Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022). In a welcome return to a more small-scale drama, Jennifer Lawrence plays Lynsey, a soldier who returns to her home city of New Orleans after sustaining a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Afghanistan. Lawrence is … Continue reading Then Playing — Causeway; All Quiet on the Western Front; Remember My Name
Playing the title character in Pearl, Mia Goth has two different scenes that instantly feel like the stuff of film acting legend. The first is a lengthy monologue held in a single shot, Goth’s Pearl finally expressing to someone else … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Seven
When in doubt about how to commemorate a holiday, we always have Calvin and Hobbes. Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. When my pal was looking for substitutes to step in on his Sunday night radio show for … Continue reading Radio Days — Then and Now: February 12, 2023
80. That Petrol Emotion, Babble (1987) Following the breakup of his band the Undertones, guitarist John O’Neill initially thought he was done with the music business. The punk group’s splitting had been acrimonious, in part because he and his brother … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #80 to #78
The Grammys Are Built on a Delusion by Spencer Kornhaber It’s been ages since I cared about the selections made for the Grammy Awards (my obsessive tendencies are directed at a different showbiz trophy), but even I can acknowledge that … Continue reading Outside Reading — Tarnished edition
In the pantheon of great opening stanzas, I would like to submit the following new entry: “When I was younger/ Younger and dumber/ Felt like a flower/ You came to pick me/ From out of the city/ You turned me … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Indigo De Souza, “Younger & Dumber”
MARGO PRICE Strays (Loma Vista) — The guest appearance of vital Heartbreaker Mike Campbell on Margo Price’s fourth album, Strays, maybe gives a little idea of what she’s up to. The track he plays on, “Light Me Up,” is wholly … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Strays; Honey
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. Today, I’m like these … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “One of these Five Men”
The highly meme-able joke that’s been running at a brisk sprint ever since the release of Tár, the third feature from writer-director Todd Field, is that seemingly intelligent, discerning viewers are confused about whether the film depicts the downfall of … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2022 — Number Eight
Coffee for Two 