been a dumb road trip transforms into a meaningful and occasionally humorous story about two entities — a man who has dwarfism and a woman with a wretched past — coming together in a world that doesn’t necessarily care to nurture or even accept them. Leland Frankel’s screenplay, the two lead performances and the compassionate direction from first-timer Zuleta make it a celestial wonder worth discovering. Details: 3½ stars; screens 7:30 p.m. June 8 at Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco, with producer Masha Leonov on hand, also  available on Vudu.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

According to Ryan Lee, the Denver-based founder and CEO of Livvy, seltzers made from a grape base are popular among manufacturers because they add a natural sweetness to the beverages and don’t necessitate the use of artificial flavorings. Livvy, which debuted in July 2022, offers three flavors all made with ginger root, prickly pear root, dandelion root and licorice root extract, plus real fruit juice depending on the flavor.

Last summer, Neilsen reported that hard seltzers accounted for 43% of the dollars spent in the ready-to-drink beverage space. Even though that figure was down about 10% compared to 2021, Lee said the category is still ripe with opportunity.

“Canned wines are still a very low percent of the market,” he said. Many winemakers are watching the explosion in popularity of RTD beverages and seeing an opportunity to attract a younger customer base and stay on trend, he added.

That’s especially true as drinkers increasingly reach for “better for you” beverages. Nielsen reported in May that health and wellness will be among the top decision drivers when it comes to the alcoholic products consumers choose to buy this summer. Drinkers will also be leaning toward more high-end beverages, primarily those made with tequila, and those endorsed by celebrities.

“We’re seeing a trend across the entire U.S. that younger consumers are really focused on more mindful drinking,” said Kevin Webber, CEO of Carboy Winery, which debuted a line of seltzers called Cold Vines in 2021. “We’re seeing people in our tasting rooms start with a glass of wine and then opting for a seltzer because of the lower alcohol.”

At 4% and 5% alcohol-by-volume, respectively, both Livvy and Cold Vines include less than half as much alcohol as a standard glass of wine. Similarly, Piquette made by Palisade’s Sauvage Spectrum winery clocks 6.5% ABV, and Jetway, a line of wine seltzers produced by Western Slope winemaker Ben Parsons, comes in at 5% ABV. The latter also boasts about 100 calories and just five carbs.

Parsons, who created Jetway with The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., said his goal is to elevate the seltzer category.

“Back (in 2020) White Claw and Truly were dominating, but those products are really just cane sugar thrown in a fermentation vessel to create alcohol and then blended with artificial colors, flavors and ingredients,” said Parsons, who is also proprietor of The Ordinary Fellow winery in Palisade. “The reason we picked wine is obviously my background is in wine, but there’s still a health halo associated with wine.”

The fact these products are canned and carbonated makes them even more crushable during the summer.

“It’s a no-brainer. In summer months, people want to drink something crisper, lighter and more refreshing,” Webber said.

Here’s the skinny on four wine seltzers with local ties to try this summer.

Cold Vines Wine Seltzer

For several years, Carboy Winery has been on a mission to become Colorado’s premiere sparkling wine purveyor and in doing so the company created something of a natural byproduct.

To make sparkling wine, Webber and his team harvest grapes early in the season when they are high in acidity. Those grapes also make an optimal base for seltzer because they are uniquely suited to be watered down and have fruit concentrates added back to them, he said.

Cold Vines comes in four flavors – lemon, black cherry, peach, and watermelon – each clocking 5% ABV. Right now, they’re made exclusively with Colorado grapes though that could change as distribution expands in the future, Webber said.

The seltzers utilize whichever grapes the winery is harvesting to make sparkling wines according to its production schedule, so the exact varietals change throughout the year.

Cold Vines is for sale in four-packs of cans at Carboy’s taprooms in Denver (400 E. 7th Ave.), Littleton (6885 S. Santa Fe Dr.) and Palisade (3572 G Rd.), as well as at Molly’s Spirits. coldvinesseltzer.com

Jetway

Jetway wine seltzers were inspired by The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s experience globetrotting and craving a bubbly beverage akin to an Aperol spritz, said Parsons, who serves as the company’s chief operating officer.

Hammond and Parsons, who were linked up through friends of friends, developed two unique flavors starting with grapes from a winery in Washington. The rose wine seltzer uses cabernet and syrah grapes plus ginger, yerba mate, peach and orange peel. The white wine seltzer leverages sauvignon blanc grapes alongside ginger, yerba mate, and elderflower. Both are 5% ABV.

The company is working on new recipes, Parsons said, and aspires to open brick-and-mortar Jetway lounges in the future.

Jetway’s rollout began in 2021 in Hammond’s region of residence in Southern California, where Jetway is also available on draft at select bars and restaurants. The beverages made their Colorado debut in 2022 at retail stores along the Front Range. They are also available for purchase online. drinkjetway.com

Livvy

Since launching Livvy in 2022, Lee has been promoting it primarily through word of mouth and guerilla marketing, which is why Denverites may have seen him at city parks offering free samples to locals ages 21 and up.

The 4% ABV seltzer comes is available in three flavors – ginger-peach, prickly pear lemonade and pineapple-hibiscus – and because each recipe leverages extracts like ginger root and licorice root, Lee says they boast antioxidant properties, among other benefits.

That last point is important to Lee, who comes to the seltzer industry after a previous venture developing a supplement for folks like himself who experience alcohol flush reaction.

“I thought it would be great to take some of our knowledge of natural ingredients and put them in into a clean, better-for-you seltzer,” Lee said.

Livvy is available exclusively online in 12-count variety packs that include all three flavors, though Lee hopes to enter retail locations in Colorado soon. drinklivvy.com

Piquette

According to Patric Matysiewski, co-founder and winemaker at Sauvage Spectrum in Palisade, the idea for Piquette came not from trying to compete with seltzer, but from trying to revive an ancient production method also called “piquette.”

Historically, peasants who worked in vineyards were paid in pressed grape skins teeming with residual sugar, which they could take home, soak in water and ferment again naturally, Matysiewski said. He thought he could adopt the technique to recycle grape skins he uses to make white wines and create a new offering.

“Basically, we’re taking rubbish and turning it into a sustainable product. That’s why I really like it,” said Matysiewski, who bills Piquette as a wine spritzer more than a seltzer. (And wouldn’t you know, Nielsen said companies’ commitments to sustainability will play into purchasing decisions this summer.)

Piquette is made from a rotating mix of grape varietals depending on Sauavge Spectrum’s production schedule, but it typically boasts a pink hue, light body and 6.5% ABV.

Piquette is for sale at Sauvage Spectrum’s taprooms in Palisade (676 38 1/4 Rd.) and Ouray (480 Main St.), as well as farmers markets throughout Colorado this summer, including at Union Station in Denver, in the Highlands in Denver and in Vail. sauvagespectrum.com

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I was wrong. For the last month, they have continued to push me to change to a regular burial. I finally had enough and told them to respect my choices and never discuss this with me again. So now, no contact at all except an occasional text from my grandchildren. Any advice or help would be appreciated. — Unhappy in Florida

Dear Unhappy: I assume from your letter that you are neither a conservative nor an orthodox Jew. Because your question involves Jewish law (which is outside my area of expertise), I ran your question by the most brilliant rabbi I know, Rabbi Elliot Dorff, who teaches at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In part, this is what he had to say:

“The prohibition against cremation comes from the belief that your body belongs to God, not to you personally. It’s not unlike renting an apartment. Part of the lease agreement is that you will not destroy or harm the property before you cease residency. (There is no restriction on piercing, which was practiced by Jewish women and men from the time of the exodus from Egypt. As for tattooing, the restriction against it goes back to the days when the Jews were fighting with the Canaanites, who used tattooing in their religious rites.)

“The restriction regarding cremation came about because of the belief that it is actively destroying God’s property. According to the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, cremation is prohibited, but if people do that their cremains may be buried in a Jewish cemetery — but, unlike what your children are threatening, it has nothing to do with what happens after death. There are differences on this subject. Nobody knows what happens after death, not even rabbis. Jewish people have a positive commandment to save a life. Organ donation would be an example of this. Although it might be considered ‘damaging a body,’ saving a life takes precedence.”

Rabbi Dorff said your children need to know there’s a disagreement among rabbis as to whether interment in a mausoleum is equivalent to burial in the ground. So, cremation may be “out” for you, but you can be laid to rest next to your husband in a crypt. What is of utmost importance is that your relationship with your children be restored. In the precious time you are on this side of the sod, you and your children need to be able to love and enjoy each other. Weapons like threats and blackmail should not be used.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

The word apricot comes from Latin and Arabic, apricot meaning “early-ripe,” as in an early-ripened peach. Interestingly, apricot has the same root as the word precocious, which we used to describe children who seem to be wise beyond their years.

The Chinese are said to have been the first to cultivate apricots more than 4,000 years ago, although Alexander the Great gets the credit for introducing them to Europe and beyond. Today Iran and Turkey are the major producers of apricots; in the United States, they are mostly grown in California, but because they are highly perishable most of the harvest is dried and canned for year-round consumption.

