Category: Everything Else

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Top Ten Movies of 2016 — Number Two

Dan Seeger

I remember 1979, and I suspect that contributes mightily to my affection for 20th Century Women, written and directed by Mike Mills. I don’t mean to suggest that the film is some bland exercise in nudging nostalgia, resonating only because of echoes generated by its hollowed-out soul. This story of a young man (Jamie Fields) experiencing pivotal stretch of growing up while under the watchful eye of his mother (Annette Bening, plainly perfect) and feeling his personal shape change due the influence of a handful of other figures (including characters played by Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup) is built … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2016 — Number Two

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Beers I Have Known: Abita Turbodog

Dan Seeger

This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I was in New Orleans less than a year after Katrina. No further embellishment is needed on that name. It is its own story. It is the storm and the aftermath all in one. That’s how it felt then. To a degree, that’s still how it feels now. I was in New Orleans providing help, spending days gutting houses that had been saturated by flood and nights in a makeshift compound called Camp … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Abita Turbodog

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The Art of the Sell: “Give Yourself a Pat on the Bock”

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  It is a certain season. And as I try to find ways to distract myself from the pending collapse of the nation, a sad prediction bolstered by every congressional session with a prospective cabinet member, I can at least take solace in the knowledge that Point Bock is once again being offered in America’s Dairyland. I’ve waxed ineloquently on the longstanding appealing of this dark wonder before. It always arrived in the heart of winter, usually serving as … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Give Yourself a Pat on the Bock”

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Laughing Matters: “Shining”

Dan Seeger

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. It’s been some time since I taught a film class, and the likelihood of that task ever again falling to me dwindles by the day. Even so, I have a little mental tally of the material I’d like to use to illustrate the possibilities and parameters of cinema to a roomful of students. My fictional lecture supplements aren’t loaded with full films so much … Continue reading Laughing Matters: “Shining”

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Beers I Have Known: Toppling Goliath pseudoSue

Dan Seeger

This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. This is how it began. When we lived in North Caroline and visited Wisconsin, we would occasionally stop at a Dairyland liquor store before exiting across the the state line on our homeward trip, securing a few brews we couldn’t easily acquire in the south. On one such shopping excursion, one of the proprietors of the liquor store in question spied us amassing quite a hefty stack of bottles and cans, seemingly with … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Toppling Goliath pseudoSue

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From the Archive: All I Want for Christmas

Dan Seeger

As I felt compelled to note when I dropped my old review of the dreadful film Dutch in this space, the actor named Ethan Randall noted here eventually adopted the stage name Ethan Embry instead. This was review on a mid-November edition of The Reel Thing, the movie review radio show I co-produced and co-hosted in the early nineteen-nineties. While we were reading about the amazing, artful films that were opening on the coasts to make a run at the Academy Awards, this was the kind of glop that we had to sit in front of and generate a reaction to … Continue reading From the Archive: All I Want for Christmas

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The Art of the Sell: Christmas Catalogs

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  When I was a kid, I needed one thing and one thing only at this time of year: a Christmas catalog from one of the big department store chains. I tend to think of it as a Sears catalog, but realistically any of them would do. As long as the square bound publication was as thick as a big city phonebook and one-quarter to one-third of it was devoted to toys. I spent countless hours lying on … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: Christmas Catalogs