Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. Merry Christmas, all! Previous … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “A Visit from Santa”
4. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U” The tip-off about the identity of the songwriter in there in title. When Sinead O’Connor released “Nothing Compares 2 U” as the lead single from her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 40 Cuts, March 16, 1990 — 4 – 1
Since I invoked (via hyperlink) this old chunk of writing when I shared my thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi the other day, it seems reasonably appropriate to drag the whole essay straight over. That’s what this Saturday feature … Continue reading From the Archive — The Sopranos finale
When the Canadian band Stars recorded their cover of “Fairytale in New York,” just in time for Christmas 2005, I don’t think the Pogues song was yet considered an unavoidable holiday classic. It certainly wasn’t prominent enough in the cultural … Continue reading One for Friday — Stars, “Fairytale of New York”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. At his very best, Spike Lee is a helluva filmmaker: daring, uncompromising, and astute. He’s precisely the … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Spike’s Joint
It’s been a little more than forty years since simple letters in a crystal blue font first informed audiences they were about to see a story that happened in a distant galaxy quite some time earlier. Conceived and directed by … Continue reading Now Playing — Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Emma Cline has only published one novel, but it’s a dandy. The Girls, which first hit shelves in 2016, in the late nineteen-sixties. It centers on a young teenager named Evie, who falls in with a group of slightly older … Continue reading My Writers — Emma Cline
There is a lot to Guillermo del Toro’s filmmaking that I admire. But the prime feat may be the way he can bend just about any story to his jovially macabre sensibilities. There are times when the manipulation of the narrative … Continue reading Now Playing — The Shape of Water
8. Eleventh Dream Day, “Testify” Eleventh Dream Day was a band that seemed to come out of nowhere to storm the college charts, beginning with the release of their major label debut, Beet, in late 1989. Raved about in the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 40 Cuts, March 16, 1990 — 8 – 5
Look, I’m well aware that the only movie anyone cares about this weekend is set quite some time ago in a galaxy that’s a significant distance from ours. Ideally, I’d devote this weekly exercise in excavation to an relevant piece … Continue reading From the Archive — Pan’s Labyrinth
Coffee for Two 