Kirk Baird
The Toledo Blade
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Past articles by Kirk:
Channel 13 experiences growing pains of new system
Loyal and even casual viewers of WTVG-TV, Channel 13, may not have seen any significant changes recently in the station’s newscasts. But they’ve no doubt noticed those times when a camera is frozen in position, or the wrong pairing of video and story, or fluctuating audio levels that are either too high or too low, and rarely just right. These glitches and goofs are not the result of a TV dial… → Read More
Vacationers are finding their way back to travel agents
Dawn Burge and her friend’s dream Jamaican vacation began promisingly enough: a 60 percent discount on the comprehensive package they booked through a major online travel site. It ended with Mrs. Burge swearing she would “never again” book a major trip online. Their travel accommodations were a guesswork, she said, and the resort scarcely resembled what was advertised online. “It was a hole,”… → Read More
What to expect in theaters near you this fall
The end of the annual Toronto International Film Festival this weekend means the fall holiday movie season is upon us. With studios still on the lookout for Oscar-caliber films and release dates to be determined, here’s a quick look at what to expect in the next few months. As always, opening dates are highly subject to change. OCT. 5 ■ Venom. Spider-Man's Symbiote nemesis Venom (Tom Hardy) gets… → Read More
Glockenspiel Toledo the rock stars of German-American Festival
Andrew Beevis is not a rock star, in real life or on TV. But when he takes the stage in front of thousands of screaming fans every year during the annual German-American Festival, the 52-year-old could be mistaken for one. That is, if rock stars wore traditional German lederhosen, performed traditional German dances like the Schuhplattler (shoe slapping), and evoked the charm of an act from a… → Read More
'Mission' preposterous: Silliness clouds an otherwise slick, thrilling 'Fallout'
Running at full speed through a busy city in intense pursuit of a deadly adversary with plans to kill billions of people, super agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) launches himself between rooftops, and simultaneously smashes painfully into the building’s side as he grabs its edge with both hands. In Mission: Impossible — Fallout, Hunt then pulls himself up onto the building and continues the chase.… → Read More
Area labyrinths are spiritual paths
In Greek mythology and Hollywood fantasy, the labyrinth was a perilous maze with either death (the monstrous Minotaur) or doom (David Bowie as the shaggy-haired Goblin King) awaiting those who made it to the center. At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2770 Central Ave., the recently completed labyrinth, located near the church’s front entry and open to the public, is a conduit to personal… → Read More
Patience is key when tending to fruit trees
With apologies to fictional philosopher Forrest Gump, real life isn’t really like a box of chocolates, full of sugary surprises, is it? It’s more like a fruit tree in that it takes work to reap the rewards. Yes, fruit trees are labor — at least, if one wants to enjoy their fruit. “If you think you’ll get a bunch of free apples and do nothing you’re probably not going to,” said Chris Taylor, 70,… → Read More
Escape from Nazis was just the start for Perrysburg composer Samuel Adler
Everyone has stories. Samuel Adler has history. As a young boy, Mr. Adler and his family fled Nazi Germany in 1939 for the United States. Legendary American composers Aaron Copland and Walter Piston were among his teachers at Harvard University, and later his peers and friends. 90-year-old Maumee resident Samuel Adler, a Holocaust survivor who's become one of the most celebrated conductors in… → Read More
Longtime anchor Jerry Anderson ready to sign off for last time
When Walter Cronkite signed off as the anchorman of CBS Evening News nearly 40 years ago, the beloved and iconic journalist made little of what was then much ado about his exit. “This is but a transition, a passing of the baton,” he told the millions watching in their living rooms, “ ... and anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists,… → Read More
Fatherhood is full of surprises
With my wife just past her first trimester of pregnancy, life’s greatest surprise was less important than the necessity of knowing: boy or girl? There was a room to paint, after all, clothes to buy, dreams of our family’s future to dream. More than a decade later, I feel silly if not outright shame about my reaction when we were told what to expect while we were expecting: Disappointment. Yes, I… → Read More
Lonely universe: 'Solo' has little to add to 'Star Wars' empire
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a mildly entertaining but mostly underwhelming and wholly unnecessary hero-in-the-making sidebar to the main films. We learn that in Han Solo’s younger days the blaster-slinging space scoundrel — recast for obvious reasons with Alden Ehrenreich taking over for Harrison Ford — was a lovestruck teen on his homeworld of Corellia who wants to take his best gal Qi’ra… → Read More
'Life of the Party' is D.O.A.