The apricot seed has a kernel inside that has a bitter almond taste and is considered poisonous because it contains the chemical hydrogen cyanide, (although apparently you would have to eat an enormous amount of them to poison yourself). For this reason it is recommended that you roast the kernels before using them in confections and liqueurs.

Apricots are high in beta carotene, calcium, iron and vitamin A, and are touted as a beneficial food for eye health.

The following recipe, from David Lebovitz’s cookbook “Ready for Dessert,” is a favorite. It uses the classic combination of apricots and almonds found in many well-known breakfast pastries and desserts.

I posted a recipe for an apricot and cherry tart a few years ago, and today’s recipe has some similar ingredients. Unlike the previous one, though, it has almond slices in the crust and the process for making the dough is different. This crust’s ingredients are blended in the food processor. Then, using your fingers you push the dough into the sides and corners of the tart pan.

I made the crust the day before and left it in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, I prebaked the crust. While it was cooling, I made the filling and the topping.

It’s a perfect way to welcome summer’s stone-fruit season.

Claudia Alexander has been happily cooking for family and friends for more than three decades. The Marin resident has a weekly food blog, sweetbynurture.com. Contact her at sweetbynurture@gmail.com.

RECIPE

Apricot Marzipan Tart

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup sliced almonds, almond meal, or almond flour

¼ cup of granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cold

Pinch of salt

Filling:

10-12 apricots (approximately 1 lb.) cut into slices

1 tablespoon cornstarch

¼ cup granulated sugar

Topping:

4 ounces marzipan, almond paste

¼ cup sliced almonds

½ cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

4 tablespoons butter cold

DIRECTIONS

To make the crust, put the flour, almonds, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor and pulse a couple times. Now chop the butter into big chunks and toss it with the flour mixture, pulsing 15 times or so until you see the mixture start to come together. Dump the entire bowl into your tart pan and using your fingers push it into the sides until you get an even layer. Then chill the shell for 1 hour at least.

While the crust is chilling make the topping. Toss all the ingredients except the butter into the food processor to mix. Pinch the butter and add unequal pieces to the mixture. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Pierce the crust with a fork to keep it from bubbling. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees and let the crust cool.

To make the filling, toss the sliced apricots with the cornstarch and sugar. When the crust is cool to the touch add the apricot filling and top with the marzipan evenly across the top of the tart. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.

Note: The crust needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (and up to overnight) so plan accordingly. I used a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base for this recipe.

Rather than burdening yourself with postcard dreams of a beach towel and a book, instead of picturing yourself inside a portrait of lazy mornings with a hammock and a Stephen King, toss out the bougie old summer reading mirage. Has it ever been attainable for more than an hour or two? Replace it — as I do, to the detriment of family, TV and sleep — with a small project. But not a project project. More like a personal dare.

Pick a theme for your summer reading and dive into it until Labor Day: Read only books banned in Florida. Or only Nordic noir, or only Asian sci-fi. Alternate novellas with epics. Or stick to novellas. Make a list so long you never finish it, but show up every day for it: Give yourself a minor degree in true crime or octopuses. Spend your summer scaling just the mountain of great Chicago-centric books so far this year — Jonathan Eig’s “King,” Catherine Lacey’s “Biography of X,” Aleksandar Hemon’s “The World and All That It Holds” — buttressing it with great Chicago books to come in the next eight weeks, and that list would go so long, you’d look up and see Halloween candy in Walgreens.

What follows are 13 choose-your-own-adventure themes for summer reading:

Goofy Idea, Great Read

Evanston’s Daniel Kraus is one of those bubbling-under authors. He collaborated with George Romero on a “Living Dead” book, cowrote (with Guillermo Del Toro) the story that became “The Shape of Water.” But remember this title: “Whalefall” (Aug. 8). He has no collaborator here, and it should make him a star. I giggled for a full year at the premise: A man is trapped in a whale and must find a way out. Then I read it, luxuriated in it, and I could not stop reading it. Picture Jack London, but with a more nuanced handling of broken, damaged men. I’m not going to say much about “Oh God, the Sun Goes” (Aug. 1) by David Connor, only that it sells the dual feelings of awe and loss in an America where the sun has vanished suddenly. Likewise, “Time’s Mouth” (Aug. 1) only sounds corny if you have never read Edan Lepucki. Time itself narrates, then the story slides, touchingly, through generations of women in a family nursing pain — but also shouldering an ability to time travel into their pasts. Think less sci-fi than magic realism.

Read Locally, Think Globally

In Luis Alberto Urrea’s “Good Night, Irene” — a summer sleeper hit if there ever was — the Chicago novelist tells a slightly autobiographical story culled from his mother, a Red Cross volunteer during World War II, and a resulting patchwork of memories: friendships, fleeting run-ins, explosions of surrealism, moral abandonment. All of which was held tight for decades by his mother, whose post-traumatic stress went undiagnosed. The beauty of the book is how lightly it wears violence without ever completely removing it from the corner of your eyes. You can feel the Oscar-ready movie bubbling between the lines. Same goes for Julia Fine’s ambitious “Maddalena and the Dark” (June 13): To say it reminds you of “Black Swan” is to say it captures a visceral, obsessive friendship between two young women in the throes of creating art. In this case, Fine paints 18th-century Venice, and the passions of Vivaldi’s prodigies, while making room (unlike “Black Swan”) for a gothic romance about a feverish adolescence.

It’s a humid book for a humid season, pairing well with “Dona Cleanwell Leaves Home,” by Ana Castillo. The Chicagoan’s poetry tends to obscure her graceful fiction, which, in the seven stories in this new collection, capture Latina women, immigrants and children of migrants, shuttling between Mexico City and new lives in Chicago. As with Castillo, I don’t understand why more Chicagoans don’t know the Chicago stories of Christine Sneed, whose latest collection, “Direct Sunlight” (June 15), is fueled by variety: Lincoln Park relationships, alongside Wisconsin factory workers who win Mega Millions, alongside a Chicago advice columnist getting advice letters from her own mother. Janice Deal, another story ace from Chicago, goes the novel route with “The Sound of Rabbits,” a palpably homesick story about two sisters reuniting in their small Wisconsin town, drawn back into a place they once either wanted to escape or forget.

I’m Not Paranoid, You Are

Conspiracy, real or fantasy, is the underrated genre, the go-to 2 a.m. doomscroll of 21st-century lit. “The Theory of Everything Else” (June 27), a spinoff of Dan Schreiber’s “No Such Thing as a Fish” podcast) is ideal for the distracted, full of absorbing histories of improbable beliefs (a 1952 prediction of Elon Musk, jinxed sports teams), as thoughtfully written as it is nuts. Chase it with “Under the Eye of Power” (July 11), Colin Dickey’s poignant argument on how belief in secret societies, from the KKK to QAnon, influences American democracy. More solid ground is found in Kerry Howley’s “Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State,” a pinballing, necessarily digressive road trip across a national security state that will “outlast the faith that built it,” told through not completely sympathetic portraits of whistleblowers. If our fascination with conspiracy is that it operates beyond our line of sight, “The Sullivanians” (June 20) is Alexander Stille’s addicting, compassionate account of how earnest societal questions about community were quietly warped in broad daylight, through an ugly Manhattan cult (once the largest in the country) that splintered families for decades.

The Fantastic Four

Between Deborah Levy, Lorrie Moore, Ann Patchett and Ann Beattie, it’s hard to think of an upper-middle-class malaise that hasn’t been unsettled in their pages. “August Blue” by Levy (June 6) is another slender, elegant, sparse novel that belies depths: A concert pianist walks offstage mid-performance, abandoning her career, only to stumble on her twin following her across Europe. Camus would be proud. As would Chekhov with “Tom Lake” (Aug. 1), a new career high from Patchett, building on “State of Wonder,” “Commonwealth” and “The Dutch House,” a run that cemented her stature as our great chronicler of family. This one is set in a Michigan cherry orchard, where three sisters urge their mom to recall her summer-stock days and romance with a famous actor. “Onlookers” (July 18) by Beattie hits the short-story master’s best notes (hypocrisy, college towns) but with a clever frame: Six stories set in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, linked by protests over public monuments. They’re also tied to Moore in their deft mash of lonesomeness and wit. “I Am Homeless If This is Not My Home” (June 20) is Moore’s first novel in a decade, and other than alternating chapters set in the 19th century, it’s trademark Moore — a kind of melancholy hoot (if that’s possible). Rather than give away too much, here are a few elements: zombies, suicide and the Midwest.

