Hypnotic and steely, the new single from Ela Minus is a forceful techno anthem for our wounded times. Born in Bogota and based in Brooklyn, Minus makes music with an impeccable sense of craft, layering on airy, rich vocals that … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Ela Minus, “megapunk”
It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019). After his big-screen adaption of Stephen King’s It outperformed any reasonable expectations at the box office, it was pretty much inevitable that director Andy Muschietti would go back to Derry, Maine, the small town … Continue reading Then Playing — It Chapter Two; Sounder; Thoroughbreds
#23 — Inside Llewyn Davis (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2013) No other filmmakers thwart their characters’ ambitions and unravel their dreams with quite the same aplomb as Ethan and Joel Coen. The brothers are often lauded for their uncanny … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twenty-Three
Don’t Think Twice (Mike Birbiglia, 2016). This rueful comedy follows a modestly successful improv group that starts buckling when one member (Keegan-Michael Key) get his big break through being cast on a national television show akin to Saturday Night Live. … Continue reading Then Playing — Don’t Think Twice; Relic; Archive
If the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences can go ahead and pretend they can proceed with the usual glad-handling and self-congratulation of an awards season, I guess I can keep up my corresponding tradition. Tradition holds that the … Continue reading Top Ten Television, 2019-2020 season
479. Roxy Music, Flesh + Blood (1980) After Roxy Music returned from an extended hiatus to make the 1979 album Manifesto, they found themselves making significant adjustments intended to insinuate their music into the marketplace. Songs from the album were … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #479 to #477
Why Men Won’t Apologize by Jessica Valenti The Poison of Male Incivility by Rebecca Traister Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Delivers a Lesson in Decency on the House Floor by David Remnick This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced the same condescending verbal abuse that … Continue reading Outside Reading — A Point of Personal Privilege edition
“I can’t believe the worst kinds of people achieve/ Everything they want/ But it takes medication to get me off.” In her new song, Lydia Loveless does a damn fine job of encapsulating what it’s like to live in the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Lydia Loveless, “Love is Not Enough”
#24 — Moneyball (Bennett Miller, 2011) Baseball thrives and withers on its sense of tradition. The national pastime and the grand old game, baseball has a professional legacy that no other sport can match. The Chicago Cubs, for example, played … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twenty-Four
Charlie’s Angels (Elizabeth Banks, 2019). Elizabeth Banks does her level best to scrape away the barnacles of patriarchal chauvinism that cling to the light-action property that launched in the nineteen-seventies as the tale of “three little girls who went to … Continue reading Then Playing — Charlie’s Angels; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Last Christmas
Coffee for Two 