Emma. (Autumn de Wilde, 2020). Director Autumn de Wilder and screenwriter Eleanor Catton bring a touch of the rambunctious to this adaption of Jane Austen’s novel about sprightly busybody Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy). There’s no wholesale reinvention of the story, … Continue reading Then Playing — Emma.; The Assistant; Swallow
419. Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual (1983) Through the late nineteen-seventies and early nineteen-eighties, Cyndi Lauper faced a series of setbacks that reasonably should have made her decide that a prime place in the music business wasn’t meant to be … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #419 to #417
No One Expects Civility From Republicans by Michelle Goldberg Writing for The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg astutely details the abominable double standard that leads to aghast cluck-clucking any time someone says something unkind about Republicans and shrugging excuses when … Continue reading Outside Reading — A Thousand Thumb-Suckers About Civility edition
With a spectacular guitar riff, beautifully gnarled instrumentation, and vocals that slice like piano wire that’s been repurposed as weaponry, Editrix’s “Chelsea” is exactly the anti-capitalism pile-driver we need this holiday season. Tell Me I’m Bad, the debut album from … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Editrix, “Chelsea”
When Ruben (Riz Ahmed) first appears in Sound of Metal, he is behind a drum kit in a dank club, pounding out a heathen beat as Lou, his bandmate and girlfriend, howls at the microphone and scratches at her guitar. … Continue reading Now Playing — Sound of Metal
#3 — The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is cinema a formed by memory. Or maybe it’s cinema in the shape or memory. Or cinema capturing the texture of memory. Or cinema turned … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Three
“There was always the feeling that you were in the presence of thwarted violence,” Orson Welles once said of the Hollywood hand he hired to help him with the screenplay of his first feature film. “It was this thrashing of … Continue reading Now Playing — Mank
These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Bob Dylan logged seven Top 40 singles … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Wigwam” and “Watching the River Flow”
422. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Live Rust (1979) Lest anyone doubt Neil Young’s entrepreneurial spirit, he is one of the few artists who opted to make a live album to document the tour mounted in support of a live … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #422 to #420
Is It Possible to Enjoy This Winter? by Molly Young Ostensibly a review of Wintering, a new memoir by Katherine May, this piece by Molly Young expounds on all manner of concerns that relate to the oncoming season of snow … Continue reading Outside Reading — Hazy Shade edition
Coffee for Two 