Laugh Factories

Dying, the cliché goes, is easy, comedy is hard. “Boom Chicago” (July 4) by Andrew Moskos and Pep Rosenfeld, founders of the 30-year-old Dutch institution, provides evidence, with an oral history charting the unlikely importing of Chicago improv, with contributions by Matt Diehl and Saskia Maas and takes from Boom alum such as Jordan Peele and Seth Myers. “Kind of a Big Deal” (Aug. 22) by Saul Austerlitz is a well-reported, if fawning making-of “Anchorman” that’s a more insightful history of the (now broken) comedy partnership of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. For just laughs: Ignore the tidy title “Everybody’s Favorite: Tales from the World’s Worst Perfectionist” (July 23), by Chicago writer Lillian Stone, and luxuriate in millennial-centric thoughts on office bathrooms, Evangelical childhoods and horny Evangelical childhoods. The contemporary queen of the laugh-out-loud hot take, though, is Samantha Irby of Evanston (now Michigan). “Quietly Hostile,” her latest collection, perfect for a beach day, takes on the real issues: poop, public defecation, intimidating teens and the “Lane Bryant that’s now a Chipotle in downtown Evanston.”

When Journalism is Art

You know the feeling that you’ve heard the news even if you haven’t? “Evidence of Things Seen: True Crime in an Era of Reckoning” (July 4) is an addicting anthology of reporting that reframes crime writing itself, from pieces on the real-life models for David Simon’s fictional police, decades-old murders facing charges of indifference to Amanda Knox on “Amanda Knox” the image. (Editor Sarah Weinman has become a seal of excellence for true crime.) “American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress” (June 27) sounds familiar: Wesley Lowery, one of our great young journalists, begins in Grant Park, election night 2008, then documents, and redefines, in a tight volume, American racial history as a forever war of “diametrically opposed movements.” Jeff Sharlet’s startling, Didion-esque “The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War,” with its CinemaScope landscapes and slightest of hopes, visits the dirt lanes and country rallies where Christian nationalism threatens. “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight” doesn’t fit that bunch. Expect in one big way: Andrew Leland writes about his own gradual blindness using cultural histories and the politics of disability to upend what we assumed we knew. It’s one of the year’s best.

Graphic Content

My own summer reading goes long book-short book, long-short, then, after every few books, a comic. The key is choosing well: “Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story,” Julia Wertz’s very funny story of addiction, is a pleasant meander through typically heavy memoir material, but also ordinary days, the promises we never plan to address, the thoughts we entertain (Wertz fantasizes falling through a subway grate and recouping millions). Chuck D’s excellent “STEWdio” (yes, Chuck D of Public Enemy) is a literal diary of stray thoughts, three books of them, in a box — and some of the most compelling reading I’ve done this year. In one-page panels recalling a meld of eighth grade homeroom sketches and the exuberantly unstable lines of Basquiat, Chuck offers portraits of collaborators, tales of loss and quarantine, nights huddled before cable news. For something more traditional: “The Human Target, Vol. 2″ (July 18), with art from Greg Smallwood that time travels from 1961, continues one of DC’s best books in years: A man hired to act as a decoy hunts his poisoner before he expires, in 12 days.

Meet the New Bosses

It’s going to take another decade or so before Morrison, Bellow, Roth, et al., give way to a new canon. In the meantime, catch-up: Now with two Pulitzers for novels on the Underground Railroad and child abuse, Colson Whitehead had fun last year with a heist thriller, “Harlem Shuffle.” And a hit. He continues its story with “Crook Manifesto” (July 18), leaping ahead to a ‘70s New York of Black Power and civic neglect. “Beware the Woman” could only be written by the great Megan Abbott: A young woman is unsure if she married into a sinister legacy, or she’s just claustrophobic in the dense woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Few novelists today bring the suspense, and the politics, so effortlessly. Fewer still write as brightly on community as James McBride, whose “The Good Lord Bird” and “Deacon King Kong” are contemporary classics. “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” (Aug. 8) fits nicely on that shelf: It’s the story of a Pennsylvania neighborhood where Black and Jewish residents, and their less accepting Evangelical neighbors — “proof of the American possibility of equality” — are upended when a literal skeleton appears in a local well. As for nonfiction: David Grann (“Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Lost City of Z”) is the new sure thing for disaster narrative. “The Wager” follows the aftermath of an 18th-century shipwreck, a story that somehow gets uglier after survivors appear. Harrowing, fascinating — read it now, before the inevitable film.

Words Count

“August Wilson: A Life” (Aug. 15), the first major biography of the great playwright since his death in 2005 (and really, the only good one, strangely), does the heavy lifting: Patti Hartigan, former theater critic at the Boston Globe, working from interviews with the Pittsburgh legend, walks us, play by play, through the influences, rough childhood, regional loyalties, self-mythologizing, the Goodman Theatre relationship. There will be more critical books, but this sets a high bar for future Wilson studies. “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (June 27) by Peter Moore explains the intellectual world of 18th century America, pre-Red Coats, the personality clashes about those famous words, and their ironic trans-Atlantic roots. (“The American Dream,” the book argues provocatively, is a British import.) There’s a melancholy of unrealized goals hanging over the history that resonates off “Tabula Rasa: Vol. 1″ (July 11), the nine millionth book by John McPhee in seven decades. But what a lovely addition: McPhee, at 92, recalls in short bursts all of the journalism he never expects to finish, from Malcolm Forbes’ yacht to plane crashes, with thoughts on his classics, his famously rangy curiosity never quite settled.

Sorry, but It’s Science

If science books don’t sound like summer, watch me change your mind: “The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos,” by Jaime Green, is that rare book on a chance of life beyond Earth you will not hide on the CTA. Instead of UFOs and probes, it’s a breezy skip through planetary climates, the politics of first contact, what an alien might actually be — you know, actual natural considerations. “Edison’s Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History’s Greatest Geniuses” by Katie Spalding is a survey of stupidity perpetrated by the smartest people you know: Freud’s coke habit, Tycho Brahe’s penchant for getting his pet moose drunk. (Sigh.) “What an Owl Knows” (June 13) by Jennifer Ackerman (our smartest bird writer) should do for hooting what a wave of octopus books did for slithering. (Did you know: An owl’s auditory system, its hearing, does not age with the rest of it?) Finally, “The Heartbeat of the Wild,” by David Quammen, former Chicagoan, science legend, collects decades of National Geographic pieces, and there’s not a dud story: a lion’s life, a couple who try to “rewild” Patagonian animals, iffy Russian salmon conservation, etc.

Social Justice Thrillers, They Wrote

There’s a moment in every S.A. Cosby crime thriller where the legacy of gothic fiction arrives like a ghost — only to be pushed past for fresher terrain. “All the Sinners Bleed” (June 6) sounds overburdened in timeliness. It starts with a school shooting, then veers to Confederate monuments. But then subverts expectations with a vintage serial killer cat-and-mouse about systemic indifference. Similarly, “Small Mercies” finds Dennis “Mystic River” Lehane working his finest muscle, employing American history (the ‘70s busing protests in working-class Boston) to crack skulls (and belief systems) on the way to a (darker) future. After a ho-hum stretch, it’s peak Lehane. “Sing Her Down” by Ivy Pochoda grafts a Western to a rowdy tale of female rage, desert dust, Los Angeles and intransigence, set in motion by a prison break. It’s the rare literary thriller to start at 50 mph, then accelerate. “Genealogy of a Murder,” by longtime New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin, works similar muscles, but for a nonfiction account of three men whose histories (violent, working-class, guilt-ridden) pass through Chicago, the Great Depression, Joliet. Like last year’s Pulitzer-winning “His Name is George Floyd,” its real subject is the turns of fate and society that define us, and sometimes destroy us.

Behind the Music

You could spend six zillion dollars on two concerts this summer, or eight weeks immersed in more music than any live show offers. “Gentleman of Jazz: A Life in Music,” the charming new memoir by late Chicagoan pianist Ramsey Lewis (written, crisply, with Aaron Cohen) is a gentle stroll through 20th-century jazz. “Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival” is Mark Guarino’s smartly-written, surprising puzzle piece of Americana: How Chicago, before Nashville, then later with Wilco and other cross-pollinators, was the quiet engine beneath country music for generations. Threads of it reverberate through “Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska,” by Warren Zanes, of the great garage band the Del Fuegos. Through chats with Springsteen himself, Zanes pulls together cultural markers (Terrence Malick, early punk, Flannery O’Connor) and generational haunting that led to a raw oddity made on a cheap tape deck in Springsteen’s kitchen, yet pointed to “Born in the U.S.A.” (As producer Jon Landau says: “It’s like he had his ‘Star Wars’ and his art film in his hand at the same moment.”)

Speaking of haunted: New Yorker editor David Remnick’s “Holding the Note” is hard to read without pausing now and then, staring into space and counting years. These are not 11 hagiographies (Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Mavis Staples, Buddy Guy) but snapshots of what greats think about long after sainthood. Ghosts float through Howard Fishman’s “To Anyone Who Ever Asks,” an exhaustive argument for the importance of Connie Converse. No, you don’t know her. But she was a cult musician’s cult artist, if briefly, then vanished in 1974 from her home (Ann Arbor). And was never seen again.

For more of an audience POV: “Gone to the Wolves” by John Wray, one of my most engrossing reads this year, tells the story of hardcore metal heads in Florida in the 1980s, their frustrations, friendships, inevitable splintering and, because this is a blast of a summer novel, their road trip into the cold heart of darkness, Norwegian death metal.

