Articles written by Tom Knapp

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About me - Tom Knapp

I'm a newspaper reporter in Lancaster, PA, and run on the online review site Rambles.NET. I'm also the fiddler and bodhranist in an Irish band, Fire in the Glen.

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General A word to the wise: Memorable sayings: 1 of 17

I have collected quotations from sources famous and obscure for many years now. I am pleased to be able to share some of my favorites, on a variety of topics, here. All of the ones I am including here still have, I believe, a great deal of relevance to us today. ON CREATIVITY "Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Outdoor concerts in the summer: 1 of 15

A blast of brass under clear skies Sunday signaled the beginning of the end for the 2007 summer concert series at Long's Park, in the heart of Lancaster County, Pa. It didn't take long for the smooth swing and big band sounds of the City Rhythm Orchestra, a musical treasure from Philadelphia, to put Sunday evening's audience...
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: The Dukes Of Hazzard: 1 of 6

There would be those who might say filmmakers didn't have a lot to work with when they opted to make a modern, big-screen version of the hit TV series, "The Dukes of Hazzard." But, while the episodes from the late 1970s and '80s run together in a mental collage of car chases, car wrecks, "wahoos" and Catherine Bach's well-ta...
Entertainment > Music Business Musicians: Tips for writing a good online bio: 1 of 5

People love stories, and your biography is a great way to tell yours. If you're a musician - and we're assuming here that you're not a multi-million-dollar performer, in which case you have someone else to do this for you - you'll want to have a website so people can find your performances and buy your music, and you'll want...
Entertainment > Music (Other) How to write better music reviews: 3 of 11

Reviewing is an art. And, websites like Amazon and Epinions notwithstanding, it's not something everyone can do easily. Sure, everyone has an opinion, but expressing and supporting it is where the challenge begins. As a longtime reviewer and review editor, I've seen music reviews handled in many different ways. Some people p...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Testimonies: Learning to play violin as a child: 4 of 12

I wanted to play the flute when I was young. I don't know why I chose that instrument, but it was solidly in my imagination whenever I thought about joining the school band. But then I got a recommendation from my school, urging me to choose the fiddle. I don't know why I was picked for that instrument - maybe they had a sho...
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Dead Man's Chest: 7 of 14

Circumstances changed quite a lot between the end of "The Curse of the Black Pearl" and the start of "Dead Man's Chest." The Isla de Muerta has vanished, leaving Captain Jack Sparrow and his pirate crew penniless. Jack (Johnny Depp), who apparently made a deal with Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) to reclaim the Black Pearl from the ...
Entertainment > Movie Reviews Movie reviews: Hoodwinked: 2 of 4

My entire family laughed - heck, we outright guffawed - pretty much straight through all 80 minutes of "Hoodwinked." The concept of this animated film is clever, if not entirely original. The Red Riding Hood story gets reworked into a police procedural, with Red (Anne Hathaway), her Granny (Glenn Close), the wolf (Patrick Wa...
Travel > Kansas Destinations Guide to Connecticut's national parks: 1 of 2

For long months at sea, fewer than three dozen men made the cramped quarters of the Charles W. Morgan their home. Now, thousands of people pass over her worn deck and through her rough wood underbelly each week. The Morgan is the one of the crowning glories of Mystic Seaport, a sort of nautical Williamsburg on the Connecticu...
Arts & Humanities > Comic Books & Graphic Novels Comic book reviews: Ex Machina, by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris: 1 of 2

In the world of Mitchell Hundred, there are no superheroes - until a freak accident grants him the power to talk to machines and, as the Great Machine, he tackles crime in New York in a semi-successful way. But this book isn't about that. No, Hundred has hung up his mask and run for mayor of New York City, a post he won by a...