Who’s Afraid of Ketanji Brown Jackson? by Sherrilyn A. Ifill Writing for The New York Times, Sherrilyn A. Ifill, the brilliant and insightful president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, draws from the historical record to … Continue reading Outside Reading — Things That We Knew But Would Rather Forget edition
“Angelica,” the new single from Wet Leg, feels very current in a way that sometimes eludes modern music. There’s not a lot of reinvention in the music itself; it’s splendid indie pop with a well-deployed wash of chunky guitar on … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Wet Leg, “Angelica”
For Mitski, everything’s different now. Or rather, everything clearly started to feel different for her at some point during the long post-release promotional and support cycle for her fifth full-length album, the exceptional Be the Cowboy. Somewhere in there, this … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Laurel Hell
Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman is made with a refined elegance so pristine that it can give the impression that the filmmaker simply landed upon it, despite ample evidence that painstaking craft was employed. For instance, the film is reliant on … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2021 — Number Five
The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow, 2020). This film represents a new nadir for director Judd Apatow’s exhausting tendency to develop a container ship’s worth of individual scenes with only the vaguest concern of how they might fit together … Continue reading Then Playing — The King of Staten Island; The Way We Were; Licorice Pizza
I once again returned to the radio airwaves at my beloved alma mater last night. Thanks to a substitution call from longtime pal who holds down a regular Sunday slot — not to mention current student leadership’s continued kind accommodation … Continue reading Radio Days — Then and Now: February 27, 2022
230. Concrete Blonde, Concrete Blonde (1986) When bassist Johnette Napolitano and guitarist James Mankey decided to form a band together, in 1982, they chose the name the Dreamers. They played a few gigs around Los Angeles and elbowed their way … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #230 to #228
Her Name Was Shirley by Dr. Reniqua Allen-Lamphere Writing for Esquire, Dr. Reniqua Allen-Lamphere traces the longterm negative impact the 1956 Life magazine article “The Restraints: Open and Hidden,” part of a series on segregation in the U.S., had on … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Restraints edition
So I’ll admit that my weekend plans might make me especially partial to song called “Back to the Radio” at this very moment. But it’s no mere convenience of personal association that makes the new single from the Brixton band … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Porridge Radio, “Back to the Radio”
As guided by first-time feature director Lin-Manuel Miranda, tick, tick…BOOM! is a thrilling tribute to the act of creation itself. Miranda, working with screenwriter Steven Levenson, adapts Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical stage work of the same name with a resolute determination … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2021 — Number Six
