TONI PERLING

Entertainment news and reviews from a feminist perspective.

Spoiler alert: Zed's dead, a five-dollar milkshake at Jack Rabbit Slim's is worth it, and there's no such thing as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France. You'll learn these facts and many, many more on this wild and violent ride through the wit, wisdom and non-linear storytelling of Quentin Tarantino's breakthrough film, Pulp Fiction.

A woman (Katie Silberman) wrote Set It Up, a woman (Claire Scanlon) directed it, and a pair of smart, talented actresses (Zoey Deutch, Lucy Liu) carry it over the goal line. It's so lovely to see a rom-com from a distinctly female point of view, where the women involved are not portrayed as desperate and love-deprived, but rather as take-it-or-leave-it, the guy-better-get-with-my-program types who are driven, accomplished entrepreneurs and/or have actual career goals. And putting aside those goals for marriage or children isn't even on the table.

Do you guys realize how rare that is? ...

For every mega-success like the iPhone, VCR and Ford Mustang, there's a couple of Apple Newtons, Betamaxes and Edsels that crashed and burned before them -- and The Museum of Failure celebrates these marketing missteps in all their glory. You'll see artifacts spanning from the 17th century right up to the present, including a Trump-based board game, Casio's tiny color TV, New Coke and plenty more. No word on whether Ishtar is included in this Hollywood edition, however.

Loving, capable adopters regularly get turned away because of unreasonable expectations by rescues and shelters. Many are updating their procedures to change that.

A Jew and an Indian walk into a bar ... and suddenly strike up a band. Klezmatics' trumpeter Frank London, master Indian percussionist Deep Singh and others team up for this Washington Jewish Music Festival concert, spotlighting the connections between these ancient cultures with songs both joyful and sacred in Yiddish, Punjabi, Hebrew, Hindi and English. This all-star collection of musicians includes Singh, who's collaborated with Sting and Punjab singer Malkit Singh, and Manu Narayan, who starred in Broadway's Bombay Dreams and Mike Myers' Love Guru.

Over the past couple years, almost all of Lucy Liu’s interviews about Elementary have been about her directing – and they’ve all revealed how thoughtful she is about that aspect of her work. Besides being acutely aware of an actor’s process, and as such, always attuned to performance first and foremost, she’s also a visual artist, and that talent translates into her shot selection. Her scenes are always carefully and meticulously framed.

With their amazing athletic, acrobatic and clowning skills, the team of insanely talented men and women known as the Harlem Globetrotters is sorta like the greatest circus troupe you've ever seen -- but with way more slam dunks. ... The 'Trotters count Henry Kissinger, Whoopi Goldberg and Pope Francis as honorary members -- though you probably won't see that trio making any under-the-knee passes on this 2018 World Tour. But they are making a stop at the Pepsi Center in Denver to play the long-suffering Washington Generals ... and you're humming "Sweet Georgia Brown" right now, aren't you?

If the thought of a Nutcracker prince in a sparkling thong puts you in a festive mood, then this dark and decadent vaudeville version of the famed Christmas ballet is sure to knock your stockings off. Dubbed "raucous and risque" by The New York Times and an "elegantly erotic holiday dance spectacle" by Broadway World, the acclaimed Nutcracker Rouge provides the perfect opportunity for award-winning creator Austin McCormick and his gender-bending troupe Company XIV to introduce their new theater-slash-lounge space in Bushwick.

The just-released 2017-2018 ranking culled dog-name data from across the globe for its English-speaking Top 10. Pet insurers, rescues, online communities like Rover and city and county records provided popularity rankings for more than 2.5 million dog names, which resulted in a collection of more than 50 county, city, national and international lists.

Bella’s remained steady at the top of the female dog-name lists for more than a decade now, and shows no sign of shaking off the No. 1 ranking, while Max hangs onto the most popular male name for the third year in a row.

Whether you're a nerd yourself or you're just interested in meeting one, this speed-dating event provides face-to-face data you just can't get from swiping an app. Designed for singles ages 25-45, this mixer event at New York's Watering Hole offers you the chance to meet 10-12 different members of the opposite sex, one or more of whom is likely to have the combo of brains and/or beauty you're looking for. It's also the one event where the ice-breaker "Star Wars or Star Trek?" might actually get a conversation started.

DoggieNames.com users share pictures and tell us how they picked their dogs' names.

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