Life of the Party? More like Trip to the Emergency Room. As in there’s nothing funny about this Melissa McCarthy comedy, in which she plays newly divorced mom Deanna who joins her daughter at college, while the laughs take the semester off. Deanna’s midlife crisis is triggered when Dan, her husband of nearly 25 years, announces that he is having an affair with a successful real estate agent… → Read More
Seeing Toledo is much more than chili dogs and baseball
Tony Packo’s is famous. The Mud Hens and Libbey glass company are iconic. And the Toledo Zoo and Toledo Museum of Art enjoy stellar reputations nationwide. But there’s much more to Toledo than chili dogs, baseball, glass, and those two cultural institutions, say a pair of local historians. Tedd Long, a board member of the Toledo History Museum and a Leadership Toledo volunteer who provides tours… → Read More
WTVG maintains grip on top spot in local ratings
The TV viewing preferences of Toledo residents are much like their political preferences: Neither tends to change. WTVG-TV, Channel 13, has been the overall top-rated news station in northwest Ohio for several years, and the Nielsen numbers for February did nothing to end that ratings reign. Channel 13 was No. 1 among total viewership for all but one of its newscasts in February's sweeps. And… → Read More
Tischler signing off 'The Denny Schaffer Show'
Tricia Courtney Tischler loves to talk. And talk. Her mother went so far as to predict she would make a career of chatting with others “because,” as Tischler says, “I don’t stop talking very often.” Tricia Courtney Tischler on 'The Denny Schaffer Show' on Q105.5 on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at the Cumulus Building in South Toledo. She is retiring after proving to herself that her multiple… → Read More
'Ready Player' fun: Spielberg film is a 1980s cultural geekfest
Ready Player One Directed by Steven Spielberg. Screenplay by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. A Warner Bros. release playing at Franklin Park, Fallen Timbers, Levis Commons, Bowling Green, and Mall of Monroe. Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence, bloody images, some suggestive material, partial nudity, and language. Running time: 140 minutes. Critic's rating: ★★★★ Cast: Tye Sheridan,… → Read More
'A Wrinkle in Time' a noble effort that falls short
A Wrinkle in Time’s message of tolerance and choosing love over hate is sorely needed for our divisive times. It's the messenger itself with the problems. In Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved science-fiction novel for children, two outcasts — Meg (Storm Reid), a bright but bullied teenager, and Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), her super-genius younger brother — are joined by popular high school student… → Read More
No surprises here — expected winners rule show at Oscars
The 90th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night had all the makings of a great film. Drama. Passion. Humor. And a hard-fought and well-earned first win after 14 nominations for brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins (Blade Runner: 2049). The big prize, Best Picture, went to The Shape of Water, a beautiful love story about two outsiders: a mute woman and a half-man-half-fish. The Shape of Water… → Read More
Troubled competition: 'Game Night' devolves into silly mediocrity
In Game Night, Annie and Max, played by Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman, are a married couple whose competitive streak is comical in the figurative and the literal sense. When Annie and Max first meet as captains of competing trivia teams during a game night at a darkened bar, we laugh as the rivals bicker and jostle for the top slot. Their intense competitive nature, of course, leads to an… → Read More
Hollywood diversity a work in progress
It wasn't so long ago in Hollywood that diversity in movies meant minorities cast in racial stereotype roles — or even worse, whites cast in the offensive parts. Then things sorta improved. In the first Star Wars trilogy, for example, diversity was mostly male white actors speaking with either an American or British accent. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor appears in a scene from, "Rogue One: A Star… → Read More