Summer (Late) Nights

Finally, my summer book theme: Scary. Horror is the new sci-fi, and the field is rich: A good toe-in-the-water is “The Only One Left” (June 20) by Riley Sager, the latest dependable airport bookstore grab and name in summer suspense. This one is about an old woman who comes clean — or so we think — about what happened the night her family was Lizzie-Bordened. (I.e., murdered.) Paul Tremblay — whose “The Cabin at the End of the World” was recently adapted for M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” — returns to what he does best: Short tales, fringed with experiment. “The Beast You Are” (July 23) is anchored by a title novella (about a large rampaging monster) that plays like an epic poem. “Silver Nitrate” (July 18) is the latest Mexican horror from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who had a quarantine word-of-mouth hit with “Mexican Gothic.” And likely another hit: A sound engineer in 1990s Mexico City is drawn into a plan to finish a cursed film. (You’ve heard that saying, that movies bring the dead back to life?)

If you only want a taste: Try Victor LaValle, particularly his wonderful new Western “Lone Women.” It tells the story of a Black woman in 1915 who leaves California on the promise of homesteading in Montana. Forget the threat of racist white settlers and that inky night in need of electricity. She carries her demons in her baggage. Literally.

“Such Kindness”

By Andre Dubus III

Norton, $29.95

Grade: B

If you ask the hard-luck narrator of Andre Dubus III’s new novel what he’s accomplished in 54 years, he’ll mention the carpentry business he owned and the houses he built, one of which he and his family called home in happier times.

“All my life I’ve been a man who works,” Tom Lowe says. But the last half-decade has been terrible for him, a calamitous stretch that emptied his wallet, ended his marriage and estranged him from his son. He’s so desperate that he’s about to commit an ill-considered crime.

Like previous novels by the Massachusetts author, “Such Kindness” examines eternal themes through challenges facing blue-collar New Englanders. It’s a big-hearted book and, like one of Tom’s buildings, it has a dependable frame: likable characters, relatable dilemmas, strong prose. But Dubus’ evident desire to write a novel that helps heal a country wounded by opioid addiction, class warfare and other ills results in some schematic, clumsy scenes.

Everything changed for Tom when he fell from a roof and broke both hips. Surgery didn’t alleviate his pain, and for a time, he was hooked on opioids. When his prescriptions expired, he “sent my young son Drew out into the cold to buy me a baggie of Os.” Tom beat the habit, but 19-year-old Drew didn’t forgive his dad.

Meanwhile, the bank took Tom’s house and his marriage collapsed. Today, Tom lives alone in a tiny apartment and drinks a lot of vodka. His underemployed neighbors play video games and smoke pot all day.

Along with a friend, single mother Trina, Tom hatches a scheme. Looking for pre-approved credit cards and blank checks, they steal trash from a banker in a misbegotten adventure that plunges those around Tom into trouble, adding to the mistakes for which he ought to atone.

The author of “House of Sand and Fog” is a discerning storyteller. He empathizes with Tom’s plight while holding him to account for poor choices. His sentences are stout, and he finds poetry amid the mundane, such as a description of classical music, “its rising violins often making me feel like the world is a mystery and I’ve left it behind.”

But Dubus’ pious message that we should all be kinder includes mawkish set pieces in which strangers have meaningful conversations about parenting and spout timeless verities. He italicizes key words, lest we miss points about “thoughtfulness” and “unspeakable gifts.”

He also pens improbable plot developments, some of which suggest the involvement of a higher power. When Tom needs to get to a distant hospital to see a family member, he starts walking, knowing his hips will soon give out. On the way, he’s bitten by a dog, whose owner drives him to the hospital he needed to visit in the first place.

“Such Kindness” is often solid, a novel that deserves praise for its nuanced depiction of working-class people. But Dubus’heavy-handedness prevents this from being one of his better books.

My daughter is being married in a year and a half. She has already told me she doesn’t want Grandma “Dorothy” to come dress shopping because she doesn’t want to be embarrassed, but she does want my mom and her fiance’s mom and grandmother to be there. I have told her that she has to invite Grandma Dorothy.

I do love my mother-in-law, and I want her to come to all of the festivities. The problem is she gets irrationally mad if you ask her to modify her behavior in any way. My question is, how do I ask her to reel it in without offending her or making her mad? My husband’s solution is to ignore his mother’s behavior. — Cringing in Missouri

Dear Cringing: It’s time to step out of the way on this matter. You seem to have forgotten that this upcoming wedding is not your wedding, but your daughter’s. Her wishes about who should attend what should prevail. If she understands the ramifications of excluding Grandma Dorothy and is willing to forgo the lavish gifts and contributions her grandmother bestows, then that should be her privilege. Further, the person who conveys that message should be your daughter, not YOU.

Dear Abby: My husband and I have been separated for six months due to verbal abuse, physical abuse (both of us) and financial dishonesty and abuse (him). We have worked to better ourselves, and the separation has helped us realize that we do love each other and are committed to changing our ways.

I was preparing to move back home, and I informed him that I am going to go on a trip before a required medical procedure. I will be spending the summer recovering from this procedure, and I want to do something fun before I’m laid up for the next several months. I plan to go with my brother, his wife and another sister-in-law. My husband feels it is disrespectful for me to go on this trip. He said that if I go, I should expect divorce papers. Thoughts? — Big Decision in Montana

Dear Big Decision: If your husband feels your going on the trip is disrespectful to him BECAUSE HE WASN’T INVITED, go without him and make other arrangements for your recuperation. Someone who has worked successfully to better himself does not give ultimatums like the one he has given you. If you skip the trip, this is only the beginning of how he will threaten you in the future. Love him, if you will, but do NOT reunite with him.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

Coming hot on the superhero heels of the mind-blowingly multidimensional animated work of art that is “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “The Flash” is an almost-as-excellent universe-hopping live-action extravaganza.

Almost always moving at what feels like the speed of light (but, ironically, not in theaters until next week), this first feature film featuring the subatomically fast DC Comics hero is a zippy and entertaining blast. And yet it nonetheless manages to serve up a few heartfelt moments amid all its carefully choreographed chaos.

As trailers have made very clear, among the familiar faces showing up in “The Flash” is Michael Keaton, who played the Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s 1989 megahit “Batman” and its 1992 sequel, “Batman Returns.”

You wanna get nuts? This movie will GET NUTS.

And while we get a lot of Keaton — initially as wealthy industrialist Bruce Wayne, retired from caped crusading and living alone in his mansion in a now-much-safer Gotham City — “The Flash” benefits from a super-fun performance from Ezra Miller.

For our purposes, we’ll set aside the controversial “Perks of Being a Wallflower” actor’s well-publicized issues, even as concerns have persisted that their involvement will hurt the movie at the box office. What matters here and now is that Miller, just as they have been in a couple of previous entries in Warner Bros. Pictures’ DC Extended Universe, is consistently engaging and regularly comical as the titular hero and his socially awkward alter ego, Barry Allen.

As the story begins, Barry stops on his way to work at a regular haunt, a coffee shop where he orders a high-calorie breakfast to satisfy his supercharged metabolism. However, he’s called to Gotham City by Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons), the butler of his universe’s Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), to help clean up what Barry sees as just the latest “Bat-mess.” (He says he’s accepted that he’s basically the janitor of the Justice League, but that doesn’t mean he likes it.)

Soon, the Flash quickly and cleverly saves a bunch of babies falling through the air from a collapsing hospital wing and Batman stops the bad guys — with a little help from a mutual friend.

Barry’s late for work as a police forensic investigator for Central City, frustrating his boss, but what else is new?

Mainly, he’s focused on the legal proceedings of his father, Henry (Ron Livingston, “The Conjuring”), who is still trying to clear himself in the murder of his wife and Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdu, “Y tu Mama Tambien”).

When Barry realizes he can use his power to travel through time and potentially alter the past, Bruce tries to talk himself out of it, noting the murder of his own parents turned him into the hero he is.

Barry doesn’t listen, of course, and — after being knocked off course a bit — finds himself at his childhood home shortly before the incident that gave him his powers. He encounters his parents, who believe him to be their college freshman son home for dinner (and with a haircut) — and then his younger (and longer-haired) self.

The junior Barry is stoked to learn he may soon gain this molecular magic, while the senior Barry wants his help in setting things right — without telling him everything he knows. (Miller is so good acting opposite themselves — and the effects so convincing at this point — that you forget you aren’t actually watching two virtually identical actors share the same physical space.)

The Barrys soon have a bigger problem: General Zod (Michael Shannon, “Bullet Train”) — a powerful Kryptonian first seen in this universe in 2013’s “Man of Steel” — arrives on Earth with planet-altering ambitions.

Ultimately seeking the help of the missing-in-action Superman, the Barrys first go in search of Batman, the older Barry not expecting the version who resides in this Gotham City.

