There's this young fellow on a New Jersey radio station who works as a producer and guest commentator, but holds little to no knowledge of popular culture. Mention Kris Kristofferson or Karen Carpenter, and he'll dismiss the names as though they hold no breadth or weight. In truth, he flaunts his ignorance like it's cute.
Alas, this out-of-touch perspective is often the norm among today's youth, and so when one comes along who holds a sincere desire to discover and exalt the past, it's refreshing.
One such case in point is Jerome Weiselberry. Mind you, that's not her real name, but the label doesn't matter as much as this young lady's ability to research and emote on our glorious days gone by. Ms. Weiselberry helms a ten-year-plus, YouTube channel, which is packed with entertaining, video essays that scrutinize movies, television shows, books and even (listen up!) soundtracks.
Among Weiselberry's queue are reviews on Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, Toho Titans, Alfred Hitchcock, Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Mario Bava, Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury, M. Night Shyamalan, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Paul Blaisdell, Dwight Frye, Roger Corman, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze, Citizen Kane, North by Northwest, Marty, Metropolis, King Kong 1933, Mighty Joe Young 1949, The Black Scorpion 1957, Them, The Killer Shrews, The Thing from Another World, The War of the Worlds 1953, It! The Terror from Beyond Space, It Conquered the World, The Man from Planet X, Night Caller from Outer Space, Not of This Earth 1957, Day the World Ended 1955, The Blob 1958, Night of the Living Dead 1968, Jaws, The Giant Claw, The Fly trilogy, Reptilicus (both the Danish and American editions, no less), Watership Down 1978 (in respectful regard to Richard Adams' novel) and the dandy double-feature whammies of Corman's Bucket of Blood 1959 and Little Shop of Horrors 1960, plus Amicus/Kevin Connor's The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot. Oh, yes, Weiselberry always goes that scholarly, extra mile.
She also knows a thing or two about Star Trek, as demonstrated by her assessment of James Horner's The Wrath of Khan score. She connects the composer's sprawling orchestration to the movie's assigned scenes with such insightful precision that even omniscient Trekkies will be inspired.
Weiselberry also digs deep into television productions. Her affectionate, Twilight Zone analysis is beyond tip-top (with oodles of fondness for Serling), as is her review of Marc Zicree's The Twilight Zone Companion, but in my estimation, her best, small-screen assessment covers The Fugitive.
Her enthusiasm regarding those episodes in which Richard Kimble (David Janssen) and Philip Gerard (Barry Morse) cross paths will ring true to anyone who's experienced the cliffhanging, character-driven saga. In other words, Weiselberry allows one to (re)experience and (re)examine the show's impact through her fresh perspective, rendering an approach that's at once intellectual yet giddy.
There's no question that Weiselberry is an astute analyst. Not only is she leagues beyond her know-nothing, media peers, but is far superior to most of the so-called, seasoned "professionals," who find it cool to swap derision for critique.
And for the record, consuming Weiselberry's reviews is rather like eating peanuts. One is never enough. You'll see what I mean when you visit her prolific channel. (Now, if she could only land an on-air job at NJ 101.5!)
https://www.youtube.com/c/JeromeWeiselberry
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