Perhaps the blame starts with Joyce Carol Oates. The prolific author of soullessly precise prose wrote the engine block–sized novel that writer director Andrew Dominik adapted into the film Blonde. Oates’s book of the same name is a fictionalized telling … Continue reading The Unwatchables — Blonde
71. Eurythmics, Be Yourself Tonight (1985) After achieving international pop chart success in the first half of the nineteen-eighties, Eurythmics experienced their first real career stumble with the album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother). The duo, comprised of … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #71 to #69
As Dollar Stores Proliferate, Some Communities Say No by Michael Corkery Reporting for The New York Times, Michael Corkery writes about local governments rejecting the incursion of predatory discount shops that underpay employees and strategically drain the local economy, by … Continue reading Outside Reading — Bottom Dollar
My intention with these recurring posts under the This Week’s Model banner is to always highlight my favorite new song released during the preceding seven days, but there are a few sub-rules I try to follow. For instance, in order … Continue reading This Week’s Model — boygenius, “Not Strong Enough”
I don’t think it’s mere happenstance that the simplest and gentlest of Martin McDonagh’s four feature films is also far and away his best. I’ll admit that letting the descriptor “gentle” anywhere near The Banshees of Inisherin seems like a … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Three
To Leslie (Michael Morris, 2022). The feature directorial debut of Michael Morris (who has a formidable number of prestige television helming credits to his name) plays like a throwback to the pre-Tarantino era of independent American cinema, when there was … Continue reading Then Playing — To Leslie; Bodies Bodies Bodies; Women Talking
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. Someday I must write … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Muppets Tonight: Johnny Fiama, “We Hardly Heard Ya”
Working from a warmly insightful screenplay he wrote with regular collaborator Tony Kushner, director Steven Spielberg turns the camera on his own history and emerges with a work that is arguably the most penetrating of his storied career. Heavily autobiographical, … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Four
74. Hoodoo Gurus, Mars Needs Guitars! (1985) After A&M Records blundered through the North American release of Stoneage Romeos, the debut album by Australia’s Hoodoo Gurus, the band and their homeland label, Big Time Records, initially decided to take matters … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #74 to #72
The Undoing of Affirmative Action by Emily Bazelon Writing for The New York Times Magazine, Emily Bazelon reports on the 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke as a precursor to the anticipation continuance of right-wing wet … Continue reading Outside Reading — Precedents edition
Coffee for Two 