After they encounter Keaton’s Bruce, he gives them (and, by extension, us) the requisite lesson in how time travel can create branches in reality and thus how the older Barry has royally screwed things up. (Bruce uses a place of spaghetti to illustrate his point. It’s very effective.) But as important as all of that is, “The Flash” never bogs down in multiverse mumbo jumbo.

Summer movie preview: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Indiana Jones,’ ‘The Flash’ and ‘Fast X’ lead appealing slate

The movie is terrifically directed by Andy Muschietti, working from a screenplay by Christina Hodson (“Birds of Prey,” “Bumblebee”), with the story by the tandem of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) and Joby Harold (“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”).

The tale draws from two comic book storylines, 1961’s “Flash of Two Worlds” and 2011’s “Flashpoint.” Culminating in a big battle also involving Supergirl (Sasha Calle, “The Young and the Restless”), the ordeal is meant to teach at least one of the Barrys a lesson about sacrifice.

Muschietti’s direction here is especially impressive given his background is in horror, the Argentine filmmaker having helmed 2013’s “Mama,” 2017’s “It” and 2019’s “It Chapter Two.” Unlike a scary movie concerned with slowly building tension, “The Flash” is a masterclass in perpetual motion, the affair going and going without ever running off the rails.

Warner Bros. has held the final few minutes out of earlier advanced screenings, so we won’t spoil any of the late-game fun. But rest assured there is some.

Know that James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), the new co-CEO DC Studios, has said “The Flash” “resets the entire DC Universe,” so changes certainly lie ahead. (As should be the standard operating procedure for a superhero movie by this point if you’re into this stuff, you’ll want to sit through the end credits.)

Universe reshaping aside, given just how enjoyable this first “Flash” flick is, we’d certainly welcome a second.

‘The Flash’

Where: Theaters.

When: June 16.

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity.

Runtime: 2 hours, 24 minutes.

Stars (of four): 3.5.

In that No. 1 1978 hit written by Don Schlitz, Rogers croons:

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em,

Know when to fold ‘em,

Know when to walk away,

And know when to run. … 

Hollywood should tap into that sage advice when it comes to the proliferation of reboots, sequels and franchises that is choking the film industry. But with millions and millions of dollars at stake, and with audiences apparently still hungry for more “Fast and Furious” films (10 are in the books and at least two more are planned), the big-studio norm is to churn out sequels, reboots and origin stories.

Sure, some indeed work, but others just clog up the cineplex and offer one empty shot after another.

The story is the same for this summer, with franchises ruling the season and familiar faces suiting up to play familiar characters in familiar predicaments. Indiana Jones is back. Ethan Hunt is returning for another impossible mission of smacking down global villainy while performing death-defying stunts. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are shelling out more “Mutant Mayhem.” Even the Little Mermaid has caught the bug, while transforming into a live action character.

Imagine that.

Some characters we do love to run into again to see how they’ve reinvented themselves. Others just seem old and tired stuck in a rut, and should mosey off into the sunset on a high note. But if a franchise is making millions with every release, there’s no such thing as a hard stop.

With the seventh chapter in the “Transformers” saga barreling into movie theaters June 9 and recent headline-making news that more sequels — including a fifth time around for John Wick — are planned, we decided it’s high time to survey the cinematic landscape and decide which franchises still deserve the welcome mat and which ones they should just a stick a fork in, already.

Here are our verdicts.

‘Transformers’

Films to date: 7

Next installment: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” in theaters June 9.

Pros ‘n’ cons: Michael Bay’s unfussy 2007 original was more Homer Simpson than Homer, but it did deliver gobs of extravagant mindless action and had Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox scorching up the screen. While it wasn’t exactly good, it was entertaining, much unlike the later entries which got too tangled up in the impenetrable mythology. These are Hasbro toys, people, so keep it simple. Still, this one remains an international phenomenon, no matter that the sequels have kept on getting bigger, louder and more nonsensical. That is until director Travis Knight came on the scene and tossed in a new engine with 2018’s “Bumblebee.”

The verdict: If ‘Beasts’ skews to Bay’s earlier forays, we say stick a fork in it! The only hope for the franchise is if it follows the path of “Bumblebee” and looks for fresh ground.

‘Indiana Jones’

How many to date: 4 (plus “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones” TV series that aired 2002-2008)

Next installment: “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” out June 30

Pros ‘n’ cons: Few franchises make us feel like we’ve been magically transformed into a hyper, wide-eyed kid like Steven Spielberg’s rollercoaster series does. It does cliffhanger action scenes with such aplomb, but taken as a whole the series has been erratic — the 1981 debut remains the best of the bunch while 2008’s “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was a big letdown, with its unbelievably terrible “alien” finale. Even though Harrison Ford’s tenure as the daring archaeology prof ends with “Dial of Destiny,” and reports say this truly is the end of the line, don’t be too surprised if Disney has eyes on extending the franchise somehow. Early reviews (it debuted at Cannes) weren’t glowing, but we’ll be there even if we have to dial down expectations.

The verdict: Without Ford at its center? Stick a fork in the franchise. After all, it’s not not the years, honey, It’s the mileage.

‘Saw’

How many to date: 9

Next installment: “Saw X,” due in theaters Oct. 27; a TV series based on “Spiral,” (the ninth film) is reportedly in the works.

Pros ‘n’ cons: Distinguished as one of the goriest franchises still going, “Saw” somehow keeps devising new and more vicious ways for its killer, Jigsaw, (or in the case of “Spiral,” a copycat) to off his victims. The 2004 cleaver-clever first entry directed by James Wan (“The Conjuring,” “Aquaman”) co-starred a caterwauling Cary Elwes and managed to shock everyone with not only that OMG ending but with how it slayed at the box office. No wonder we’ve seen countless incarnations since then. But even though 2021’s “Spiral” with Chris Rock opted for something slightly different, the series has grown stale. The “Scream” franchise has the same problem, but at least “Ghostface” has better legs than both Jigsaw and Michael Myers.

The verdict: Stick a (bloody) fork in it.

‘James Bond’

How many to date: 27

Next installment: Unknown

Pros ‘n’ cons: George Lazenby, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have all had their turn playing the legendary British secret agent. But since 007 went kaboom in the 2021’s long-winded “No Time To Die” (Craig’s final film in the series) the search has been on to find the next Bond, with no shortage of opinions on who it should be (a woman, a BIPOC actor?). Just get over it and hire someone already. It’s been a tiresome search, and has triggered thoughts that maybe it’s time for Ian Fleming’s suave spy character to be retired. That said, the Craig era — for the most part — suggests there’s still life in this franchise.

The verdict: To coin a phrase from Madonna, let him die another day. Keep 007.

‘Mission: Impossible’

How many to date: 7

Next installment: “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” in theaters July 12.

Pros ‘n’ cons: In a rarity for franchises, later installments of the exploits of superhuman Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) are remarkably better than the meh first ones — Brian De Palma’s decent 1996 reboot and John Woo’s flashy but vapid 2000 sequel “Mission: Impossible 2.” Why?  Credit goes not only to its thrill-seeking lead Cruise (who loves to put himself into the danger zone with those madman stunts) but director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie. They make an excellent team, and this series seems as fresh as ever.

The verdict: Keep ‘em coming.

‘Disney Live Action Remakes of Animated Films’

How many to date: Too many to count when you throw in prequels, reboots

Latest installment: “The Little Mermaid” (now in theaters)

Pros ‘n’ cons: Is there a beloved animated classic Disney hasn’t yet remade or has plans to? Maybe the better question should be: Are audiences still wanting them? The box office suggests the answer to that is a lucrative yes. But let’s face it, the quality has been hit or miss. For every dazzler such as “The Jungle Book,” there’s been a stink bomb such as “Pinocchio.” And even though some like “The Little Mermaid,” there’s no denying there’s an existential crisis at work here, as more filmgoers question the very existence of each redo. We’re all for representation, but in the rote retelling and overreliance on CGI, the Disney magic that distinguished the animated ones is getting lost.

The verdict: Stick a fork in all of them and move on.

‘Toy Story’

How many to date: 4, plus “Lightyear”

Latest installment: In development at Pixar, no release date yet.

Pros ‘n’ cons: The misunderstood “Lightyear” wasn’t quite a rocket man at the box office (it earned $226 million worldwide but was expected to do better, and reportedly lost money). We think it deserved better, but there’s no denying it’s not in the same league as the “Toy Story” gems.  Each of the Emeryville-based animated company’s “Toy Story” productions is magical, guaranteed to make you choke up as they strive to achieve something unique with each outing. (Remember how dark “Toy Story 4” got at times?) At the same, “Toy Story” continually expands on its character base (welcome, Forky!), and does it well. While it remains to be seen how long it will take for us to get another adventure with Woody and Buzz, we’ll be happy to wait until it pulls on our heartstrings again.

The verdict: Keep ‘em coming.

‘Star Trek’

How many to date: 12 (live-action, theatrical)

Next installment: “Star Trek Beyond,” no release date yet.

Pros ‘n’ cons: The self-serious nature of 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” — the first theatrical experience — all but killed the joy out of the TV series. But the second jaunt with the Enterprise was a hoot, and gave us one its best villains in 1982’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” From there, though, there have been some highs (2009’s “Star Trek” reboot with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto) and some lows (the 1989 William Shatner-directed “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.”) But with terrific “Trek”-related TV entries and animated series, is there really a need for another movie?

The verdict: Yes, there is. Keep ‘em coming. The series is in good hands right now.

Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Universe

How many to date: 32 Marvel films and countless series; 14 DC Universe

Latest installments: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (in theaters); “Flash,” due out June 16.

The verdict: The jury’s still out. We’re taking a wait-and-see stance for both the MCU and the DCU — the former now under the promising command of James Gunn — to see if they can get their consistent mojo back. The latest Spidey animated movie is a step in the right direction.

‘The Fast and the Furious’

How many to date: 10

Latest installment: “Fast X” (in theaters), more on the way

Pros ‘n’ cons: If there’s ever a franchise — besides the “Friday the 13th” (12 and counting) — that would have seem to be choking on its fumes right now it would be this car-stunt-palooza where brawny hot rods and a buff family of friends take on enemies and frenemies. There’s been just as much drama on set with dustups between stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson and one director exiting pronto (Justin Lin) after the filming started on “Fast X.” None of that matters. Audiences clearly haven’t tired of the action. But without Jason Momoa, this franchise might well have come to a screeching halt.

The verdict: Cliffhanger aside, after the next one wraps up — stick a fork in it!

‘Star Wars’

How many films to date: 11

Latest installments: Three new films are in the works

Pros ‘n’ cons:  A long time ago in this very galaxy, the George Lucas space opera led to a thrilling trilogy of films. After that, the series floundered, with some highs and some terrible lows. The brightest spot came in its darkest film, 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” With so many origin stories on Disney+ — “The Mandalorian” being the biggest standout — the big-screen outings have suffered in comparison. I’m a big fan of the most controversial installment — Rian Johnson’s 2017 “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” — since it tried to do something different. For the most part, the recent batch of movies seem like they’re just retelling the same damn story time after time. We love nostalgia. But we also love an original thought or two.

The verdict: Stick a fork in it, or at least move the needle like Johnson and “Rogue One” did.

‘John Wick’

How many to date: 4

Latest installment:  A new one is in the work and there are ancillary projects as well.

Pros ‘n’ cons: In classic never-say-never-again fashion, the reported fourth installment of the unexpected revenge hit series with everyone’s fave Keanu Reeves will now get a Roman Numeral V. Why? Look at those numbers — “John Wick: Chapter 4” garnered more than $363 million. Ridiculous and over the top, the Wick franchise remains cheer worthy.

The verdict: Keep ‘em coming, but only if Reeves remains.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.

Recently, I caught him on a phone sex call and then discovered he visits sex chat rooms. I’m devastated. I feel betrayed and angry that my trust has been violated. After several attempts to lie, he finally admitted the truth, but said it was a “recent” thing — which was even more insulting!

My therapist says men don’t suddenly take up phone sex and pornography in their 70s. When I shared that with my husband, he revealed it wasn’t “as often” in the past. He swears he loves me and will get help, but I can’t imagine how I can trust him again.

He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it any further, other than taking some online classes dealing with porn addiction. Our relationship has always been cordial and friendly and that continues, though I’m no longer willing to have sex at this time. My impulse is to bolt. I’m too old to deal with this nonsense, and I just want to live the rest of my life in peace. What do you think? — Thrown in Kansas

Dear Thrown: Please ignore your impulse to bolt. When you started your letter, you stated you had a good marriage to a man you respect and are attracted to — with the bonus of kisses and hugs throughout the day. Your husband isn’t having physical contact with anyone on the “hotline.”

If your therapist hasn’t told you, many thousands of individuals of both sexes consider porn to be erotica and helpful, and many couples use it to enhance their sex lives. Rather than sacrifice what has been a successful marriage, you and your husband would be better off scheduling some appointments with a marriage and family therapist, and possibly one who specializes in sex therapy to help you overcome your emotional issue on this highly personal subject.

Dear Abby: My former husband of 28 years cheated on me for the last 15 years of our marriage. For the last six years, I have been in a healthy and happy relationship. I went to counseling for five years and, per the counselor, I don’t need to go anymore.
My 36-year-old daughter wants me to attend family gatherings with my ex and his wife (his third mistress). I have gone to two of them, but I really have no desire to do it any longer. My daughter is telling me I still have “issues that I need to heal” and has been lecturing me about this for years. Must I sacrifice my feelings for hers? — Clean Break in New England

Dear Clean Break: No, you have suffered enough. I see no reason why you must continue to expose yourself to the company of two people you neither like nor respect. If your daughter cannot accept this, then perhaps SHE needs counseling to understand it.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

June is Pride Month, a celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride and commemoration of the history of the fight for gay rights. Pride Month was started after the 1969 Stonewall riots sparked a series of gay liberation protests, and unfortunately, more than 50 years later, Pride Month has taken on a new resonance as the civil rights of queer and transgender people are being rolled back at an alarming rate in the United States.

It’s an apt time to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community as members and allies, but it’s also an opportunity to learn more about queer history, the origins of Pride and the importance of fighting to protect queer and trans lives. Many of the streaming services have collections dedicated to Pride and LGBTQIA+ stories and creators — so here are a few suggestions to help prioritize your streaming, with a focus on history and the fight for gay rights.

Max has a robust library of both narrative and documentary material focusing on queer history and issues. The award-winning docuseries “We’re Here,” follows queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as they travel to small towns around the U.S. spreading the gospel and transformative blessing of drag. “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the 15-season-long reality series, is of course available to stream on Hulu, Paramount+ and Wow Presents Plus (the international versions). Do yourself the favor if you’ve never sampled the delight that is “Drag Race.”

But drag is an art form with a long history, and the groundbreaking 1990 documentary “Paris is Burning” is required watching for all drag fans. Jennie Livingston’s cult documentary featuring interviews with queens from the New York City ball scene lays out all the lingo and references that queens still use. It’s also streaming on Max. To go back even further, watch Frank Simon’s 1968 documentary “The Queen,” following the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, newly restored and streaming on Kanopy. There are many fascinating connections between “The Queen,” “Paris is Burning” and “Drag Race” that will enhance the viewing experience.

Also on Max, the Oscar-winning 2008 biopic “Milk,” about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, and tragically assassinated at San Francisco City Hall in 1978. For a nonfiction take on Milk’s life and death, stream the 1984 documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk,” directed by Rob Epstein and also streaming on Max.

Oscar-nominated documentarian David France has directed three searing documentaries about the history of gay rights, including a film about Marsha P. Johnson, long considered the first person to throw a brick at Stonewall, and thus igniting the gay liberation movement. “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson” (2017) details Johnson’s life as a transgender woman in New York City in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and also follows Marsha’s community as they attempt to sort through her mysterious death.

France was nominated for an Oscar for his incredible 2012 film “How to Survive a Plague,” about the AIDS crisis and the activism of ACT UP, utilizing an incredible amount of archival footage to craft a story of community health activism when AIDS was actively being ignored by the U.S. government. Stream it on Tubi and Kanopy. France also directed a film about the persecution of queer people in Chechnya, with his harrowing 2020 film “Welcome to Chechnya,” also streaming on Max.

While many of these titles are extremely heavy and focus on the struggle for queer liberation, a fight that is still ongoing, the LGBTQIA+ experience is also a joyful one, whether that’s celebrated in the form of drag, or in series like “Looking” (Max), “Queer as Folk,” (the original on Showtime/Paramount+, the remake on Peacock), “The L Word” (Hulu/Showtime) and “Pose” (Hulu).

To shout out a few underrated and underseen indie gems about queer life, watch Goran Stolevski’s “Of an Age,” a stunning Aussie coming-of-age drama, streaming on Peacock, and “Other People,” written and directed by Chris Kelly (“The Other Two”) about a young gay man losing his mother to cancer, streaming on Netflix.

There is a world of rich and diverse queer stories out there, so dive in and celebrate Pride.

—

©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Often, these men, women, phrase-repeating trees, etc., are trying to save the whole galaxy — or, increasingly, a multiverse populated with near-infinite versions of themselves and their enemies.

And yet none of this nonsense seems nearly as silly as what goes on in a live-action “Transformers” movie.

Take, for instance, the action-packed-but-poorly written seventh entry in the nearly 16-year-old franchise, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” hitting theaters this week.

In its opening moments, we are introduced to a proud race of giant intelligent robots who resemble animals from Earth but who are living centuries ago in a distant galaxy. These aren’t the Autobots, Decepticons or other Transformers clans we’ve already met in the movies, which date back to director Michael Bay’s 2007 hit, “Transformers.”

They are — wait for it — the Maximals.

The Maximals run afoul of another robot faction, the Terrorcons, who work for a massive planet-eating entity, Unicron, with an insatiable appetite.

Summer movie preview: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Indiana Jones,’ ‘The Flash’ and ‘Fast X’ lead appealing slate

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because various elements of the story are pulled from 1986’s animated “The Transformers: The Movie” and the digitally animated TV series “Transformers: Beast Wars,” which came more than a decade later. Both were based on the line of Hasbro toys and were made, you know, for the kids who played with said toys.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is rated PG-13. And it sure seems like it’s made for those same, now-grown kids.

“Rise of the Beasts” is the direct sequel to 2018 prequel “Bumblebee” and is set primarily in 1994 — seven years after the events of that reasonably enjoyable “Herbie”-meets-a-”Transformers” romp.

It is helmed by “Creed II” director Stephen Caple Jr., a Cleveland native whose resume also includes 2016’s “The Land.” He works here from a screenplay contributed to by Joby Harold, who also gets the story-by credit, and the tandems of Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters and Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber. None of these writers has done Caple any favors.

After the prologue, we find ourselves in mid-1990s Brooklyn, New York, where former U.S. Army Private Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos of “In the Heights”) is struggling to find work. Noah reluctantly agrees to steal a car, but the silver Porsche turns out to be a Transformer, Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson).

Soon, Noah is pulled into an adventure with the keep-it-casual Mirage and fellow Autobots Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen, as always), Arcee (Lisa Koshy) and Bumblebee, who now using bits of movie dialogue to communicate along with snippets of songs.

“I don’t want you going to that drive-in anymore,” Optimus, the Autobot leader, scolds his loyal soldier and friend.

The Autobots become aware of the presence of the Transwarp key on Earth. If they can find the ancient gizmo, it can lead them back to their lost homeworld of Cybertron. However, the Terrorcons — led by the fierce Scourge (Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”) — are out to retrieve it for Unicron (Colman Domingo, “Fear the Walking Dead”), who would harness its power to find more tasty planets on which to feast.

This quest leads both groups to 25-year-old art researcher Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback, “Judas and the Black Messiah”), who has discovered what proves to be half the key in an ancient statuette. She agrees to help the Autobots find the other half of the key.

They also get help from the surviving Maximals, now living on earth and led by — again, wait for it — Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman). Along with this gorilla-like bot are Airazor (Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Cheetor (Tongayi Chirisa) and Rhinox (David Sobolov). They were on earth long before the Autobots and have watched and respected the development of humans, to whom Optimus Prime is yet to warm.

It will take a group effort — “till,” as Prime says, “all are one!” — to save Earth and other planets from Unicron.

“Rise of the Beasts” has its enjoyable moments, which come almost exclusively when Mirage and Noah are interacting and can be mainly attributed to the solid line deliveries of former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Davidson.

Far too often, though, the words spoken by other Transformers are the wrong kind of silly — super-serious and overly familiar phrases such as “This is my fight!” and “Let them come!”

This first fully fledged “Transformers” without Bay in the director’s chair — he also served only as a producer, as he does here, on “Bumblebee” — benefits from Caple’s better handling of characters. On the other hand, given how ridiculous this all is, “Rise of the Beasts” could have used Bay’s gift for spectacle. This is more run-of-the-mill action, not the bombast-on-steroids for which Bay is known.

To be fair to “Beasts,” it is no more outlandish than Bay’s last effort for the franchise, 2017’s “Transformers: The Last Knight,” the backstory of which had the Transformers connected to Merlin, King Arthur and the like.

And look, we all like what we like from our childhoods. Admittedly, if an adventure is set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we’re going to give it every benefit of the doubt.

By comparison, though, “The Transformers” movies— and this one especially — make “Star Wars” feel like Shakespeare.

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’

Where: Theaters.

When: June 9.

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.

Runtime: 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Stars (of four): 1.5.

I have asked her to spend more time with us, but we just end up arguing. She goes on vacation with them every year, but when I suggest we go on a family vacation, she always says, “I don’t have money for that.” I love her, but I’m beginning to feel used. Whenever she needs something, I’m the one she calls.

We have always butted heads, but my husband and I are getting older, and he has some health issues. I wish she would spend more time with him. I realize she wants to be with her friends when she’s here, but no one travels to her place to see her. She does all the traveling to see them. I would have no problem with friends coming to see her here at the house. Am I being selfish? — Coming in Second

Dear Second: You are not being selfish. You may, however, be unrealistic. You stated that you and your daughter have always “butted heads,” and this is the result. I’m doubtful that you can get the message across to her without her becoming defensive. Your husband and daughter may be overdue for a meaningful conversation about his health and his desire to spend time with her while he can. As for her relationship with you, it seems she has made her feelings quite clear.

Dear Abby: Throughout the year, the department in which I work recognizes each employee’s birthday with a cake — except me. I have worked here for two years, and while my supervisor writes my birthday on a calendar that hangs in the front office, each year my birthday has come and gone without even a verbal acknowledgement. I watch as all the other employees in my department have their special day recognized with a cake brought in by the department supervisor.

I’m wondering why I was even asked when my birthday is and why it was written down if no mention is even made of it? My co-workers are all friendly with me, and I have never gotten the impression that I’m not liked, but I can’t help but wonder if something I have done has caused this.

If this isn’t something that is done for everyone, then it shouldn’t be done at all. Am I just being immature because my feelings are hurt by this? Would you say anything in a situation like this? I would appreciate your feedback and advice. —  Excluded in Alabama

Dear Excluded: This is a question you should ask your supervisor because it likely was an oversight. Or, on your next birthday, bring a cupcake with a candle to the office and enjoy it with your lunch. (“Happy Birthday to ME!”) Then HIGHLIGHT it on the calendar.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com

LONDON (AP) — A broken thumb, a back injury, dabbling with drugs and dating girls.

No event in the life of a young Prince Harry was too trivial or private for the journalists of Mirror Group Newspapers to resist, and the demand for such scoops led to the use of illegal means to dig up dirt, his lawyer said Monday in the opening of his phone hacking lawsuit.

“Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds and there was no protection from these unlawful information-gathering methods,” attorney David Sherborne said.

But a defense lawyer said it would have been foolish to spy on a figure like Harry with such tight security, and he rejected allegations that Mirror Group reporters ever eavesdropped on his phone’s voice messages.

“There is simply no evidence capable of supporting the finding that the Duke of Sussex was hacked, let alone on a habitual basis,” attorney Anthony Green said. “Zilch, zero, nil, nada, niente, nothing.”

Harry’s highly anticipated showdown with the publisher of the Daily Mirror in his battles with the British press got off to an anticlimactic start when the star failed to show up — to the chagrin of the judge and defense lawyer.

Harry was unavailable to testify that afternoon because he’d taken a flight Sunday from Los Angeles after the birthday of his 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet, Sherborne said.

“I’m a little surprised,” said Justice Timothy Fancourt, noting he had directed Harry to be prepared to testify.

Green said he was “deeply troubled” by Harry’s absence.

The case against Mirror Group is the first of the prince’s several lawsuits against the media to go to trial, and one of three alleging tabloid publishers unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.

When he enters the witness box, Harry, 38, will be the first member of the British royal family in more than a century to testify in court. He is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the media throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.

Harry’s fury at the U.K. press — and sometimes at his own royal relatives for what he sees as their collusion with the media — runs through his memoir, “Spare,” and interviews conducted by Oprah Winfrey and others.

He has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.

While Harry’s memoir and other recent media ventures have been an effort to reclaim his life’s narrative, which had largely been shaped by the media, he will have no such control when he faces cross-examination in a courtroom full of reporters taking down every word.

Green said he plans to question the Duke for a day and a half.

Stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers, and some 2,500 articles had covered all facets of his life during the time period of the case — 1996 to 2011 — from injuries at school to experimenting with marijuana and cocaine to the ups and downs with girlfriends, Sherborne said.

Harry said in court documents that he suffered “huge bouts of depression and paranoia” over concerns friends and associates were betraying him by leaking information to the newspapers. Relationships fell apart as the women in his life – and even their family members – were “dragged into the chaos.”

He says he later realized the source wasn’t disloyal friends but aggressive journalists and the private investigators they hired to eavesdrop on voicemails and track him to locations as remote as Argentina and an island off Mozambique.

Sherborne suggested that a 2003 article about row with older brother, Prince William, heir to the throne, about confronting their mother’s former butler about spilling secrets, had planted the seeds of discord between the two.

“Brothers can sometimes disagree,” Sherborne said. “But once it is made public in this way and their inside feelings revealed in the way that they are, trust begins to be eroded.”

Mirror Group said it used documents, public statements and sources to legally report on the prince — with one exception.

The publisher admitted and apologized for hiring a private eye to dig up dirt on one of Harry’s nights out at a bar, but the resulting 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” is not among the 33 in the trial.

Sherborne, however, said phone hacking and unlawful information-gathering were carried out on such a widespread scale by Mirror Group that it was implausible it was only used once against Harry.

In the absence of concrete evidence, Sherborne said the judge to make inferences of skullduggery based on the type of information being reported, the murkiness of the sourcing, and whether the writer of an article was known to have relied on unlawful means in the past.

But Green said there was little to no evidence to support Harry’s case.

Hacking that involved guessing or using default security codes to listen to celebrities’ cellphone voice messages was widespread at British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl.

Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.

Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims, and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015.

Judges are deciding whether Harry’s two other phone hacking cases will proceed to trial.

Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have argued the cases should be thrown out, because Harry failed to file the lawsuits within a six-year deadline.

Harry’s lawyer has argued that he should be granted an exception to the time limit, because the publishers lied and deceived to hide the illegal actions.

Kara spends almost all her money on herself and rarely spends a day with our son without me present. I’m considering asking the court for child support payments, but I worry that because of her mental health issues, she’ll end up taking it out on our child.

She’s never been a very good parent, largely because of her illness, and she lived with us for almost a year because I didn’t have the heart to see her homeless. I don’t make a lot of money myself. I’ve been disabled for quite some time, and the extra income would make a big difference in our son’s quality of life.

Am I wrong to request a child support judgment? If Kara loses her job, it could mean jail time, which would be devastating to her, but I don’t believe she would comply with an informal request. I could really use some sound advice. — Struggling the the South

Dear Struggling: I agree, you do need advice, and the person you should seek it from is an attorney who specializes in family law. From what you have written, Kara appears to be doing the best she can just to get by as are you. You did not mention whether your new wife is employed. If the answer is no, because finances are strapped right now, would she be willing to find a job or part-time work in order to make things easier for your son? If she could, it might relieve some of your stress.

Dear Abby: I’m living in my father’s home along with my younger sister. I’m currently looking for work so I can move out. My plan had been to look for roommates online, but my sister wants us to get a place together. Everyone else in our life agrees that this would be the best idea. I do not want to do this.

I am honestly afraid of my sister. She has a hair-trigger temper that she keeps in check for other people but will fully unleash on me. I try to have fun with her, and sometimes I do, but I inevitably become the target of her anger for reasons I can never predict. I’m afraid to speak to her for more than a few minutes because she twists almost everything I say into an attack on her, even the most lighthearted things.

She is also careless with my property and has already damaged some of my things. She triggers my anxiety to the point that I can’t think straight. I mostly just hide from her. Yet she still insists that we should live together, and is complaining more and more about how my financial situation is preventing her from moving out as soon as she likes.

How on Earth do I approach this? No matter what I say to our family, no one can offer advice, and it seems like no one is on my side. It makes me want to cry. — Breaking Free in Arizona

Dear Breaking: Your sister appears to have mental problems that none of the rest of the family wants to acknowledge. Under these circumstances she should absolutely not move in with you. To avoid it, you must grit your teeth, dry your tears and keep saying no.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Urrea turned to his family history again for his latest novel, “Good Night, Irene,” just published by Little, Brown. The book is inspired by his mother, Phyllis McLaughlin, who served in the Red Cross Clubmobile Service in World War II. The “Donut Dollies” followed American troops around Europe, driving trucks that offered the soldiers comfort in the form of hot coffee and freshly made treats.

“Good Night, Irene” follows Irene Woodward, a New Yorker who leaves her abusive fiancé and volunteers with the Donut Dollies, where she forms a fast friendship with Dorothy Dunford, a sharp-witted woman from the Midwest. The two look out for each other as they try to dodge the dangers of war while keeping the soldiers fed and cared for.

“My mom was the only American in my entire family,” says Urrea, who was born in Tijuana and grew up in the San Diego area. “She would always foist great American authors on me, even when I was a little kid. I owe my writing life to her.”

Urrea answered questions about the book via telephone from Naperville, Illinois, where he lives. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to write a novel based on her experiences during the war?

I was talking to my wife, Cindy, about my mom one night. I said, “I wish you’d met my mom. You two would’ve gotten along.” And she said, “Tell me about Phyllis.” I told her she was a Donut Dolly, and she said, “What is that? I said, “You know, the Red Cross women that went into World War II and made donuts in big trucks and drove around with the soldiers, and for part of it followed Patton.” And she just yelled, “What?” It was that cry of “What?” that got me going.

Q: When you were growing up, did your mom talk about her service?

She would talk, but only so much. One thing she would talk about was her Jeep crash. And that also was very sketchy. She woke up in a pool of her own blood. She was torn apart, and she was screaming. She could see the vehicle down the hill, burning. She heard people, and they were shining their lights down at her, and she thought she was going to be killed. She thought, “It’s over. I can’t even run.” And she prayed there, kneeling in the mud as they came down, and then she heard this New York accent saying, “Jesus, it’s goils.”

They field-dressed her, made slings out of their shirts, and took her on their backs and climbed up a mountain, and then walked her six miles back to one of the field hospitals, a little tent hospital mass unit. She was sutured and wired back together, but still completely physically devastated. So those little things would slip through but not much else.

Q: You were able to meet your mom’s best friend during the war, Jill.

My wife and I found among my mom’s things a remembrance of war by Jill Pitts Knappenberger. We thought, “Where did this come from?” On the back, there was an old address label from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Cindy and I live in Naperville, west of Chicago. And I thought, “It’s not possible that Jill lived 90 minutes away from our house. That’s not possible.” And Cindy said, “Well, let’s try this.” She sent a card to the address. Jill had lived in the same apartment since the late 1940s. She wrote back immediately and then called.

She said to me, “Luis, but you must come down and see me as soon as possible. And don’t try to wait until I turn 95, if you catch my drift.” [Laughs.] And I thought, “Oh, crap. I’m in love already.” So the next day we drive down there, and this old woman opens the door to this apartment. It was 1944 inside the apartment still. She’d kept a picture of my mother on her wall. I’m standing there staring at it, and Jill said, “Luis, I drove the truck, but your mother brought the joy.”

Jill had it together. The only time she would show emotion, she would warn you; she’d say, “I’m going to be sad now.” And then she would put her hand over her eyes for a second and put it down and keep talking. That woman had an iron grip. I don’t know if she suffered or not. She seemed full of joy and pride. She was so proud of what they had done.

Q: The other research you did from this book had to be extensive.

Cindy and I went down to New Orleans to the National World War II Museum. The docent there was super kind. For example, there were only black and white photographs of Donut Dollies in World War II, and I always thought the uniforms were probably some sort of drab olive or brown. The docent told us that the museum had some of their uniforms, and took us back and pulled them down. The really haunting thing is they have cards with the names of the women who donated them. Not women I had heard of. But the uniforms are a beautiful teal blue. That was Eisenhower’s doing. He had the uniforms made bespoke by tailors in London, and they were elegant and beautiful.

Q: Writing this book had to be pretty emotional, I’m guessing.

This thing cost me so much. It was just so painful, man. You know, you don’t understand your own mom. And then you’re confronted with the things that made her this person. I feel like I’m some kind of evangelist for moms and old women right now to tell people, Stop ignoring them and stop resenting them. We don’t know what they went through.

Tribune News Service

I am seeing a therapist to help with the emotional stress, and even they are trying to armchair diagnose me and question my knowledge of specific vitamins, probiotics and treatments. Some of these folks mean well, but others I suspect are strongly hinting that I’m making it all up.

I’m not even sure what my question is. A polite way to shut people down would be helpful. Please make your readers aware that not every illness is visible. — Struggling in the East

Dear Struggling: If you no longer trust your therapist, it’s time to change therapists. A lingering illness can be frustrating and exhausting, and you clearly need someone to vent to about the daily frustrations you are encountering.

The problem many people with hidden illnesses face is one that often happens while using a parking place designated for disabled individuals. If you are questioned about your disability, all you need to say is not all disabilities are visible. Then show them the disabled parking placard from your doctor. As to those well-meaning folks who offer you these pep talks, be polite. Say “thank you” and change the subject.

Dear Abby: I have been divorced three years. “Rowan,” my ex, was the love of my life. He helped me raise my three children from my previous marriage. Unfortunately, Rowan cheated, and it broke my heart.

My problem is my son blames me for the divorce. To say our relationship is stressed would be putting it mildly. Also, I can’t seem to get over Rowan. He’s all I think about. I miss our family unit. How do I get over him? How do I mend my heart? I have recently tried dating, but no one compares to Rowan. I try to not compare, but I miss him so much, and having a troubled relationship with my son is awful. I need my son back in my life. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. — Hopeless in Ohio

Dear Hopeless: You can’t undo the past. You divorced Rowan for a valid reason. You may need counseling to move past your heartache and resume your life. Comparing the men you meet with Rowan is unfair to them and unhealthy for you. That marriage is history.

As to your fractured relationship with your son, family counseling might help heal the breach between you. Your therapist can assist you in deciding whether to explain to your son your reason for divorcing Rowan.

Dear Abby: When a couple becomes engaged, is it customary or permissible for both parties to wear engagement rings? — James in Georgia

Dear James: It isn’t common, but if you and your intended would like to do that, no rule says you can’t. The choice is yours. Go for it.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com